Conte d’été (1996) - film review

Maths graduate Gaspard decides to spend his summer holiday in the Brittany coastal town of Dinard.  He is expecting his girlfriend Lena to arrive, but she doesn’t and he is left alone to sunbathe and compose tunes on his guitar.  He strikes up a friendship with Margot, a young student who has a part-time job in a café.  Although they spend a great deal of time together, their relationship remains platonic.  Lena still hasn’t turned up when Gaspard is approached by Solène, a seductive young woman who noticed Gaspard earlier at a night-club.  This liaison appears more promising and Gaspard agrees, reluctantly, to go away with her.  Then, out of the blue, Léna suddenly appears...

The third film in Rohmer’s ambitious Four Seasons cycle is a sunny tale about one man’s faltering quest for a summer romance.  Filmed on the picturesque Brittany coastline in glorious summer sunshine, with an exuberant cast of talented young actors, this is easily the sunniest of the four films.

The contradictions and uncertainties of youth afford ample opportunity for comic relief, although Rohmer uses the comic elements sparingly, but to remarkable effect.  Absent is the sense of dry melancholia which lingers over Rohmer’s other films (particularly his Conte d’automne).

Although a notch warmer than most of his other films, this film is characteristically Rohmer.  The former stalwart of the French New Wave has complete control over his medium, captivating his audience – at least those who want to listen – with some remarkably incisive and believable dialogue.

Although in his seventies when he made this film, Rohmer displays an uncanny understanding of the psychology and mannerisms of young people.  You could easily believe that the film was made by a much younger director.

Rohmer is excellently served by his small cast of actors, particularly Melvil Poupaud who plays the moody yet strangely compelling Gaspard.   The director is well known for getting the best from his actors, but here he should have no difficulty, with such a wealth of talent to work with.  Poupaud is simply perfect in his part.

Each film in the cycle has a dominate theme.  In Conte d’été that theme is one of choice – albeit choice in a pretty safe context.  Within no time at all, Gaspard ends up in the unenviable position of having to choose between three women - not for life, but for a whirlwind romance.  It may be an inconsequential event in his life, but at his young age Gaspard sees it as an insurmountable dilemma, and he earns our sympathies very easily.

There is no great drama, no histrionics, no shocks in this film.  Instead we are treated to a magnificently perceptive tale of summertime flirtation, but one which has so much to say about life.

© James Travers 2002

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