L’Été en pente douce (1987) - film review

Fane is a beer swigging lout living on a poor housing estate.  When he learns of his mother’s death, he jumps at the chance to start a new life in the countryside.  With his girlfriend Lilas, he moves into the family home, where his mentally retarded brother lives.  His neighbour is the nasty garage owner Voke, who keeps pressing Fane to sell the house so that he can expand his business.  Fane refuses and a bitter feud between the two men ensues…

L’Été en pente douce is a film which has a lot going for it.  First, it is one of the better works of director Gérard Krawczyk, who is now probably best known for directing the box office hit Taxi 2.  Secondly, it stars Jean-Pierre Bacri and Jacques Villeret, both of whom went on to become hugely popular and successful actors in France (with Bacri also enjoying a successful screen writing career).  Thirdly, and most importantly, it is genuinely a good film, a typically French black comedy in which some brilliant characterisation more than makes up for a virtually non-existant plot.

What is most striking about the film is the way in which it has been filmed, almost as a deliberate parody of a low budget American western. The location and the sets have the barren austerity and isolation of a town in the wild west, and the characters look as though they ought to be wearing cowboy boys and stetsons. Roland Vincent’s music completes the illusion of wide open spaces and convinces us that we are indeed watching a western in the best tradition, albeit in a contemporary French setting.

As in any character-based drama, the film’s success stands and falls by the quality of its actors’ performances.  The film works so well simply because the acting is so good.  You may not actually end up liking any of the characters in the film, but they are all well-drawn and believable, thanks to some fine performances from Jean-Pierre Bacri and Guy Marchand – both in surprisingly ‘hard man’ roles.  Jacques Villeret is equally impressive in slightly comical mentally handicapped brother, who discovers the pleasures of the flesh through the stunningly beautiful Pauline Lafont.  On a tragic note, Lafont (who is the daughter of famous actress Bernadette Lafont) died in a car accident within two years of making this film.  Watch out for thriller director Claude Chabrol, who appears in a cameo role, playing a priest.

© James Travers 2000

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