• |
  • |
  • |
  • |
Go

Summer Hours, 2008

Summer Hours

French, English

France

Rating:7.1
jinni

Profile of Summer Hours

The mood of Summer Hours is sentimental, touching, and sincere. The plot centers around sibling relations, parents and children, and family relations. It is a drama and foreign movie. In approach, Summer Hours is serious and realistic. The setting is France. It happens in contemporary times. Summer Hours is known for being critically acclaimed.

Summary of Summer Hours

French director Olivier Assayas (BOARDING GATE, IRMA VEP) subverts expectations with this empathetic drama about the fading relevance of objects as generations pass from one to the next. Helene (Edith Scob) has just turned 75 and is increasingly concerned about the particulars of leaving her estate behind when she dies. Unfortunately, the time comes when Adrienne (Juliette Binoche), Jeremie (Jeremie Renier), and Frederic (Charles Berling) must decide what to do with Helene's house and the artwork left behind by her famous uncle. Adrienne, who is living in New York City, and Jeremie, who is working in Asia, both understand that their future no longer resides in France, leaving the burden to Frederic. However, even when the siblings are at odds, they don't succumb to fighting. They seem to understand and accept that this is an unfortunate, muddled situation, and as much as they'd love to hold on to the house, it appears that their current situations carry more of an influence than the lives of their nostalgic past.

With SUMMER HOURS, Assayas has delivered an understated motion picture about the importance of objects as historical artifacts and family heirlooms, and how time renders these objects obsolete. Contrary to the dysfunctional family dramas of fellow countryman Arnaud Desplechin (A CHRISTMAS TALE, KINGS AND QUEEN), Assayas keeps his characters calm and stable throughout. He isn't condemning these individuals for turning their backs on the past, and he certainly isn't out to belittle the importance of these objects' places in history. Shot by the acclaimed Eric Gautier and flawlessly acted by its principal cast, SUMMER HOURS is a touching, thoughtful drama.

Details

Language: French, English
Country: France
Release date: 1 October 2008
Runtime: 103 min

Cast and Crew

Juliette Binoche as Adrienne in Summer Hours
Juliette Binoche

as Adrienne

Charles Berling as Frédéric in Summer Hours
Charles Berling

as Frédéric

Jérémie Rénier

as Jérémie

Photos

Summer Hours (2008)
Summer Hours (2008)

Clips

Summer Hours
Summer Hours: Trailer

Users Reviews

"SUMMER HOURS" is a perfectly pitched film with fine performances, a believable plot and characters, and a screenplay for adults. The central story revolves around a far-flung French family whose matriarch passes on at 75. What to do with family...
Likely to see
Not for me

Jinni is best for now in Firefox, Internet Explorer 7 and 8, and Chrome

Part of the page Copyright © Muze | New Releases by Tribune Media Services.

Copyright 2012 Jinni Inc.
jinni message message message
jinni
jinni

smart offbeat funny

In: movies

Copy and paste this link into an email or instant message:

Send this page by email