From left, Jérémie Renier, Juliette Binoche and Charles Berling portray three siblings deciding what to do with the family heirlooms in Summer Hours. Watch the trailer: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/summer-hours-lheure-dete/35385/main?icid=movsmartsearch
We returned Wednesday from a three night stay in Portsmouth NH. Except for the oppressive heat & humidity, we had fun doing a variety of fun stuff: The zoo & beach at York Maine, lobster dinners, a narrated trolley bus tour of Portsmouth, a cruise featuring a demo of lobster traps and how some are rejected for sale, a dinner in a jazz club, and lots of shopping. I only bought two DVDs in my fave store, Bull Moose Music, and can you believe we bought nothing at the huge Barnes & Noble? No we're not ill; we're cutting back on buying things we don't really need and we bought enough when there three weeks ago. I saw several CDs & DVDs I wouldn't mind owning but that's for another trip.....
We planned our vacation around seeing this French film downtown where we've seen other foreign films and the Philip Glass concert in April. Some people might find Summer Hours boring/slow moving but they would be missing the point. It's a deliberately quiet film of many charms that sneak up on you and stick in your memory after you leave the theater. The plot concerns a summer home owned by a matriarch who is the niece of a famous painter. The house is full of his works as well as other artists. When she dies, it's up to her three children to dispose of her belongings. Do they want to keep the house for themselves and their heirs or sell it and keep or sell or donate her possessions?
The oldest son wants to keep the house intact but his sister and younger brother have no use for it since they work outside of France. What's unusual is they don't get into vicious fights about who gets what as most families do when parents die. I witnessed what happened to my family years ago when my grandparents on both sides passed away. We were torn apart and these rifts have never been healed. Perhaps this film is different because their mother's love of art and family closeness were passed on to her children who learned from her wisdom. Perhaps the French are more civilized than us?
The lovely Juliette Binoche has top billing as the sister but it's Charles Berling as her brother who has the bigger and crucial part. The rest of the cast is fine down to the smallest part. We also learn of a family secret about Mom's relationship with her uncle and even that's revealed in an melodramatic way like the rest of the film. Even her death and the passing of time in a few sequences sneaks up on you.
In an age where films are fast-paced and noisy, Summer Hours is a needed relief. If it didn't put me to sleep after walking around a hot Portsmouth all day, I guess that's a testament to its quality. Understated and charming.... and don't let the subtitles scare you away.
We planned our vacation around seeing this French film downtown where we've seen other foreign films and the Philip Glass concert in April. Some people might find Summer Hours boring/slow moving but they would be missing the point. It's a deliberately quiet film of many charms that sneak up on you and stick in your memory after you leave the theater. The plot concerns a summer home owned by a matriarch who is the niece of a famous painter. The house is full of his works as well as other artists. When she dies, it's up to her three children to dispose of her belongings. Do they want to keep the house for themselves and their heirs or sell it and keep or sell or donate her possessions?
The oldest son wants to keep the house intact but his sister and younger brother have no use for it since they work outside of France. What's unusual is they don't get into vicious fights about who gets what as most families do when parents die. I witnessed what happened to my family years ago when my grandparents on both sides passed away. We were torn apart and these rifts have never been healed. Perhaps this film is different because their mother's love of art and family closeness were passed on to her children who learned from her wisdom. Perhaps the French are more civilized than us?
The lovely Juliette Binoche has top billing as the sister but it's Charles Berling as her brother who has the bigger and crucial part. The rest of the cast is fine down to the smallest part. We also learn of a family secret about Mom's relationship with her uncle and even that's revealed in an melodramatic way like the rest of the film. Even her death and the passing of time in a few sequences sneaks up on you.
In an age where films are fast-paced and noisy, Summer Hours is a needed relief. If it didn't put me to sleep after walking around a hot Portsmouth all day, I guess that's a testament to its quality. Understated and charming.... and don't let the subtitles scare you away.
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