Summer Hours (The Criterion Collection) (2008)

This elegiac French film concerns the passing of one generation to the next in a family of three siblings left with the complicated inheritance of a mother whose country house is filled with the memories and belongings of a great-uncle who was a well-known artist. Richly detailed, Proustian evocation of a moment in time where past and present meet before time moves on.

This is a multi-layered film, interested in the interconnections between overlapping lives, while taking on many themes from the meaning that possessions assume in our lives to the responsibilities we owe to the past and to the memories and wishes of our forebears. It raises issues of lasting vs ephemeral values, esthetic vs practical, monetary vs sentimental, materialism vs intangibles like loyalty, respect, passion, tradition. It tantalizes with the expectation of family secrets that are never quite revealed. It luxuriates in the languor of French countryside at the height of summer.

While the dilemma what to do with the the art collection of a dead artist suggests a kind of high-culture perspective on the subject, the film keeps bringing us down to earth with its interest in the conflicts that might exist between any family members left to sort out the belongings of a dead parent, while needing to get on with their lives. The closing scenes are a brilliant coda to the way the dilemma is resolved the central characters are left behind as we follow the next generation teenagers invading the abandoned country house for a last weekend of partying, their attention focused completely on the present and the beckoning future.

This is a wise and thoughtful film especially for older adults. See it with someone who has lived a good deal of life, and the two of you will have much to reflect on and comment about.

I agree with most of what the other reviewers have said about this film. This is a wonderful film full of insights about humanity, family, Life and Love.

However, I think this film has much more to offer than just insights about memories, or generations, or possessions . . . .

It is the second in a series of films produced by Musée d'Orsay, after The Flight of the Red Balloon. Flight Of The Red Balloon [DVD] WS, Juliette Binoche

This film is a "map" of modern human consciousness.

It starts with a French family gathering in the provences at their family home. The aging mother, now 75 years old, played by lovely and charming French actress Edith Scob, has gathered with her children for a birthday. Her children have come from their careers, all over the world, to be with her. During the course of the celebration, they begin exchanging memories, sentiments, the realities of fulfilling careers in a modern global economy, and, the importance of their love and sentiment for each other.

In the wake of the mother's demise, the family explores the values that they hold most dearly. As all of us must face, in our modern lives, they make compromises so that they may continue with their careers, their global pursuits, and their relationships outside of the family. The denouement arrives when they decide to sell their mother's considerable estate, and, donate many of her objets d'art to the Musée d'Orsay.

The film witnesses the resolution of their grief, fears, hopes and dreams, as they gradually let go of the art that their mother had collected, and, which had surrounded them when they were children.

Juliette Binoche (as a blonde) is no less than brilliant in this performance. In many ways, it involved another enactment of her extraordinary, and award-winning, performance in "Bleu", in the well-known and respected French trilogy Bleu, Blanc, et Rouge, by Kiezlowski. Three Colors Trilogy (Blue / White / Red)

This film exlplores all of our feelings, spirit, and thoughts, as all of us now struggle for identity in a global conscioussness, fast becoming smaller, and smaller, and smaller . . . .

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There are few films that capture the authenticity of life quite like `Summer Hours', a small and intimate portrayal of family life in all of its various stages yet confined to a simmer. The film moves rather languidly, floating in and out of `moments' that capture a whole far grander than many films concocted in recent years. This film is touching, moving and ultimately reassuring for it understands the intricacies that make the finale so profound.

Anti-climactic can be far more climactic than we give it credit for.

`Summer Hours' delves into the lives of three individuals; Frederic, Adrienne and Jeremie, shortly after the death of their mother. As they all gathered together for her seventy-fifth birthday, they are told that once she passes they are free to do whatever they like with her belongings, including her beautiful estate. Once she dies, differences in her children start to creep into the way they wish to dispense of their inheritance of sorts. Their values, their futures, their ideals are all called into play as they discuss and compromise with one another over the belongings their beloved mother left behind.

But this film is so much more than that.

This film is far less about `things' and more about people and the way they affect our lives. As her children are left to sort through all she left behind, it is less her belongings and more her legacy, while barely mentioned, that makes the strongest impact. Lives move so quickly that our actions can be deceiving, but there are beautiful moments that pick up on the subtle hints that chip away at the truth behind the eyes of these newly orphaned adults. By the film's end, one is brought to a sharper realization of the importance and enriching fragments of life itself, and one can beautifully grasp the sincerity of every frame.

With fine performances from the entire cast, Olivier Assayas directs a modern masterpiece; a stunning piece of cinema that comes full circle in its own message; closing out with a sequence that says so much about the core of this film and where `life' is headed.

Read Best Reviews of Summer Hours (The Criterion Collection) (2008) Here

A beautiful sad profound film shot with clarity, empathy and understanding of the complexity of civilized living. Quality of life means being embraced by family ghosts, stories and secrets and by objects given life through those stories. Objects that are murdered when placed into a museum.

The film acknowledges that modern life can disconnect yet makes it obvious that there is a common denominator, that of authenticity bestowed by one's inner life. Eloise touching the flowers in front of the emasculated house. Eloise watching her patronne wilt after the departure of grandkids. The Paris couple adjusting to life with grace and humor; the girl's sadness upon realizing that she has just lost a priceless part of her childhood. It seemed to me that the expat siblings were missing something essential as if cutting links to their old home and country diminished them subtly, irreversibly. The film wasn't easy to watch, my grandfather had a similar grand old house & garden etc. And I now live far away.

Films like this make us sad, but also make us more real.

Want Summer Hours (The Criterion Collection) (2008) Discount?

Yes, this is an "art" fillum and it is French so it's not for everyone, but bear with me on both scores. The art in this movie is actual art that three siblings inherit along with their family home after their mother dies. The French part shouldn't dissuade those of you who hate subtitled flicks or artsy fartsy European fare--it's really a poignant, loving portrayal of a family yet one based in the reality of what one has to deal with when a loved one dies and you're left with their memories (in this case their valued objects and home).

If this story was done by Hollywood you'd have shrill voices screaming and fighting over the valuable art. As it was done by the French, it's done in a way that seems natural among two brothers and a sister over how to dispose of a family estate in a way that brings honor and dignity to the family name.

There are some great scenes that show up museums and the "coldness" of the way they do business and subsequently display other people's memories where all context and love of art is pretty much lost once removed from its original owner's homes.

The dialogue is first-rate and so natural. The story is also so modern and speaks of the globalization of our modern world and how a culture can be chipped away just by family members moving away. I won't ruin that aspect of the movie for anyone but you'll see how profound the effect is and yet in the end the grandchildren show all is not lost for France when its citizens move abroad.

The movie also looks fantastic. You actually feel as if you are in a wonderful jumbled French country home that actually feels like a home and the art pieces are alive (i.e., one famous vase gets used constantly for flowers rather than just being a display behind a glass case).

(Kudos also for the choice of the Plasticines' song near the end of the movie to showcase France's punk pop of today.)

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