Filmed in 2019 , in its own way,the film ,unwittingly anticipated the immediate future :replace the nuclear threat by the covid epidemic and these people are locked down ,waiting for ministerial /prefectoral directives on their TV .
The main quality of this movie is to avoid the usual clichés: no computerized special effects, ,no stereotyped characters , no panic-stricken crowds ; it's similar , in its form ,to "malevil" (1981) : the ending of both movies is virtually the same .
"Eté nucleaire " is more realistic, with splendid panoramics: compare the luminous country where one of the characters is jogging with the thretening gloomy landscapes of the finale ;the main problem is the dialog : it never rises above the small talk , and what can be worse than the nuclear threat, when your life has just begun.?Too young to have known the events of Tchernobyl (1986) ,these youngsters are not totally clueless: they use a Geiger counter ; the last lines are radiation exposure rates .
Watch it anyway : it's definitely off the beaten track .
