A Summer's Tale

A lovely little summer's love story. One guy, three girls, a stunning French coastal setting. He is in love, of course. With one of them? Two? All three? Himself?

It might not sound like much, but this movie is perfectly balanced. The illusion is flawless, with direction, photo, sound, everything so gentle that nothing intrudes on your enjoyment. And the actors are perfectly natural with the material. Excellent dialogue.

I especially like how fluid the presentation of Gaspard is. It keeps changing throughout the movie. We think we know who he is, what kind of person he is, and then we realize he's something else, different.

Also, the ending, great.

Overall, a beautiful little gem that also manages to pose a barrage of questions about love, without ever telling the audience what to think.

I need to watch more Rohmer movies.

Gaspard, played by Melvil Poupaud, is a song writer, a good-looking but

dull young man, a gauche loner with a flat voice and an inexpressive

face who comes to this delightful holiday island of Dinard off the

Brittany coast to await the arrival of his `sort-of' girl friend, who

demonstrates how much she loves him by keeping him waiting for two

weeks. During those two weeks, however, he finds two other girl friends

• or rather they find him. It must be his good-looks, it can't be

anything else. First he is picked up in a restaurant by Margot, a

waitress, who turns out not to be a waitress but an Ethnologist, just

helping out her aunt who owns the restaurant. Obviously such a bright

and intelligent girl could not be merely working-class!

Amanda Langlet, who plays Margot and who appeared ten years earlier in

Rohmer's `Pauline at the Beach.' is clearly the star of this film. Much

of the enjoyment of the film is derived from being in the company of

this vivacious girl and being allowed to eavesdrop on her talk with

Gaspard about love and relationships as they roam in the bright sunlight

around this lovely French sea-side resort and the countryside beyond.

She is such a very warm and sympathetic listener that it is difficult to

understand why he doesn't fall in love with her. Why she doesn't fall in

love with him is easier to understand. (you ask yourself; is this man a

very good actor or a very bad one?) He makes a couple of inept attempts

to move the relationship forward but is repulsed; she wants only

friendship - and you feel he is lucky to get that - while she awaits the

return of her Anthropologist boy-friend who is away in South America.

Gaspard's dullness is made obvious when she takes him to hear an old

sailor sing sea-shanties; her face so eager and enrapt as she listens

intently; his face, alongside, so lifeless.

She encourages him to take up with Solene, played by Gwenaelle Simon in

her first film, a friend of her's who they meet at a dance, but when he

does, she is jealous, jealous of their friendship she says but secretly

hurt that he now thinks of her as only a friend.

His relationship with Solene seems idyllic at first, they seem

marvelously happy and well suited to each other. He is accepted warmly

into her family, they all go sailing together and have a merry

sing-a-long to one of his songs. But then, sadly, her true nature shows;

she becomes aggressive and demanding, insisting that he take her to the

island of Quessant or their relationship is at an end. And now Lena, his

`sort-of' girl friend, played by Aurelia Nolin, appears and insists that

he take her instead. He must now choose.

Rohmer's films are never plot-dependent; he prefers to dwell on the

characters, to bring us into a close, intimate relation with them, while

they reveal themselves in talk. And when the characters are as

attractive as Margot

It often goes unstressed how difficult it is to craft a simple, crisp and minimal output as opposed to something complicated. Rhomer deceives you with the simplicity of the visual framework he uses and lets you into this intricate world of human relationships. I wouldn't go into the characters and story (Already in the description). The story is set in Brittany region and specifically the town of Dinard. Like in any Rohmer film, you see abundance of natural ambience and lack of any music. The central character is a musician and a confused lover, who goes through a series of situations that would help him in a way rediscover himself. The most interesting character is Margot (Amanda Langlet) but I also found the presence of Solène( Gwenaëlle Simon) mesmerizing. These two characters somewhat set the two extremes where Gaspard (Melvil Poupaud) travels to and fro, throughout the film while being anchored to a third woman, Lèna. Each scene dwells deep into these three women characters and their relationships with Gaspard with their subtle gestures and deeply felt emotions. If you look closely at these characters you can see a lot more going on than the words they exchange. In many ways, Rohmer is a lot like Yasujiro Ozu, who also tells complex human stories with his trademark minimalism. I would highly recommend this to anyone who appreciates poetic, visually stunning films on human relationships. You needn't be a romantic for it. A definite 8/10 from me.

I couldn't agree more with the previous commenter from Germany in that we are so accustomed to dialogue and plot coming from Hollywood that when something this thoughtful and pure comes along, it just blows us away. I love the way Rohmer slowly guides the audience into the film, without a need for narration, only the sights and sounds of Brittany. When the first words of dialogue begin, it is so natural, but says so much about the characters. "I don't want to plan my life around money", Gaspard tells Margot, and you see him go through a process of writing his sea shantey, a really great little piece of music if you ask me. And to see a five minutes scene with Gaspard and Solene actually singing the song was just riveting. How does rohmer make something so banal on the surface so climactic? On paper, his stories and his characters don't really seem that interesting, but he adds something to them that make them resonate so deeply in me, and I am almost awestruck when it happens.

The great thing is that I can say that for almost all of Rohmer's films, especially those that make up the "Tales of the Four Seasons" I can't say I have a favorite because things like favorite or top films just go against the grain of what Rohmer is doing. I read somewhere that Rohmer has never made a masterpiece, in fact, he's never even attempted to. and yet, each character he's given us, Jeanne, Natascha and Igor from Spring, Gaspard and Margot from Summer, Isabelle, Magali, Gerard and Rosine from Autumn, and Felicie and Charles from Winter, are drawn so vividly that I sometimes forget that they are only characters and not people I call as personal friends.

In addition, I'd like to add that Amanda Langlet's characters seem to be the only "pure" characters in any of Rohmer's films, both as Pauline and Margot, She is beautiful, kind, intelligent, honest.....whereas his other characters, though likable and sympathetic, all have certain flaws.., some tell lies, some are neurotic, some judgemental, deceitful..self-indulgent, capricious.., so forth.

A beautiful setting, good acting (Amanda Langlet is brilliant and deserves more roles than just the two Rohmer-films she was in) and a teasing simple tale of a young man who should enjoy a calm summer holiday but instead makes things difficult by not making his mind up about which girl he will choose. Had he stuck to Langlet he would have made the right choice, but then the film would be of Tweety & Sylvester-length. When he realises the girls are in charge, he leaves the stage.Conte d'été is certainly one of the best Rohmer movies.