A Summer's Tale

First of all, let's say that Eric Rohmer deserves a 7 foot, solid gold Oscar, because he is one of the very last directors NOT to use Hollywood music. Or better: elevator muzak. He does not use music at all, unless someone within the story is singing or playing or listening.

No need here for external cues to explain to the viewer what's happening on screen. What a terrible shame Rohmer is the last to do so !!!

The cinematography of this SUMMER TALE flows magnificently, playing with the backdrop of beautiful Brittany. There are no hard or harsh cuts; no need for welding goggles to sit through this movie !

This is a small yet honest tale: the protagonists talk, rather than babble or throw comic book lines at each other.

A SUMMER'S TALE is not an epic, nor depicting a world changing event or some bigger than life humdrum. In all its subtlety and sincerity it is something that could happen to all of us.

Thank you Monsieur Eric Rohmer for yet another wonderful film.

Eric Rohmer's characters are mostly intellectuals, and mostly not so bright. On one hand, this is to Rohmer's credit, since it's realistic; on the other hand, the rarer characters with more penetrating intelligence (as in, especially, "My Night at Maude's") are nicer to listen to. Rohmer's characters love to yak on about ideas, art, and their feelings. The talk, on the most literal level, is generally unpersuasive, but relationships are formed through enjoyment of conversation, and character (not limited to vanity) is revealed via defensiveness and posturing.

"A Summer's Tale" follows twenty-something Gaspard during his summer vacation at a seaside resort town in Brittany. The people in the movie have fewer blind spots than most Rohmer characters, but not fewer difficulties. For a theme song, I'd suggest Weird Al Yankovic's "Good Enough For Now." The girl Gaspard had planned to meet alternately blows him off and strings him along. Another girl he meets, with whom there is palpable chemistry, has a distant boyfriend she doesn't seem very attached to. He vacillates on a third he is not crazy about but who bluntly conveys that she would take him. Gaspard is turned down twice for a romantic relationship (though not told to get lost entirely), and does the turning down once.

The interactions exhibit a believable mixture of genuine affection, indecision, and awkwardness. Rough edges are not glossed over as they might be by romanticism or in recollection. These might have been ingredients for a dull virtuous accuracy. But "A Summer's Tale" moves at a good pace, turns in the story feel natural and mostly not inevitable, and the whole is affecting and memorable.

Rarely do we see such perfection in the direction of a film. Erich Rohmer gets all the details right - every movement, every gesture, all the uncertainties of growing up and falling in and out of love. I can see no flaws. I have to ask myself: Am I watching a group of actors? I seem to be watching a slice of real life with real people trying to cope with life's romantic problems. There's very little to the story. Gaspard, a young mathematics graduate comes to a beautiful island beach resort in Brittany, there to meet up with his girl friend Leon. When she doesn't turn up at the appointed time, he spends his days with two girls he meets on the island. The format of the film is much like a personal diary with the day to day events moving the story to its inevitable conclusion. Each of the three girls interrogate Gaspard about his attitudes to love, friendship and women in general. One feels that the indecisive Gaspard is more at home with his maths. and his guitar than with women. The strength of the film lies in the natural dialogue. It seems so familiar to us as we have all encountered similar experiences and thoughts in our youth. Eric Rohmer has a keen eye as he reveals all the hopes and disappointments of people searching for love. The photographer captures the idyllic beauty of this lovely resort, so bright and sunny. You can almost smell the sea air! It's a very gentle film and handled with a delicate touch, but one wonders in the end whether it may have been a little more enjoyable if a little more excitement could have been injected into the story.

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.

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.