Movie: A Summer's Tale - Conte d'été (Éric Rohmer, 1996)
Gene Hackman was wrong! And funnily enough, I think most modern audiences would have a far easier time with A Summer's Tale than with Night Moves. Those fearing French art cinema can rest assured that they don't need to be intimidated by this film's form and content, nor by the sexual prowess of its main protagonist. Gaspard (Melvil Poupaud), a just graduated mathematician, soon to be employed as a designer, has come to the Breton coast looking for a summer girl. He finds three potential candidates (Margot, Solene, Lena), but for all his efforts never gets much further than briefly making out on a couch.
Gaspard has arrived in Dinard, believing he is in love with Lena, without being sure if that's true, whether Lena is in love with him, whether they were ever a couple, or if Lena is even going to come to Dinard as she promised. Strolling around the beach town, he meets the kind, intelligent and pretty waitress Margot, who, when not working on her summer job, is writing her PhD in Ethnology. She has a seafaring boyfriend she barely sees, takes an interest in Gaspard and soon enough they spend every day walking along the dunes sharing their hopes, dreams and anxieties. As the summer goes on, Solene, an acquaintance of Margot, also sets her eyes on Gaspard and doesn't waste any time making her moves, just before Lena finally arrives in Dinard.
Rohmer mainly focuses on Margot (Amanda Langlet) and Gaspard, filming their talks in long uninterrupted scenes, which become flirtier by the day. But their mouths can't say what their body language does, which is mostly his fault. Margot is afraid to make a move, fearing, not without reason, that Gaspard might see her only as a 'stopgap' and break her heart. Langlet has a brilliant brief moment of hesitation when Gaspard mentions that he appreciates Lena because of her high I.Q. It's a line that wonderfully adds to the characterisation of Gaspard as a mostly good, intelligent and self-aware dude, who is unfortunately oblivious to the many critical moments when he is not good, intelligent or self-aware. The enduring image of the film is Poupaud pensively, and somewhat subconsciusly, stroking his chin every time his ordeal changes. He is forever thinking about how to create the perfect conditions for the right move, unaware that he is always playing catch-up. As a result, his behaviour in almost every scene, especially in the film's second half, is both inauthentic and miscalculated.
Many young graduates tend to have doubts and insecurities that lead them to wrong, dumb and sometimes regrettable (in)decisions. A Summer's Tale is a wonderful and quite authentic depiction of that, with two - Solene and Lena are a bit inconsistently written and mostly serve to illuminate Gaspard - perfectly realised characters. In addition, the film also paints a loving picture of Breton culture. Whenever he gets the chance, Rohmer highlights the landscapes and horizons of the region. And in one of their first scenes Margot and Gaspard visit one of her interview subjects, an old fisherman who explains how they used to salt cod and sings the favorite sea shanty of his fellow laborers. It's the first of many songs about the sea we will hear; we will also hear characters complain that the Mediterranean coast is not a real coast, because it lacks tides, with Rohmer highlighting the wet smudgy sand sticking on the characters' feet. He also finds space to highlight many of the typical sights of middle class family tourism. The film is very much a celebration of the joys and freedoms of leisure culture, best highlighted by a wonderfully joyous scene including a boat and an accordeonist.
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