OUT OF COMPETITION
Special screenings |
Conte d'été
Éric Rohmer
1996 - France - 1h53
In Dinard, during the summer holidays, Gaspard is waiting for Léna. He meets Margot, an ethnology student who is working as a waitress to earn some money. She takes him to a party, where he meets Solène. Léna finally arrives in Dinard. Is Gaspard's heart really torn between the three of them?
In this third of the “Tales of the Four Seasons”, Eric Rohmer returned to the portrait of a young man (Six Contes moraux (Six Moral tales), Le Signe du Lion (The Sign of Leo)). Dark and solitary, Gaspard has the impression that he doesn't exist. To use the formula he gives to Margot, he had “got used to the unexpected”: ignoring his desires and waiting for things to happen by themselves. The chance encounters of a beautiful, sunny summer mean that Gaspard is confronted with the proof of his existence He finds himself the as the central character in a complex love story, the sole, desired man around whom three young women gravitate. This “Tale of Summer” is the polar opposite of the “Tale of Winter”. When Félicie, the heroine of the “Tale of Winter”, made in advance a choice that she didn't have to between the three men in her life, Gaspard, allows himself to be surprised by his hesitation. Solène or Léna? (The similarity of the names is amusing.) And why not Margot? Rohmer relates the summer with happiness: the slow pace of the wandering conversations, the horizons of possibilities as far as the eye can see, the jubilance of a sea shanty, a suspended moment of life.
CAST AND CREW
Cast : Melvil Poupaud, Amanda Langlet, Aurélia Nolin, Gwenaëlle Simon
Screenplay : Éric Rohmer
Cinematography : Diane Baratier
Sound : Pascal Ribier
Editing : Mary Stephen
Music : Philippe Eidel, Sébastien Erms
Production : Les Films du Losange
French distributor : Les Films du Losange
International sales : Les Films du Losange