A Summer's Tale

A Summer’s Tale (Conte d'ete) (1996)

Runtime: 113 minutes

Directed by: Eric Rohmer

Starring: Melvil Poupard, Amanda Langlet, Gwenaelle Simon, Aurelia Nolin

From: A few different French companies 

A year ago, I saw my first Eric Rohmer picture; it was 1986’s The Green Ray. Despite multiple people leaving comments on my review noting some other films of his that I should seek out, it took a full year to finally pull the trigger. My sincerest apologies to everyone; what an utter fool I was… and still am. A Summer’s Tale is not only one of the most-viewed films from the director judging by Letterboxd, someone specifically recommended this.

Our lead Gaspard (a young man who just earned a degree) has a problem I wish could be my problem also: he’s alone in the seaside French town of Dinard and he has THREE attractive French women interested in him! First, there’s the on-again/off-again girlfriend Lena, who isn’t in Dinard yet. He befriends waitress Margot and there are multiple scenes full of dialogue like it’s one of the Before films. Then, there’s Solene, who is more romantically interested in Gaspard. 

I was charmed more than expected from the picture. It was more interesting and thought-provoking than you might expect when you hear it’s about a cad who has the “difficulty” of choosing one of three different suitors. The movie was had acres of interesting dialogue as it was fascinating learning about Gaspard along with how different Lena, Margot, and Solene are. As Dinard looks like a lovely town, it was a treat to discover that most scenes were filmed outdoors. Furthermore, of course there weren’t complaints from me when the first seven minutes contained exactly zero lines of dialogue-instead, we viewed Gaspard living a solitary existence while on holiday.

Whether or not it was the intent for the viewer to become upset with Gaspard’s indecisiveness and the missed signals that constantly pass by him—that was my opinion. Admittedly, it is a harsh take once you learn that Rohmer viewed this as a largely autobiographical film, although some of it was events he witnessed—according to him, anyhow, not everything Gaspard did was done by the director himself. Whether or not the director is a fan of sea shanties is unknown by me; one is heard in the film, for those that still ache that the brief revival of those several years ago quickly faded away.

That said, one of the women seemed like an obvious choice; who was selected of course won’t be revealed by me. Summer was a laidback tale, yet one that was endlessly riveting. It’s a guarantee that it won’t take another year until a third Rohmer is viewed then reviewed.