The things we leave behind are at the center of Olivier Assayas' Summer Hours, starring Juliette Binoche and Charles Berling. When their mother (Edith Scob) dies soon after her 75th birthday, Adrienne (Binoche), Frederic (Berling), and Jeremie (Jérémie Renier) are left with a country estate stuffed with paintings, furniture, and storied artifacts that turn out to be the film's true main characters.
Who gets to keep the art deco desk, the 17th century oils, the broken Degas plaster? Where do the memories go when a house is sold and the family is scattered to Shanghai and New York?
Assayas carefully dramatizes the loss, regret, and resentments that swirl around the liquidation without succumbing to the temptation to turn every crisis into a full-blown meltdown. Beautifully calibrated, the quiet wisdom of Summer Hours[ cuts deep, and anybody with a family ought to be able to relate.
Summer Hours (2009)
Starring: Juliette Binoche, Charles Berling, Jeremie Renier, Edith Scob, Dominique ReymondDirected by: Olivier Assayas
Produced by: Claire Dornoy, Marin Karmitz
Running Time: 1 hr. 42 min.
Release Date: May 15th, 2009 (limited)
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Distributors: IFC Films
