Helene, the matriarch of a well to do French family, living in a rural setting, is celebrating her 75th birthday. Her three children, Frederic, Jeremie, and Adrienne have come to have lunch with her. The two sons are married, but their sister is not married, although she is seeing someone. Only Frederic still lives in France. Jeremie is an executive now working in China. Adrienne is a designer that has made New York her home.
After lunch, Helene summons Frederic to her office to discuss what she wants to do with her possessions once she is dead. She has amassed a large collection of paintings and objet d'art, scattered all over the rambling house. Frederic is disturbed by what he his mother wants him to do, but since he is the only close by, he must be in charge. One thing Helene knows is the value of each piece in her valuable collection. Frederic has wanted to keep the paintings, especially the two Corot landscapes as part of their heritage. Most of the work was collected by an uncle who favored Helene and whose relationship with her is not completely explained, although one suspects there was some kind of incestuous liaison between them.
Unfortunately Helene dies a year after we first met her, leaving the siblings in a quandary. Adrienne is the practical one; she knows the tax bite will be enormous and the way about it is to donate the art work to the Musee D'Orsay, interested in most of the furniture and the rest. The older housekeeper Eloise is offered to take something from the house as a souvenir for herself to remember the family and ends up taking a valuable glass sculpture because she always thought it was so ugly that no one would like it.
"L'heure d'ete" is a fine movie written and directed by Oliver Assayas. There is a lot of symbolism in the way the story is presented. One can draw several conclusions about how the estate is being divided since Frederic, one feels, is the only one that shows any appreciation to the significance of letting go of the things he grew admiring and thought they would stay with the family forever, only to see it go to museums in order to avoid inheritance taxes. Mr. Assayas is taking a hard view at the two siblings that have fled the coop and have no interest in keeping what Frederic thought was rightly theirs.
This is a French film and the main idea is that in spite of what the three brothers think about the way to solve their problem, they still are civil and talk in a mature tone to one another. We liked Charles Berling as Frederic. He feels a quiet rage at losing control of the inevitable and to the things he loved. The Adrienne of Juliette Binoche is perfect in her take of this woman who has left everything behind to make a new life. Jeremie Renier, who can be seen in the current "Le silence de Lorna", and who has worked with the Dardenne brothers, in his native Belgium, was a surprise; he even looks different as the executive living so far away. We also enjoy Edith Scob's quiet intensity as Helene. Behind her serene exterior, there is nothing but a steel resolve to have things done according to her will.
Eric Gautier's cinematography does wonders for the enjoyment of the film. This is one of Oliver Assayas' most heartfelt movies. The director knew his characters well and it translates into a film that was a joy to sit through.
16 out of 17 found this helpful