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Review #138 of 365
Film: Un jour d'été (A Summer Day) [NR] 91 minutes
WIP™ Scale: $10.50
Where Viewed: Broadway Performance Hall, Seattle, WA (2006 Seattle International Film Festival)
When 1st Seen: 30 May 2006
Time: 4:15 p.m.
Review Dedicated to: Alex T. of Berlin, Germany
Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word review of this film]
French Director Franck Guerin upon conclusion of the second US screening of his film said warmly when asked, what's the meaning of your film, "That's open to your interpretation." I have to love a director who won't give in to people's inane questions. Isn't every film open to interpretation? What I love about French films, however, is that they get away with a lot more of the 'interpretation' clause than just about any other nation, and people just accept that. Un jour d'été (A Summer Day) is Mr. Guerin's third film which he has both written and directed. This go around, he decided to focus on a village near where he grew up in Western France and a story about the 'accidental'—up to your interpretation—death due to crushing by the goal of a soccer (football) goalie named Mickaël (Théo Frilet) who constantly hangs on the cross bar. The film is really about what happens in the town after Mickaël dies. First, there is his widowed—open for interpretation—mother played by Catherine Mouchet. She is distraught to say the least, but now she has to deal with the impending marriage of her daughter without the presence of her beloved son. Plus, she has to rattle around in her enormous house all by herself. Scurrying around down in her dark sun glasses buying tanks of butane fuel, she finds herself ultimately strangely drawn to the main character of the film, Mickaël's best friend, Sébastien played by an very striking young man Mr. Guerin found out of nowhere named Baptiste Bertin. Sébastien works at his father's garage repairing cars when he is not out chilling his friends including Mickaël and Francis (Brice Hillairet). He wants to spend most of his time with Mickaël. It's not clear the depth of the relationship he desires, he is probably not even sure himself, and that is, of course, "up to interpretation." Just before Mickaël dies, Mickaël phones Sébastien at home in the middle of the night and asks him to come find him in the woods. Sébastien is reluctant, but he goes anyway, only to stumble upon Mickaël engaging in voracious snogging, as they say in England, with a young lady upside a tree. Visibly shaken by this he runs home and refuses to speak to Mickaël for days and until it is too late and Mickaël is gone. [Learn your own lesson on that.] So, needless to say, Sébastien is very, very upset, and he tries to deal with his virtually unrequited feelings for Mickaël as well as figure out what he wants in life. Simultaneously, the poor mayor is grief-stricken on top of guilt-ridden after the 'accident'. Immediately, the soccer field becomes a crime scene and a special investigation it called on to find out how this tragedy could happen. All of the signs point to the fact that the mayor and other town elders purchased poor concrete for use all over the town but most
"Un jour d'été (A Summer Day)...was an interesting film.... Strong acting by the young cast made for a better film that we might otherwise have seen."obviously in the base of the polls for the soccer goal in the village park—of course this is never stated directly, this is my interpretation. So, he goes all over town seeing the ghost of Mickaël or imagining his specter—open for interpretation—and he can barely rest. Poor Sébastien isn't much better off as he tries to confess his desire for Mickaël to Francis (who just happens to be the Mayor's step son) but caves, tries to build a good relationship with Mickaël's grieving mother because she gives him comfort he lacks—his own mother is not in the picture, she might have committed suicide or have just run off we don't know, it's open for interpretation—and keeps having minor fights with his father over whether he can actually do the work that needs to be done in the garage. Ultimately, a nighttime run-in with the mayor that ends up saving the mayor's life, changes everything for Sébastien and he is able to get his life back on track—though he still seems to be very flirtatious with Francis—open for interpretation. And the film ends, of course, without answering any questions and leaves everything, as typically French films do, blastedly open for interpretation. Is it a willingness to commit? Not sure, but I try to imagine most US films trying to get away with this. Run with me on this a bit, so we are all sitting there watching the machines in War of the Worlds just ravage and decimate, and Tom Cruise is in the little basket and gets sucked up into the machine hoping to save poor little Dakota Fanning who just cannot keep herself out of trouble these days, and the credits roll. You decide the ending, you decide what happened to the brother, the mother, the stepfather, Tom Cruise, Dakota, and let's not forget the general fate of the world. Wouldn't that be fun? Well, I'm half teasing. Honestly, I do like a little less interpretation to be left up to me when I see a movie; yet, surely as Mr. Guerin said, he likes for the audiences to be active when they watch his films. Hey, I'd be happy to get up and do a jumping jack half way through. Honestly, sure, let the audience members follow clues and pick things up, but there is a difference between lack of resolution on any matters and leaving things up to interpretation. I felt that the final phone call that we see in the film from Sébastien to Francis was a bit of that resolution. Clearly he was starting to come to peace with the death of his dearly beloved best friend. He was starting to be able to accept responsibility for himself. One of the things he really seemed to adore about Mickaël was his ability to stand up for himself, be fierce, and get what he wanted--many of the characteristics that he lacked. So, by the end, we get several scenes where it seems that Sébastien had grown in these areas. Of course, that is strictly "my interpretation".
Un jour d'été (A Summer Day) is not the most brilliant French film I've ever seen, but it was an interesting film nonetheless. Strong acting by the young cast made for a better film that we might otherwise have seen. There is a surreal undercurrent of connected energy between not just Mickaël, Sébastien, and Francis, but all members of the village. Everyone is profoundly affected by the death of Mickaël—a factor that most people don't think about and aren't really prepared to handle when similar things happen in their town. Anytime parents must confront the premature death of their children, and towns must deal with the mortality of their young people, there is going to be grief and potentially a long time before things get back to normal. It was interesting seeing these kinds of things from the perspective of another culture, mentally comparing the reactions, and making interpretations.
Review-lite [150-word maximum]
French Director Franck Guerin said warmly when asked, what's the meaning of his latest film, "That's open to your interpretation." What I love about French films, however, is that they actually can get away with that 'interpretation' clause. Un jour d'été (A Summer Day) Mr. Guerin's third film, focuses on the 'accidental'—up to your interpretation—death of a soccer goalie named Mickaël (Théo Frilet)and what happens to the town after he dies. The aftermath falls on his best friend Sébastien (Baptiste Bertin) including theraputic consoling of la mère de Mickaël (Catherine Mouchet). The depth of the desire in Sébastien's mind for his departed best friend is also open for interpretation. Ultimately, Sébastien's nighttime run-in with the mayor ends up saving his life, changing everything, and enabling him to get back on track. The film ends typically, as many French films do, without resolving most questions and leaving things open for interpretation.
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