Summer of 85

François Ozon is nostalgic for his own youth

Movies Drama France
101 min     7.378     2020     France

Overview

Alexis is sixteen. He just graduated from school and does not know what to do next: develop his literary talent on his teacher's advice, or get his head out of the clouds and get a job right away. He only has a short summer vacation to think, but even it begins poorly: the character almost dies in a storm. He is saved by David – he is older and cooler, wears an earring in his ear, rides a motorcycle, and works in the family shop after his father's death. First, the guys become friends, later – colleagues and lovers.

Once David asks Alexis to promise that the other will definitely dance on his grave if one of them dies. He reluctantly makes a promise, without the second thought that he will have to dance very soon.

Throughout the Summer of 85, the viewer is waiting for some kind of trick or postmodern twist, but it never comes. Surprisingly, everything is exactly as the synopsis says: love, death, dancing on the grave.

It's all about the mystery and, at the same time, the simplicity of the structure of any organism, where summer is a small life. All stories about these three months (in this case, six weeks) of warmth and sleepless nights have the magic of vacuum space. The whole world narrows down to the beach and three streets, a couple of people, an amusement park and the reflections of sunbeams on a motorcycle helmet, and the level of drama accelerates to the universal mysteries of the universe in seconds.

Summer of 85 is a warm teenage melodrama and a personal movie about growing up. Such an overly stereotyped and sentimental, but still charming film that will surely find its audience.

Reviews

SWITCH. wrote:
Francois Ozon's 'Summer of 85' is a bittersweet film, one that ultimately encourages its audience to embrace the joy and the heartache of first love, along with the ephemerality of having a life-changing presence in your life. - Jake Watt Read Jake's full article... https://www.maketheswitch.com.au/article/review-summer-of-85-a-refreshingly-nuanced-coming-of-age-story
CinemaSerf wrote:
Félix Lefebvre (who reminded me, here, of a young Charlie Hunnam in "Queer as Folk" (1999)) is sixteen year old "Alex" who takes his friend's dinghy out for a sail and gets caught in a thunderstorm that capsizes his boat. Luckily for him, Benjamin Voisin ("David") is nearby and tows him ashore and into his mother's recuperative bathtub! The next six weeks are now depicted in a cleverly interwoven mix of current and recent storylines as we realise that a tragedy has occurred and that the two young men had something of a relationship during the intervening period. On the face of it - it's just a gay coming of age drama, but Levebvre has an intensity and innocence about him. His performance as the young man who falls so completely and utterly in love is heart-rending, sincere and stylishly captured by the photography - and must remind all of us of that first, inexplicable, "love" that we may well still recall to this day. To be fair, it is easy to see why he fell for the charismatic, exciting "David" - who offers him profound changes to his life, and to the rather linear options that most of us faced at 16 - job or school - but the story is more nuanced than that and though it is certainly not without some fairly substantial holes and inconsistencies, it sort of works. The Cure's "In Between Days" and an oddly effective "Sailing" from Rod Stewart provide a remarkably potent soundtrack that resonates not just the moment, but the sentiment too. Not, maybe, Ozon's finest work but I suspect we may see more roles from his young star in the future.

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