Don’t miss this sensuous, breezy gem from French New Wave legend Eric Rohmer – never before released in the U.S.!
“The Best Summer Movie of 2014 Is from 1996.”
– Kathy Fennessy, The Stranger
“Reliving a retro summer can make the late August sun shine a little longer.”
– Melinda Miller, The Buffalo News
“‘A Summer’s Tale’ is vintage Eric Rohmer, his most richly satisfying film in a number of outings.”
– Todd McCarthy, Variety
“Astute, unhurried and gently amusing, it will be welcomed by the director’s fans while serving as a fine introduction for those who know him not.”
– Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
“Originally released in 1996 in France (but never before in the U.S.), Eric Rohmer’s sun-kissed love quadrangle remains as fresh and romantically profound as it was 18 years ago.”
– Chris Nashawaty, Entertainment Weekly
“‘A Summer’s Tale’ has room to focus on Rohmer’s brilliance at revealing human nature through articulate, multidimensional characters, perfectly cast, who in some ways seem to exist outside of time.”
– Stephen Holden, The New York Times
Gaspard (Melvil Poupaud), a recent university graduate, arrives at the seaside in Bretagne for three weeks’ vacation before starting a new job. He’s hoping his sort-of girlfriend, the fickle Léna (Aurélia Nolin), will join him there; but as the days pass, he welcomes the interest of Margot (Amanda Langlet, the titular character from Rohmer’s Pauline at the Beach), a student of ethnology working as a waitress for the summer. Things start to get complicated when the spoken-for Margot encourages Gaspard to have a summer romance with her friend, Solène (Gwenaëlle Simon), and he complies. When Léna turns up, and scheduling complications abound, Gaspard will have to make a choice…
Rohmer’s characteristically light touch allows his characters to discourse on love and friendship, even as their body language complicates and even contradicts their words. Diane Baratier’s cinematography perfectly captures the languor of youth and the feeling of a French beach vacation—the sea, the sunlight and the lovely surroundings convey the openness of a world of possibilities faced by these young people. (c) Big World Pictures
