''Last Summer'' (french: L'Été dernier) is a 2023 French

erotic Eroticism () is a quality that causes sexual feelings, as well as a philosophical contemplation concerning the aesthetics of sexual desire, sensuality, and romantic love. That quality may be found in any form of artwork, including painting, scul ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by Catherine Breillat, from a screenplay written by Breillat in collaboration with

Pascal Bonitzer Pascal Bonitzer (; born 1 February 1946) is a French screenwriter, film director, actor, and former film critic for '' Cahiers du cinéma''. He has written for 48 films and has appeared in 30 films since 1967. He starred in Raúl Ruiz's 1978 fi ...

. It is a remake of the 2019 Danish film ''

Queen of Hearts The queen of hearts is a playing card in the standard 52-card deck. Queen of Hearts or The Queen of Hearts may refer to: Books * "The Queen of Hearts" (poem), anonymous nursery rhyme published 1782 * ''The Queen of Hearts'', an 1859 novel by W ...

''. Starring

Léa Drucker Léa Drucker (born 23 January 1972) is a French actress. Early life Born in Caen, Normandy, she is the niece of television presenter Michel Drucker, and of ex-president of M6 Jean Drucker. Her father Jacques is a medical doctor, and her mothe ...

and Samuel Kircher, the film explores the taboos of a stepmother–stepson relationship. The film was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 76th Cannes Film Festival, where it premiered on 25 May 2023. It was released in France on 13 September 2023. It received four nominations at the

49th César Awards The 49th César Awards ceremony, presented by the Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma, took place on 23 February 2024 at the Olympia (Paris), Olympia in Paris, to honour the best French films of 2023. Valérie Lemercier presided over the ...

Synopsis

Anne is a respected lawyer who lives in Paris with her husband Pierre and their two young daughters. Théo, Pierre's 17-year-old son from a previous marriage, moves in, and Anne eventually begins an affair with him. In doing so, she risks jeopardizing her career and losing her family. Théo is a fragile figure, and as time passes, the relationship turns destructive.

Cast

as Anne *

Olivier Rabourdin Olivier Rabourdin (born 3 March 1959) is a French film actor. He has appeared in more than seventy films since 1985. In 2010 he was nominated for a French César Award in the category of Best Supporting Actor (Meilleur acteur dans un second rôle) ...

as Pierre * Samuel Kircher as Théo * Clotilde Courau as Mina * Serena Hu as Serena * Angela Chen as Angela * Romain Maricau as Lucas * Romane Violeau as Anne's client * Marie Lucas as Mother of Anne's client * Nelia Da Costa as Amanda * Lilas-Rose Gilberti-Poisot as Sara Evrard

Production

''Last Summer'' is director Catherine Breillat's 15th feature film and her first film since her autobiographical drama ''

Abuse of Weakness ''Abuse of Weakness'' (french: Abus de faiblesse) is a 2013 semi-autobiographical film written and directed by Catherine Breillat. The film had its world premiere on 6 September 2013 at the Toronto International Film Festival. In the United Stat ...

'' released ten years earlier. The film is a remake of the 2019 Danish film ''

'', which was directed by May el-Toukhy, who co-wrote the film with Maren Louise Kaëhne.

Valeria Bruni Tedeschi Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, also written Bruni-Tedeschi (; born 16 November 1964), is an Italian-French actress, screenwriter and film director. Her 2013 film, ''A Castle in Italy,'' was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. ...

was initially cast in role of Anne before being replaced by

. Samuel Kircher, the son of actors Irène Jacob and

Jérôme Kircher Jérôme Kircher (born 21 November 1964) is a French actor known for ''A Very Long Engagement'' (2004), ''Louise Wimmer'' (2011) and ''Café de Flore'' (2011). Biography Born in Paris, Kircher is a stage actor and was a student of the Conservato ...

, makes his film debut as the teenage stepson Théo. Samuel was recommended to Breillat by his brother Paul, who was originally scheduled to play the role. In an interview given in early February 2023, Drucker said that ''Last Summer'' is "one of the most disturbing films" in which she has acted. The film poses the questions "Is it love? Where does love stop? Where does the transgression begin?" without being "moralistic". The film reminded Drucker of the play '' Blackbird'' by Scottish dramatist David Harrower, in which she has starred on stage. ''Blackbird'' tells the story of a young woman meeting a middle-aged man fifteen years after being sexually abused by him when she was twelve. Filming took place from 7 June to 13 July 2022.

Jeanne Lapoirie Jeanne Lapoirie is a French cinematographer. She began her career in the 1980s, working as camera operator and cinematographer with directors such as Luc Besson and Agnès Varda. She is also known for her collaborations with André Téchiné and ...

was the director of photography. The film was produced by

Saïd Ben Saïd Saïd Ben Saïd (born 11 July 1966) is a Tunisian-French film producer. Biography He grew up in Carthage and became passionate about cinema, to the point of bringing VHS tapes from France with the help of a diplomatic friend of his parents. He c ...

through his company SBS Productions. According to director Catherine Breillat, the shooting took place "in a state of absolute grace". Breillat described herself as physically diminished and "afraid of not holding on", but said she rediscovered her love of filming during the production of ''Last Summer''.

Release

''Last Summer'' was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the

2023 Cannes Film Festival The 76th annual Cannes Film Festival was a film festival that took place from 16 to 27 May 2023. Swedish filmmaker Ruben Östlund served as jury president. With the French film ''Anatomy of a Fall'' winning the Palme d'Or, the festival's top pr ...

, where it had its world premiere on 25 May 2023. The film was theatrically released in France on 13 September 2023 by Pyramide Distribution. Following screening at the

2023 New York Film Festival The 61st New York Film Festival took place between September 29 to October 15, 2023, presented by Film at Lincoln Center. Todd Haynes' romantic drama ''May December'' was the "Opening Night Film" of this year edition, while Sofia Coppola's biograp ...

. It was also invited at the

28th Busan International Film Festival 8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9. In mathematics 8 is: * a composite number, its proper divisors being , , and . It is twice 4 or four times 2. * a power of two, being 2 (two cubed), and is the first number of t ...

in 'Icon' section and was screened on 6 October 2023.

Reception

Critical response

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, the film has a weighted average score of 75 out of 100, based on 21 critic reviews, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. ''Last Summer'' received an average rating of 3.6 out of 5 stars on the French website AlloCiné, based on 35 reviews. ''Last Summer'' was ranked ninth on ''

Cahiers du Cinéma ''Cahiers du Cinéma'' (, ) is a French film magazine co-founded in 1951 by André Bazin, Jacques Doniol-Valcroze, and Joseph-Marie Lo Duca.Itzkoff, Dave (9 February 2009''Cahiers Du Cinéma Will Continue to Publish''The New York TimesMacnab, Ge ...

''s top 10 films of 2023 list.

Accolades

References

External links

* {{Catherine Breillat 2023 films 2023 drama films 2020s erotic drama films 2020s French films 2020s French-language films French erotic drama films Films about adultery in France Films about families Films directed by Catherine Breillat Remakes of Danish films