''Summer Things'' (french: Embrassez qui vous voudrez; it, Baciate chi vi pare, also known as ''See How They Run'') is a 2002 French-British-Italian romantic

comedy-drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

film written and directed by

Michel Blanc Michel Blanc (born 16 April 1952) is a French actor, writer and director. He is noted for his roles of losers and hypochondriacs. He is frequently associated with Le Splendid, which he co-founded, along with Thierry Lhermitte, Josiane Balasko, ...

, based on the 1998 novel of the same name by Joseph Connolly. The ensemble cast includes

Charlotte Rampling Tessa Charlotte Rampling (born 5 February 1946) is an English actress, known for her work in European arthouse films in English, French, and Italian. An icon of the Swinging Sixties, she began her career as a model. She was cast in the role ...

Jacques Dutronc Jacques Dutronc (born 28 April 1943) is a French singer, songwriter, guitarist, composer, and actor. He married singer Françoise Hardy on 30 March 1981 and together they have a son (manouche jazz) guitarist Thomas Dutronc, born 1973); they sep ...

, Carole Bouquet,

Karin Viard Karin Viard (; born 24 January 1966) is a multi-award-winning French actress. She made her film debut in ''Tatie Danielle'' in 1990. She has appeared in films such as ''Delicatessen'', ''L'Emploi du temps'', ''Adultère, mode d'emploi'' and ''La ...

Gaspard Ulliel Gaspard Thomas Ulliel (; 25 November 198419 January 2022) was a French actor. He was known for having portrayed the young Hannibal Lecter in ''Hannibal Rising'' (2007), fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent in the biopic '' Saint Laurent'' (2014 ...

and

Mélanie Laurent Mélanie Laurent (; born 21 February 1983) is a French actress, filmmaker, and singer. The recipient of two César Awards and a Lumières Award, she is an accomplished actress in the French film industry. Globally, she is best known for her role ...

. The film was released to critical acclaim and was a box-office hit in France. Karin Viard won the

César Award for Best Supporting Actress The César Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role (French: ''César de la meilleure actrice dans un second rôle'') is one of the César Awards, presented annually by the ''Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma'' to recognize the outst ...

for her performance as Véronique. Gaspard Ulliel won the

Lumières Award for Most Promising Actor The Lumières Award for Most Promising Actor (french: Prix Lumières du meilleur espoir masculin) is a French annual award presented by the Académie des Lumières since 2000. Winners and nominees Winners are listed first with a blue background, ...

for his performance as Loïc.

Plot

Elizabeth and Bertrand are typical representatives of Parisian society. Behind the facade of a perfect marriage is dissatisfaction and boredom. He is a successful real estate agent having fun with much younger women or men behind the back of his wife. She suffers under the crushing uneventful life of a housewife and looks forward to a family holiday with daughter Emily. Bertrand backs out at the last minute and sends in his place Julie, Elizabeth's best friend and his former lover. He is free for a new love affair in Paris. The neighbors, Véro and Jérôme have very different problems. Jérôme is unemployed and collects gas meters. He hides his feelings of failure from Véro and son Loic. Since Véro wants to keep up with the neighbors, both families end up in the same resort. Numerous mistakes, misunderstandings and surprises are inevitable.

Cast

as Elizabeth Lannier *

as Bertrand Lannier * Carole Bouquet as Lulu *

as Jean-Pierre *

as Véronique *

Denis Podalydès Denis Podalydès (born 22 April 1963) is a French actor and scriptwriter of Greek descent. Podalydès has appeared in more than 140 films and television shows since 1989. He starred in '' The Officers' Ward'', which was entered into the 2001 Can ...

as Jérôme *

Clotilde Courau Princess Clotilde Marie Pascale Courau (born 3 April 1969) is a French actress. She is married to Emanuele Filiberto di Savoia, Montgomery-Massingberd, Hugh. Burke's Royal Families of the World: ''Volume I Europe & Latin America''. Burke's Pee ...

as Julie *

Vincent Elbaz Vincent Elbaz (born 3 February 1971) is a French actor. He has appeared in many French television shows and films. His first major role was in the 1994 film '' Le péril jeune''. Elbaz received the 1998 Jean Gabin Prize. Elbaz was born in Pari ...

as Maxime *

Lou Doillon Lou Doillon (born 4 September 1982) is a French-English singer, actress and model. Personal life Doillon is the daughter of French writer/director Jacques Doillon and English actress/singer Jane Birkin. She has six brothers and sisters: Ka ...

as Emilie *

Sami Bouajila Sami Bouajila (born 26 May 1966) is a French actor who has won two César Awards. Bouajila has worked and acted in two Oscar nominated films ('' Days of Glory'' and '' Outside the Law''), both directed by director Rachid Bouchareb. Early life B ...

as Kévin *

as Loïc *

as Carole

Reception

Critical response

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film holds an approval rating of 100%, based on 6 reviews, with an average rating of 7.4/10. AlloCiné, a French cinema website, gave the film an average rating of 4.0/5, based on a survey of 23 French reviews.

Box office

In France, ''Summer Things'' was released to 408 screens, where it debuted at number three at the box office, selling 480,951 tickets. It sold a total of 1,336,579 tickets after 6 weeks in cinemas, ranking at number 24 of the highest-grossing films in France in 2002. The film grossed a total of $8,738,101 worldwide.

Accolades

References

External links

* 2002 films 2002 drama films 2002 comedy films 2002 romantic comedy-drama films Films based on British novels British romantic comedy-drama films Italian romantic comedy-drama films Films directed by Michel Blanc French LGBT-related films British LGBT-related films Italian LGBT-related films LGBT-related romantic comedy-drama films Films featuring a Best Supporting Actress César Award-winning performance 2002 LGBT-related films 2000s French-language films French romantic comedy-drama films 2000s British films 2000s French films {{LGBT-drama-film-stub