Summary
Three siblings must decide what to do with their deceased mother’s estate.
My Thoughts
Recently, I find that when I have nothing else pressing to watch for this site, I immediately gravitate towards Oliver Assayas. I discovered him last year when I watched “Carlos”, a five and a half hour epic about the terrorist Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, AKA Carlos the Jackal. That film/ miniseries impressed me so much that soon after I went out of my way to see “Personal Shopper”, and “Clouds of Sils Maria”, and once again I was incredibly impressed. Assayas has a way of creating tension in familial dramas in scenes that otherwise could’ve been very boring; he’s got a way of making ambiguity more satisfying than knowing an answer full well. He has a direction style that keeps the characters blocked in interesting ways- moving in and out of rooms and different lighting landscapes in single shots- and always showing us new things by keeping his camera work fresh and unique. Even when his films are as simple as “Summer Hours”, Assayas has a way of looking at the situation he’s presented and finding new ways of looking at it. This is an incredibly simple premise, but it’s rather profound in it’s simplicity and it’s honesty. This film has a lot to say about generational gaps, the passage of time, the meaning of physical items, the approach to family secrets before and after the involved parties are deceased, and the overall fleeting nature of memories. Assayas has taken a sad eulogy and turned it into an alluring meditation on what it means to live and die, and what our lives mean to those around us.
A Death in the Family
“Summer Hours” starts with a seventy-fifth birthday party for Helene (Edith Scob, “Eyes Without a Face”). In attendance are her three children, Frederic (Charles Berling, “Elle”), Jeremie (Jeremie Renier, “In Bruges”), and Adrienne (Juliette Binoche, “Chocolat” ), and a slew of her grandchildren. While at the party, Helene takes Frederic, the eldest, aside to talk with him about her will. Though Frederic does not want to talk about the will, Helene insists, and the two go over details for the estate. Soon after, the family leaves, and news reaches them that Helene has died. As the family goes through Helene’s rather sizable estate, they must decide what they want to sell, keep, and donate. Along the way, there are little revelations about their mother.
I think one of my favorite parts about this movie is the familial relationship between the three siblings. These people feel like they’ve all got history together, and it’s apparent from how relaxed they are around each other, how blunt they are about certain things. The arguments that arise never become loud of angry, the film never becomes melodramatic- it’s extremely realistic. These three siblings are grieving their mother, and the process of deciding what stays and what goes is difficult for all of them, even if the three of them have different ideas about how things should be divided. These people are compassionate for each other, even if it means they’re loosing out on a great deal of what they want. All three of the siblings have different plans for their lives, they’re all being pulled in different directions, and their mother was the thing really holding them all together. Though it’s not explicitly said, we get the feeling that when the estate is settled, it will be a long time before the three of them are together in one room again.
Frederic is the most nostalgic character; he’s the oldest, and he cares more about the memories the place holds vs the money they could squeeze from the estate. Jeremie is soon moving to China for his job, and it’s his opinion that they should just sell everything. Adrienne could also use the money for she is about to get married for a second time. The three of them navigate the ways in which they divide the estate with quiet, reserved amiability. No one is happy about their mother’s death, of course, but everyone would rather the whole estate be settled and done with.
Family Secrets and The Sands of Time
Another thing I really like about this movie is the way it looks at family secrets. I suppose some small spoilers in the following paragraph, but this film really is spoiler proof; it’s more about atmosphere and character dynamics than anything else. The three siblings believed that their mother had a relationship with their Uncle (their father’s brother) after their father passed away, but their mother never acknowledged it. The three siblings approach this with a kind of reverence; this is an unspoken truth that they all believe is true, but they never really talked about. After their mother dies, the three of them are able to talk about it, but they still do so with a kind of uncomfortable air; they don’t wish to speak ill of the dead. However, near the end of the film, Helene’s eldest granddaughter, Sylvie (Alice de Lancquesaing), talks to one of her friends about her grandmother’s affair with perfect candor; in fact it’s revealed that Helene even told Sylvie about the affair. It’s interesting to see family secrets from different generation’s perspective. One generation approaches the secret with a kind of uneasy distance, while the other looks at it and shrugs their shoulders.
Sylvie provides another layer to this film, particularly near the end, when she brings her friends to the abandoned home and they have a party. Frederick, Jeremie and Adrienne all respect and love their mother and her things, Sylvie does, in her own way, but she sees the old things and realizes that it wont stay the same as it did. Sylvie is representative of change, of the next generation always growing up and always moving in. Sylvie is the generation that comes after us, that moves into our houses when we’re dead and gone, that knows little and cares little about who the previous generation was. History has a way of fading into the background, of being covered up by the noise of modern life, and Sylvie represents that fading away, that constant moving forward away from the past.
Verdict
I think my friends are probably getting sick of me telling them to watch Assayas at this point, but that’s too bad. I’ve loved everything I’ve seen by him, and I intend to watch a lot more. Assayas has a way of showing quiet compassion with almost every frame he shoots; he’s a director that breathes in loss, love, and beauty and exhales meaning. If you haven’t seen any of Assayas’s films, I can’t recommend them enough.
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