User Reviews

A lovely little summer's love story. One guy, three girls, a stunning French coastal setting. He is in love, of course. With one of them? Two? All three? Himself?

It might not sound like much, but this movie is perfectly balanced. The illusion is flawless, with direction, photo, sound, everything so gentle that nothing intrudes on your enjoyment. And the actors are perfectly natural with the material. Excellent dialogue.

I especially like how fluid the presentation of Gaspard is. It keeps changing throughout the movie. We think we know who he is, what kind of person he is, and then we realize he's something else, different.

Also, the ending, great.

Overall, a beautiful little gem that also manages to pose a barrage of questions about love, without ever telling the audience what to think.

I need to watch more Rohmer movies.

A beautiful setting, good acting (Amanda Langlet is brilliant and deserves more roles than just the two Rohmer-films she was in) and a teasing simple tale of a young man who should enjoy a calm summer holiday but instead makes things difficult by not making his mind up about which girl he will choose. Had he stuck to Langlet he would have made the right choice, but then the film would be of Tweety & Sylvester-length. When he realises the girls are in charge, he leaves the stage.Conte d'été is certainly one of the best Rohmer movies.

Eric Rohmer's characters are mostly intellectuals, and mostly not so bright. On one hand, this is to Rohmer's credit, since it's realistic; on the other hand, the rarer characters with more penetrating intelligence (as in, especially, "My Night at Maude's") are nicer to listen to. Rohmer's characters love to yak on about ideas, art, and their feelings. The talk, on the most literal level, is generally unpersuasive, but relationships are formed through enjoyment of conversation, and character (not limited to vanity) is revealed via defensiveness and posturing.

"A Summer's Tale" follows twenty-something Gaspard during his summer vacation at a seaside resort town in Brittany. The people in the movie have fewer blind spots than most Rohmer characters, but not fewer difficulties. For a theme song, I'd suggest Weird Al Yankovic's "Good Enough For Now." The girl Gaspard had planned to meet alternately blows him off and strings him along. Another girl he meets, with whom there is palpable chemistry, has a distant boyfriend she doesn't seem very attached to. He vacillates on a third he is not crazy about but who bluntly conveys that she would take him. Gaspard is turned down twice for a romantic relationship (though not told to get lost entirely), and does the turning down once.

The interactions exhibit a believable mixture of genuine affection, indecision, and awkwardness. Rough edges are not glossed over as they might be by romanticism or in recollection. These might have been ingredients for a dull virtuous accuracy. But "A Summer's Tale" moves at a good pace, turns in the story feel natural and mostly not inevitable, and the whole is affecting and memorable.

I'd say this film is an essay, regarding shyness, relations with the opposite sex, friendship and love. Being only based on the dialogues between different people, it's full of substance, and will definitely ask the viewer to think on the matter. I liked it so much because the people were real, the problem was real. Lots of people suffer problems of integration and self-achievement next to others and these have been thoroughly dealt with in the film.

Its main problems are how much is worth a summer romance next to a sincere friendship, and the importance of knowing exactly one's feelings and purposes (do I love her, or do I not ? Am I merely trying to have fun?).

In the end, we are faced with a line addressed to the main character that we can take for ourselves: "it was your own choice, think about it".

That's the main message: the director presents a problem, the dialogues delve deeply in several of its aspects but the conclusion of why things turned out as they did is left to us. In short, the viewer will certainly learn something from it, and that can even lead to deeper self-reflections on one's personal life. A valuable film, and an interesting lesson. Especially good for young people afraid of not finding that special one.

I couldn't agree more with the previous commenter from Germany in that we are so accustomed to dialogue and plot coming from Hollywood that when something this thoughtful and pure comes along, it just blows us away. I love the way Rohmer slowly guides the audience into the film, without a need for narration, only the sights and sounds of Brittany. When the first words of dialogue begin, it is so natural, but says so much about the characters. "I don't want to plan my life around money", Gaspard tells Margot, and you see him go through a process of writing his sea shantey, a really great little piece of music if you ask me. And to see a five minutes scene with Gaspard and Solene actually singing the song was just riveting. How does rohmer make something so banal on the surface so climactic? On paper, his stories and his characters don't really seem that interesting, but he adds something to them that make them resonate so deeply in me, and I am almost awestruck when it happens.

The great thing is that I can say that for almost all of Rohmer's films, especially those that make up the "Tales of the Four Seasons" I can't say I have a favorite because things like favorite or top films just go against the grain of what Rohmer is doing. I read somewhere that Rohmer has never made a masterpiece, in fact, he's never even attempted to. and yet, each character he's given us, Jeanne, Natascha and Igor from Spring, Gaspard and Margot from Summer, Isabelle, Magali, Gerard and Rosine from Autumn, and Felicie and Charles from Winter, are drawn so vividly that I sometimes forget that they are only characters and not people I call as personal friends.

In addition, I'd like to add that Amanda Langlet's characters seem to be the only "pure" characters in any of Rohmer's films, both as Pauline and Margot, She is beautiful, kind, intelligent, honest.....whereas his other characters, though likable and sympathetic, all have certain flaws.., some tell lies, some are neurotic, some judgemental, deceitful..self-indulgent, capricious.., so forth.

First of all, let's say that Eric Rohmer deserves a 7 foot, solid gold Oscar, because he is one of the very last directors NOT to use Hollywood music. Or better: elevator muzak. He does not use music at all, unless someone within the story is singing or playing or listening.

No need here for external cues to explain to the viewer what's happening on screen. What a terrible shame Rohmer is the last to do so !!!

The cinematography of this SUMMER TALE flows magnificently, playing with the backdrop of beautiful Brittany. There are no hard or harsh cuts; no need for welding goggles to sit through this movie !

This is a small yet honest tale: the protagonists talk, rather than babble or throw comic book lines at each other.

A SUMMER'S TALE is not an epic, nor depicting a world changing event or some bigger than life humdrum. In all its subtlety and sincerity it is something that could happen to all of us.

Thank you Monsieur Eric Rohmer for yet another wonderful film.

Conte d'été is another minor gem from Eric Rohmmer who still continues to impress with his eye for human interaction and the fallibility of love. In this slight but engaging tale, Rohmer follows the actions of Gaspard, a sullen-faced Frenchman whose hair resembles the curls of the late Michael Hutchence of INXS, but whose love life is all awry. We follow his journey one summer in Normandy where his entanglements with his girlfriend and a local waitress offer the main dramatic scenes of the film. The problem is that Gaspard is too impassive and numb to express his frustration and I was left with the same sense of detachment from this indecisive Gallic lothario. However, the opening is surprising because there is no conversation for 6 minutes. It feels like a return to the silent era here where images conveyed more than words, where silence was a form of mystery.

Usually this movie is categorized as either a love story, comedy or drama. IMO it is all and none of these- for the simple reason that the plot does not really matter. What has impressed me about this movie is the realistic way the characters are portrayed. If in a Hollywood movie a character has merely two motivations acting on him this is already interpreted as a "highly complex personality". So the common movie shows characters with a 1D psyche which contradicts the many facets of Self and the elusive, fuzzy nature of personality that one usually has or experiences. On the other hand there are movies which emphasize the highly artistic side by stuffing in all kinds of metaphors, analogies, images, etc. While this might make for an interesting intellectual puzzle- to me itïs just dull because this avoids the medium's strength of portraying intense situations. Just like a book written in Latin: it can be fun deciphering it- but it certainly does not make a good read. With these extremes out of the way- back to _Conte d'ete_. It's presented in a diary-like way with the protagonist either on his own or in company of one of the girls he is in love with. There are a few group scenes but thankfully they are rare and the main focus is on dialogues between the different personalities. All of the characters appear convinced of having a static self at the time of speaking. Yet throughout the movie one can see quite rapid changes going on which, just as in real life are not completely directed at a specific goal (IMO linear character development only takes place in bad short stories). So while each character remains mostly unaware about his/her individual changes they are made obvious by the characters describing each other. The dialogues are extremely lifelike- with all the mechanisms of exaggerating, rationalizing, white lies, etc.

What makes this movie a piece of art instead of just a diary film adaption is the timelessness with which it is presented. The images and characters are somewhat blurred or softened (_not_ in a visual sense!) as a fading memory might be. There are dates inserted every few minutes giving the plot a duration of about two weeks. Had this not been done it would be hard to tell whether the time span covered is 3 days or 3 years. Despite having an elaborate personality the characters at the same time remain general (archetypical, if you will) and personally I find it very easy to identify friends with these characters- which IMO is intended.

To sum it up, I see this movie as an evocative exercise in applied psychology reflecting or focusing life towards the audience. While there are some recurring commentaries the film is for the most part free of moral judgement.

There are two points of negative critic: - the otherwise excellent acting (which does not look like acting) is limited by the somewhat uninspired gestures of the main actor (Melvil Poupaud). - the Deus Ex Machina ending which is used to finish an otherwise endless story

Gaspard, a glum loner, arrives at a seaside resort in Brittany and finds himself rather reluctantly entwined with three young women, all of whom want something different from him - at least different to what he wants from them, although exactly what that is keeps you guessing. The pretext is fairly simple and the pace is slow and measured. For much of the time the languid leading man, walks along the beach, across the cliffs and through the town talking at length with bright, brainy waitress Margot. She seems to be dragging him, with some effort, into a platonic friendship while her boyfriend is working overseas. Their relationship never catches fire, it never gets physical and his feeble efforts to change that are easily rebuffed. All the while he constantly moons over the awaited figure of Lena, who maybe his girlfriend, or just a friend-who's-a-girl(even when she arrives, very late in the day, it's hard to tell!) Along the way Margot encourages him to date the flirty Solene, who's almost as ambiguous in her view of relationships as him, although, for a while it seems as if they are making progress as a couple. Then Lena finally turns up,treats him like dirt and life gets increasingly complex. It takes a long time to develop to this point, but the four-way relationship that emerges is engrossingly handled and the ending is amusingly satisfying. It's all done in a minor key, filmed in a smooth and efficient way, scripted in a naturalistic and undramatic fashion and acted so matter-of-factly by all concerned that it's well worth sticking with. Much of the appeal of this movie comes from the performance and personality of Amanda Langlet as Margot. She's a delight and highlights the dismal dithering deficiencies of drippy Gaspard. As with all the Rohmer films I've seen this is not a movie that's filled with high drama or visual pyrotechnics but it does have an appealing reality. Not for all tastes but thoroughly charming in it's own way.

Conte d'été is just a great movie because it reflects how life is instead of demonstrating how it should or could be. There's absolutely nothing happening that makes you wonder: "What the hell is going on now" It could be the real holiday story somebody tells his good friends. It's so brilliantly realistic almost like a documentary movie. However, this doesn't mean there is no interesting plot. It's just pure life, there are real dialogues not this awful kind of small talks and pseudo intellectual nonsense which we know too good from Hollywood movies. Also the director has a feeling for significant details. The music scenes are just great and the landscape is just wonderful. Now I think I have to discover the Bretagne myself.... Some may criticize that the protagonists seem so helpless and remain unsatisfied during the plot but as I said, this movie demonstrates how life is and not how it should be. This is a very important difference. Of course the end is somehow unsatisfying but this is life and from some point of view it's a happy ending, too. Apart from that, it's not correct calling Gaspard a dull person as many did. He's shy and he's an artist. He doesn't like to be in a group and so on. But his character which lead to this unusual behaviour makes him so interesting. He is not showing emotions very often but in every moment you can imagine he is in an inner struggle.

A young Frenchman on holiday at a seaside resort juggles tenuous relationships with three young women in this light hearted and understated film. Most of the film sees our young hero involved in long walks and talks as he explores the moral issues of who to love and who to leave. Those interested in lots of conversation and reading subtitles (if they don't speak French) may enjoy this winsome little flick. Others may find it tedious and uneventful.

One of Rohmer's best. Gaspard (Melvil Poupaud) takes a month long vacation to a beach in Normandy, waiting for his more or less official girlfriend, the somewhat snotty Lena (Aurelia Nolin), to come. While waiting for her, he befriends the waitress and aspiring anthropologist Margot (Rohmer regular Amanda Langlet). Eventually, a relationship between the two develops, which seems to consists almost exclusively of long talks in the beach. But this is not all, since he soon also meets the somewhat promiscuous (but "principled") Solene (Gwaenelle Simon) in a disco. When Lena finally arrives to the resort, more than halfway into the movie, he finally finds himself in the position of having to choose one of the three. Rohmer would want us to think that Margot would be the best choice, and is difficult to disagree, since she's so charming and so willing to listen to him and even put up with him. It's amazing how Rohmer (who was in his late 70s when he directed this) is able to portray realistically how young people talk and interact. The final decision by Gaspard was a bit of a disappointment, but it was probably the more realistic possibility.

Oh, how the ease of immediate communication, whenever, wherever, has changed in the 20 years since the setting of this film. And yet, some things remain the same...

In Éric Rohmer's "A Summer's Tale," Gaspard has just completed a graduate degree in mathematics and during the short end-of-summer weeks before he is to start his new job, he heads to a small village on the northern coast of Brittany with a mutually-agreed but vague plan to meet the object of his infatuation, Léna. The timing of her arrival is uncertain and she has left no way for him to be in contact.

And so he passes the days idly looking for her as he goes to the beach, walks, and dines at a local restaurant--where he catches the eye of the waitress, Margot. Later Margot spots Gaspard on the beach and flirtatiously engages him in conversation, which is the start of a series of get-togethers during which the two talk about past, current and unrequited loves. A third woman, Solène, enters the picture when Gaspard catches her eye at a party and she later invites him to visit with her family.

Léna finally arrives, and, when she and Gaspard meet by chance, she apologizes for her inability to announce the arrival, while dismissively adding that they found each other. It is apparent that Gaspard's interest is not reciprocated by Léna and thus begins a merry-go-round of meetings with each of the women, to further discuss love and plans to spend time together which lead nowhere.

Gaspard is handsome but nearly feckless in persuading any of the women in getting what he wants, and so he broods. And he caves to the various demands and flighty changes of plans by the women, to the end, when he makes a final decision of his own choosing which does not accede to any of the women's.

The circumstances of chance, planned and thwarted meetings and the way they play out is free of any false notes. The demands, the manipulations, the vacillations, Gaspard's palpable desperation are all artfully projected and utterly convincing. You feel at one time or other you have experienced some of the same confusion, frustration or angst, and you probably have.

The film is dialogue- and situation-driven. While some of the depicted Breton coastline is picturesque, there are no sweeping vistas captured. There is little in the setting to seduce the eye, the film feels low budget, and in fact, it likely could have been filmed anywhere scenic to similar effect, a credit to the script and acting.

The principal shortcoming is that the moping Gaspard is an uncompelling figure and so too are the women, two of whom are self-centered and manipulative. Only the infectious Margot displays redeeming qualities. It is a struggle to care what happens to any of the characters or how the story resolves itself.

Also, there are brief moments in two or three scenes in which direction of the actors seems apparent--one, for example, when Léna meets Gaspard on the beach before she castigates him and her body is nearly fully turned toward camera versus more partly to him, never mind the nonverbal language of dismissive rejection, and another during the all close-up footage of her and Gaspard playing volleyball.

In sum, a well-acted, well-scripted film, recommended for those who might have liked Richard Linklater's "Before Sunrise" and its two sequels.

Rarely do we see such perfection in the direction of a film. Erich Rohmer gets all the details right - every movement, every gesture, all the uncertainties of growing up and falling in and out of love. I can see no flaws. I have to ask myself: Am I watching a group of actors? I seem to be watching a slice of real life with real people trying to cope with life's romantic problems. There's very little to the story. Gaspard, a young mathematics graduate comes to a beautiful island beach resort in Brittany, there to meet up with his girl friend Leon. When she doesn't turn up at the appointed time, he spends his days with two girls he meets on the island. The format of the film is much like a personal diary with the day to day events moving the story to its inevitable conclusion. Each of the three girls interrogate Gaspard about his attitudes to love, friendship and women in general. One feels that the indecisive Gaspard is more at home with his maths. and his guitar than with women. The strength of the film lies in the natural dialogue. It seems so familiar to us as we have all encountered similar experiences and thoughts in our youth. Eric Rohmer has a keen eye as he reveals all the hopes and disappointments of people searching for love. The photographer captures the idyllic beauty of this lovely resort, so bright and sunny. You can almost smell the sea air! It's a very gentle film and handled with a delicate touch, but one wonders in the end whether it may have been a little more enjoyable if a little more excitement could have been injected into the story.

Gaspard, played by Melvil Poupaud, is a song writer, a good-looking but

dull young man, a gauche loner with a flat voice and an inexpressive

face who comes to this delightful holiday island of Dinard off the

Brittany coast to await the arrival of his `sort-of' girl friend, who

demonstrates how much she loves him by keeping him waiting for two

weeks. During those two weeks, however, he finds two other girl friends

• or rather they find him. It must be his good-looks, it can't be

anything else. First he is picked up in a restaurant by Margot, a

waitress, who turns out not to be a waitress but an Ethnologist, just

helping out her aunt who owns the restaurant. Obviously such a bright

and intelligent girl could not be merely working-class!

Amanda Langlet, who plays Margot and who appeared ten years earlier in

Rohmer's `Pauline at the Beach.' is clearly the star of this film. Much

of the enjoyment of the film is derived from being in the company of

this vivacious girl and being allowed to eavesdrop on her talk with

Gaspard about love and relationships as they roam in the bright sunlight

around this lovely French sea-side resort and the countryside beyond.

She is such a very warm and sympathetic listener that it is difficult to

understand why he doesn't fall in love with her. Why she doesn't fall in

love with him is easier to understand. (you ask yourself; is this man a

very good actor or a very bad one?) He makes a couple of inept attempts

to move the relationship forward but is repulsed; she wants only

friendship - and you feel he is lucky to get that - while she awaits the

return of her Anthropologist boy-friend who is away in South America.

Gaspard's dullness is made obvious when she takes him to hear an old

sailor sing sea-shanties; her face so eager and enrapt as she listens

intently; his face, alongside, so lifeless.

She encourages him to take up with Solene, played by Gwenaelle Simon in

her first film, a friend of her's who they meet at a dance, but when he

does, she is jealous, jealous of their friendship she says but secretly

hurt that he now thinks of her as only a friend.

His relationship with Solene seems idyllic at first, they seem

marvelously happy and well suited to each other. He is accepted warmly

into her family, they all go sailing together and have a merry

sing-a-long to one of his songs. But then, sadly, her true nature shows;

she becomes aggressive and demanding, insisting that he take her to the

island of Quessant or their relationship is at an end. And now Lena, his

`sort-of' girl friend, played by Aurelia Nolin, appears and insists that

he take her instead. He must now choose.

Rohmer's films are never plot-dependent; he prefers to dwell on the

characters, to bring us into a close, intimate relation with them, while

they reveal themselves in talk. And when the characters are as

attractive as Margot

A Summer's Tale – Pretty solid movie by Eric Rohmer. It is heavy on the dialogue and the dialogue is not too bad. In this movie Rohmer studies a couple of weeks in a life of a young man traveling on vacation before starting his new job. Like a lot of Rohmer's movies, it examines relationships which the characters develop, their perceptions of one another and how that perception changes over time. Rohmer examines people's motivations and tries to figure out what is it that really motivates people, what is it that they really want? The characters sometimes deceive, sometimes contradict themselves, sometimes without even realizing it. The way Rohmer gives insights through dialogue is pretty interesting, it often leaves the viewer to determine for themselves why a character said this or that and what it reveals about them. This is not an easy task and Rohmer doesn't give the viewers too many clues. Since Rohmer's characters are not very two dimensional, it is interesting to see how Rohmer skews the viewer's perception about them, the more they are revealed. For some reason the movie kind of looks like it was shot by a video camera or something, but that did not stand out for very long. The movie looks very carefully crafted and Rohmer is very particular about what he wants the viewer to see, often depicting relatively minor events or ending some scenes abruptly. A- Strong Recommend

It often goes unstressed how difficult it is to craft a simple, crisp and minimal output as opposed to something complicated. Rhomer deceives you with the simplicity of the visual framework he uses and lets you into this intricate world of human relationships. I wouldn't go into the characters and story (Already in the description). The story is set in Brittany region and specifically the town of Dinard. Like in any Rohmer film, you see abundance of natural ambience and lack of any music. The central character is a musician and a confused lover, who goes through a series of situations that would help him in a way rediscover himself. The most interesting character is Margot (Amanda Langlet) but I also found the presence of Solène( Gwenaëlle Simon) mesmerizing. These two characters somewhat set the two extremes where Gaspard (Melvil Poupaud) travels to and fro, throughout the film while being anchored to a third woman, Lèna. Each scene dwells deep into these three women characters and their relationships with Gaspard with their subtle gestures and deeply felt emotions. If you look closely at these characters you can see a lot more going on than the words they exchange. In many ways, Rohmer is a lot like Yasujiro Ozu, who also tells complex human stories with his trademark minimalism. I would highly recommend this to anyone who appreciates poetic, visually stunning films on human relationships. You needn't be a romantic for it. A definite 8/10 from me.

The protagonist is extremely indecisive. He chases skirts, but not really, he's in affair with 3 girls, but not really. He is so swayed around that there's almost nothing in this film he has done that I could name for a fact, except for maybe the thing that he loves music more than he loves girls. To summarise, nothing important ever happened in this film. It was such a waste of time, for him, girls and me the watcher.

Not everyone will agree with my above comment but I thought this film was very entertaining. This is the third Eric Rohmer film I have seen (the others being "Summer" and "Claire's Knee") and I thought those were quite entertaining, too. The one thing I like about Rohmer is it feels like he just took a camera and filmed real people. That might not be everyone's taste but I enjoy it.

Annoyingly French bourgeois nattering with strong psychological imperatives, as described here by another reviewer. But like life, amazing regards can attend the banal.

I think Rohmer shares an sense of cinema with Tarkovsky in sense of sculpting in time and Malick with his philisophical obsessions. Through wonderful economies of production, a careful camera, fortuitous locales, revealing dialog, honest actors, and acute editing, the movie becomes a fully-formed linguistic expression. In the way that we know the world through thought yet words are empty arrangements of glyphs, this era of Rohmer movies, in which he dotes on youth and l'mour, lets me review my own youth with the pleasure of desire that comes from watching lovely people, and the distance of wisdom in observation of the sexual dances which propel the human comedy through across the generations, paradoxically the most obvious and intimate modes of our existence, yet largely unbeknownst to us.

Rohmer uses the camera as both a microscope and a telescope, but never puts his subjects under glass, nor relegates them to pure puppetry. His actors accept the camera as a third party intruding upon their couples, with the hesitation appropriate of including an other who is a friend or lover they won't quite ever know, but is right there with them. This creates a fantastic metonymy of the camera to the inner eye of my self-awareness that leaves me feeling like I shared the holiday with this people.

And the lingering mood is peaceful, meditative, and fosters openness and psychic contact with the Self in the sense of the sage Sri Ramana Maharshi.

This is analog cinema which eschews gimmicks to just look at a world, yet is always delightfully contrived for its points about persona and the wandering heart.

Too bad the dude Gaspard is such a bore, with French narcissistic personality disorder. Many times in the dialog I wished he would shut up about himself. Early on his manner of relating to Margot would seem more thoughtful if he just punched her in the face. But what's perennially true and wonderful is her willingness to love him on his own terms. The balance of the sexes is revealed as this constellation of young women orbit and this malleable young man like moons to let their gravity run the tides of his heart.

Rohmer is careful to not let these dynamics become tainted with selfish regrets, by keeping the portrayal fixed in its holiday moment of time, which works on me like my own memories of love, that I was changed by forces I could not comprehend, and later came to relish the reflection in both delight and horror.

Through Rohmer's lens, I don't get the feeling I could go back and do it again better with hindsight, but only awareness of life's stages. A reflection that attends me through a bit of sweet-bitter grief.

God help you watching these movies if all you notice are self-absorbed French dorks, perseverating in a meaningless world of trite artifacts, as children who are the distant consequence of Napoleon.

'Conte d'été' (the English title is 'A Summer Tale') made by Éric Rohmer in 1996 belongs to a genre of movies that I rarely watch - a romantic story with young people just out of adolescence. And yet, this seemingly simple story, which takes place somewhere on the coast of Brittany, in a not too hot summer, in a holiday atmosphere but without tourist obsessions, captivated me. In Rohmer's creation, the film is part of a 'quartet of the seasons' and I think I will look for the other films of the cluster to complete my image of this French director that I know very little about.

The main hero of the film is Gaspard, a student just out of adolescence, with musical ambitions and talent as a composer. Young, handsome, shy but talkative when he meets girls willing to listen to him, he lives one of these dilemmas that are existential for those who live them (especially at his age) and enviable for the rest of the world: the choice between three girls - his ambiguous and somewhat absent lover Lena, the sparkling but demanding Solene, and the intelligent devoted friend Margot. For most of the film, we watch the undecided boy's worries and hesitations and his walks on the shores of the ocean with the one of the three girls (usually in swimsuits) sprinkled with endless dialogues that one can only entertain around the age of 20. All these seem like a sure recipe for boredom and cinematic failure, but the result is exactly the opposite.

What is the secret of the charm of this film? There is a documentary dedicated to its realization that I have not seen yet, I will look for it. I can only imagine director Éric Rohmer, then in his mid-seventies, working on this romantic story about youngsters in their early twenties. The actors are the age of the heroes, none of them was by then and did not become a great star of French cinema, but that's even better for the viewers, because their faces are unknown and this adds to the impression of naturalness, freshness and sincerity that the whole film radiates. At no time did I have any sense of falsehood or unnecessary rhetoric. Cinematography makes perfect use of the natural setting without falling into tourist aesthetics traps. Éric Rohmer proves in this film an excellent understanding of the psychology of young people and a perfect mastery of the art of working with actors. 'Conte d'été' attracted me to its world, it was an unexpectedly good cinematic and emotional experience.