Review of Summer Hours (2008) by Alex L — 20 Jun 2009

I noticed a lot of people giving this movie 4 stars out of 5, and that makes a lot of sense. Overall, this movie was very good, and a good use of time. The setting was an old house in the French countryside an hour outside of Paris, full of art, conversation, and beautiful things. Juliette Binoche, one of my favorite actresses, had fun with this role, with subtle homages to Absolutely Fabulous in her mannerisms and a bored attitude of, "oh gawd, another family reunion. somebody get me a drink!".

However, the thing that stopped this movie from earning 5 stars is it's half-hearted attempt at conveying a theme. For comparison, look at "Swimming Pool," or even "Fat Girl." Character dramas set in the French countryside, those movies were like well done paintings - when you watch them, they are a coherent, beautiful statement. As for Summer Hours, it was more of a run-on sentence with spelling mistakes. Albeit, an interesting one.