tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7704583061723470804.post6650014537550567118..comments2024-03-10T07:42:17.071-04:00Comments on The Film Doctor: Betraying the past, distracted by the present: Olivier Assayas' Summer HoursThe Film Doctor http://www.blogger.com/profile/03073505923746994988noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7704583061723470804.post-34841619326243933392010-09-28T09:11:12.380-04:002010-09-28T09:11:12.380-04:00I just watched this film last night and was enthra...I just watched this film last night and was enthralled throughout. I enjoyed your post about it; however, I agree with the other commenters: I do not see the film as snubbing youth in any way - in fact, the opposite. <br /><br />You fail to mention one salient plot point of the film: Helene's (probable) relationship with her uncle, the great artist. It happened when she was young! And she spends her scenes in the film reliving her youth - and her love for her uncle - to the point of annoyance to the other characters. <br /><br />If anything, I see the film as granting permission for younger generations to shed the husk of family inheritance, which can be as imprisoning (as it seemed to be for Helene) as it is valuable. <br /><br />What makes Assayas' film so successful, of course, is his refusal to put his thumb on the scale. It's complicated, and he doesn't try to deny the complexity. Are we defined by our pasts? Are the heirlooms we hold onto the right ones? Who decides?<br /><br />I am already looking forward to watching this film again (and again) - its complexities and subtleties will reward many viewings.Bot's Been Drinking Againhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01591223964925852675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7704583061723470804.post-13599010944822657482010-05-03T09:58:30.792-04:002010-05-03T09:58:30.792-04:00Thanks, realvirtuality,
I was struck by the natur...Thanks, realvirtuality,<br /><br />I was struck by the naturalism too. I also liked the way the incidental comments and details of the film gained in significance as the movie developed. Upon a second viewing, one see how just about everything has ironic reversals or consequences elsewhere. Also, I believe Assayas allows the actors some improvisation. The film's naturalism hides its artfulness.The Film Doctor https://www.blogger.com/profile/03073505923746994988noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7704583061723470804.post-24011124180144777342010-05-02T07:13:18.359-04:002010-05-02T07:13:18.359-04:00Thanks for mentioning the film. I saw it at the Ed...Thanks for mentioning the film. I saw it at the Edinburgh Film Festival two years ago and it struck me because of its naturalism that was actually naturalistic and not in-your-face over-authentic. I watched it and had the feeling that this was a tale of actual people, with the camera circling around them so agile all the time. Thanks for reminding me of how much I liked the film at the time.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7704583061723470804.post-45012383586859660012010-05-01T07:50:58.054-04:002010-05-01T07:50:58.054-04:00Thanks, Jake. You make an excellent point, but I ...Thanks, Jake. You make an excellent point, but I still wonder how much Assayas means for the viewer to generalize about the younger generation and its relationship to the past based on Sylvie's scene in the precinct and on the party scene. Assayas conveys the forty somethings well in part because they are closer to his own age, but what to make of Sylvie's shoplifting? Why does he use uncharacteristically long shots in the party scene? Why does he emphasize theft again when Sylvie notes that one of the guys stole wood from the neighbors for the fire? Doesn't the party scene resemble the one in <i>Donnie Darko</i> and innumerable other movies where things get out of hand, and they will end up trashing the place? In comparison to the alfresco gourmet meals earlier, now the kids have junk munchies to eat, listen to loud rap music, and rush around on the motorcycles. Isn't Assayas suggesting some further progression or regression in terms of the three generations?The Film Doctor https://www.blogger.com/profile/03073505923746994988noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7704583061723470804.post-55373776708945520252010-04-30T21:39:14.409-04:002010-04-30T21:39:14.409-04:00I'm totally with you right up to the end, at w...I'm totally with you right up to the end, at which point we completely diverge. You see the bit at the end with Syvie as, and forgive me for putting words in your mouth, sort of lip service to the younger kids before things shift right back into a lament. I disagree; I found this coda to elevate Summer Hours above what might otherwise have been an exemplary but conservative (even cranky) stab at lost culture. I took the ending as Assayas gently -- as he did everything else in the film -- giving credit to youth, acknowledging that, just because they do not treat tradition in the same way does not mean that they do not care for the past or their heritage. They merely exhibit in different ways, just as every generation does. Her accepting her grief and then heading off to frolic is not a display of her casting off meditation but of the internalization of sorrow that allows her to continue living her life in the present, which is what life is for. It's for having fun and making mistakes and collecting your own keepsakes and reminders and objects of personal significance. Sylvie shows how the young can remember their pasts while not being shackled to it, as Frederic is.<br /><br />Either way, we both agree it's a great film, and I've been positively itching to gather the cash to pick it up. It's destined to become a close personal favorite, likely more so as I grow older.Jakehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09078001374402400232noreply@blogger.com