an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

A Summer's Tale, or the French "Conte d'été"... wonder if it has the same double entendré en francias. Gaspard is vacationing by the sea before starting his new engineer job, and he hopes to meet up with the girl he had known before. He is head over heels for her, or at least the idea of her, and pines for her. Of course he meets up with a local girl, who may or may not be just a friend... and suddenly, there's yet more opportunities and connections in the picture. This story starts out as a lesson in bad timing; you meet someone and have immediate sparks, but you are not completely available and open to the new acquaintance. This part of the adventure spoke to me personally, as I was in the same position. Then, things get more complicated, and Gaspard is more of a player than he let on originally. The local girl Margot is brutally honest, and patient, up to a point. She tells it like it is, and doesn't play games, which Gaspard admires. Now it's all up to Gaspard... who will he choose? How honest will he be with his friends and lovers? Fun, interesting, intellectual story of relationships, honesty, missed connections. Very well done. One of the "Stories of Four Seasons" by Éric Rohmer, who passed away in 2010. Well written, well directed. Currently showing on Fandor Channel. Stars Melvil Poupaud as Gaspard.

The French film Conte d'été was shown in the U.S. with the title A Summer's Tale (1996). It was written and directed by Eric Rohmer.Melvil Poupaud plays Gaspard, an intelligent young man who has just graduated from college, and is taking a vacation in Brittany. There he meets Margot, played by Amanda Langlet. She has a "boyfriend in the Peace Corps," who is overseas. Gaspard is waiting for his girlfriend, who promised to meet him, but who never writes and never calls. In view of this situation, Margot and Gaspard decide to be just good friends, but not lovers. Things happen in the movie--Gaspard meets a local young woman to whom he is attracted, he and Margot go for long walks on the beach, he composes a sea chantey. (Hard to explain, but it makes sense in the movie.)However, what mostly happens in this movie is what mostly happens in other Rohmer movies--people talk about relationships. They talk, and they talk. So, if you expect real action, you'll be disappointed. However, when Rohmer's characters talk, they often have interesting things to say, so the film worked for me at that level.The only problem I had with the movie is that Margot was obviously the perfect match for Gaspard. His girlfriend was a loser, and Margot and her boyfriend didn't have that deep a relationship. If I had been at home I would have shouted, "Choose Margot, you idiot."Unfortunately--in this context only--we saw the film at the excellent Dryden Theatre at Eastman House in Rochester, NY. You don't shout at the screen at the Dryden. However, the movie will work well on DVD. If you see it at home, feel free to shout.

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.

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