Michel Blance, arguably best known outside France for his eponymous Monsiour Hire does an Agnes Jaoui here and takes a principal role as well as directing. It doesn't pretend to be anything but light escapist fare and as such it's reasonably successful. For some reason directors keep on casting that non-actress par excellence Charlotte Rampling who's ruined as many GOOD films as Peter Greenaway has made BAD ones - in each case every one they've made - and once again she lets the side down whilst in a wonderful touch of irony she shares a 'moment' with that other total loss Gaspard Ulliel (it was a nice if slightly bizarre touch that the Cesars awarded him a Best Newcomer gong last Saturday for A Very Long Engagement, despite his having been in this and Les Egares). Elsewhere there are some REAL talents on display not least Carole Bouquet, Karin Viard and Denis Podalydes. It's all done and dusted inside a week centered on a joint vacation in Le Touquet and Blanc keeps an extended family on its toes not to say mattresses. If you've got 90 minutes or so between planes and a portable DVD player this is as good as any to beguile the wait.
Review of Summer Things
