A Summer's Tale (1996)

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Admirable film.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

A real little surprise. I fell upon this film by chance and was immediately charmed by its quiet and soothing atmosphere. The dialog is intelligent and refreshingly innocent, yet philosophical and mature. The young people are fresh faced and attractive, but brilliant and natural in their performances. A real slice of life of a young musician courted by 3 young ladies during his summer vacationing in Bretagne. The young man befriends a cute waitress Margot who secretly likes him but keeps things platonic as he is hoping to meet his love interest Lena. He hopes to meet her randomly as they had before. He considers these events might be fate and explores his philosophy with Margot. He is a musician and yet much more. His complexity reveals itself to us realistically, as if we really were getting to know him. His rejection of commercial opportunities belies his intelligence and his grounded mannerism. The ending is a nice little twist which makes you smile and I sure hope you sit down with this film when you feel like a little summer vacation on the couch. This film made me feel young again and it reminded me that a story can be engaging without being intense or in your face. An honest little jewel of a film with no pretensions. Highly recommended.

One word: indecision. At the end, Gaspard sounded to me like Meursault in "The stranger" (Albert Camus): he's not proactive, letting events decide for him. Except that Gaspard is young, and I guess this indecision is part of growing. Wasn't so different myself not so long ago, I am even still somewhat when it comes to relationships. Except that this indecision doesn't lead him to murder of course, just to maybe miss something and prepare ground for potential regrets. But for Meursault's defence, the last exception is that Gaspard is far more pretentious, trying to justify his attitude and doing so fooling himself about his free-will. Meursault is an idiot, yes, but he never tries to pretend he's clever. Gaspard is an idiot, plus he's scamming himself. Writing this I realize it's even more hopeless: he made this incredibly bold move to go where she will be on holidays, just like this (OK, he did it because an opportunity happened) to try to force his luck. And finally managed to back out while giving the impression he wasn't doing so. He made a move, got scared she might back out, thus took the opportunity of messing things. Gosh, I am such a Gaspard myself sometimes...

Dull French film from this reputable director is "A Summer's Tale" about a teenage guy who finds himself in a dilemma, having to chose between three girls during his summer riposte.Writer/director Eric Rohmer's film could be about the youth of today's lack of ability to be decisive, or perhaps it was focusing on their fear of commitment. "A Summer's Tale" could have been many things, but one thing it was not was interesting. Rarely does the pic grab our attention.The young cast try hard, but they too are left floundering by the weak, non-directional plot. Only Amanda Langlet, as the friendly Margot, delivers a showing that could be called memorable. This young thesp actually handles all the facets of the role very competently.Langlet is the only light though, in a bland coming of age film. Even the classy French scenery is somehow over-looked.Monday, May 4, 1998 - Hoyts Croydon

Some people wrote enthusiastic comments on this movie:"In all its subtlety and sincerity it is something that could happen to all of us" "What has impressed me about this movie is the realistic way the characters are portrayed" "The dialogues are extremely lifelike" "I sometimes forget that they are only characters and not people I call as personal friends"I don't think a Rohmer's movie is "just like life". But, in a few occasions, I have met some people who believe that life is something like a Rohmer's movie and act so!Anyway, this is my humble opinion: if you enjoy long dialogues, long and significant silences, solipsist attitudes, and tons of deep-but-subtle-charming-interesting-mega-wonderful-but-common French human beings, "Conte d'ètè" is YOUR movie.P.D. Rohmer is celebrated as a director who never uses music in his movies. He neither uses humor.