Summertime (2015 film)

Summertime
Theatrical release poster
French	La Belle Saison
Directed by	Catherine Corsini
Written by	Catherine Corsini Laurette Polmanss
Produced by	Elisabeth Perez
Starring	Cécile de France Izïa Higelin Noémie Lvovsky
Cinematography	Jeanne Lapoirie
Edited by	Frédéric Baillehaiche
Music by	Grégoire Hetzel
Production companies	Chaz Productions France 3 Cinéma Artémis Productions Solaire Production
Distributed by	Pyramide Distribution
Release dates	6 August 2015 (2015-08-06) (Locarno) 19 August 2015 (2015-08-19) [1]
Running time	105 minutes
Countries	France Belgium
Language	French
Budget	$5.2 million[2]
Box office	$3.8 million[3]

Summertime (French: La Belle Saison, lit. 'The Beautiful Season') is a 2015 romantic drama film directed by Catherine Corsini, who co-wrote the screenplay with Laurette Polmanss. The film stars Cécile de France, Izïa Higelin and Noémie Lvovsky.^[4] It premiered at the Locarno International Film Festival, where it won the Variety Piazza Grande Award.^[5][6]

Plot

Set in 1971, Delphine is the only child of French farmers and enjoys working the land. Though her father wants her to marry, Delphine is secretly pursuing a relationship with a local girl. When she goes for a rendezvous with her, her girlfriend tells her that she plans to marry, dismissing the relationship between her and Delphine as "not serious": Delphine responds by running away to Paris.

Walking down a street, Delphine encounters a group of women running by and pinching men's buttocks. When one of the men attacks one of the women, Delphine helps protect her and learns that her name is Carole. The women belong to a feminist group, which they encourage Delphne to join and participate in their protests. When one of the group members learns that her best friend, a gay man, has been committed to a mental institution by his family and is being given electroshock therapy, the rest of the group refuses at first to help rescue him. Delphine convinces them otherwise, and she, Carole and some of the other women free him. The following night, Delphine kisses Carole, who is surprised and rejects her. The next day Carole waits for Delphine in the road and tells her she is not a lesbian, but the two immediately proceed to an alley and French kiss before moving to her apartment to have sex. Carole initially believes that it is a one-night stand, but quickly develops feelings for Delphine. She tells her boyfriend and the two struggle to work out their relationship when Carole and Delphine continuously have sex.

Delphine receives a call from her mother that her father has had a stroke. Delphine visits and realizes that she must stay to help run the farm. Taking some of the lessons she learned in the feminist collective, she represents her parents' interest to other farmers. Carole visits and decides that she cannot live without her. Leaving her boyfriend, she returns to the countryside but is surprised to learn that she and Delphine must remain discreet and closeted, as Delphine's mother does not know she is a lesbian.

Carole initially enjoys the beautiful country life and works the land with Delphine and her mother. However, she finds the people confining, as they mock her politics and it is frustrating that she is unable to openly be with Delphine. She also begins to have doubts about Delphine's intentions after Antoine, a local boy in love with Delphine since childhood, tells her that Delphine will never leave the farm and Delphine's mother tells Carole that Antoine intends to marry Delphine. Carole begins fighting with Delphine on a regular basis, which results in several people learning Delphine's secret, including a local farmer who sees them kissing in the woods, and her mother who overhears them arguing. One evening during a community gathering, the farmer who saw Carole and Delphine in the woods stalks Delphine and to cover up she kisses Antoine, but he shows dismay saying he knows why Carole is here. Distraught, she goes to Carole and cry and her consoling Delphine leads to the two having sex again.

The following morning, Delphine's mother walks in on Carole and Delphine and finds both of them naked together in bed. Though she acts like everything is normal to Delphine, she tells Carole to leave her home, accusing her of having perverted her daughter before physically attacking her. Carole tells Delphine she is leaving and Delphine decides to run away to be with Carole. Though they leave on the train together, Delphine finds herself unable to leave. She misses their connecting train to Paris and returns home.

Five years later, Carole is working at a women's health clinic and in a lesbian relationship. She receives a letter from Delphine who says that she has finally left her parents' farm and has her own in Southern France. She tells Carole that she regrets not leaving with her five years earlier, but understands that it is impossible to turn back time.

Cast

• Cécile de France as Carole
• Izïa Higelin as Delphine
• Noémie Lvovsky as Monique
• Kévin Azaïs as Antoine
• Lætitia Dosch as Adeline
• Sarah Suco as Fabienne
• Benjamin Bellecour as Manuel
• Natalie Beder as Marie-Laure
• Calypso Valois as Charlotte
• Jean-Henri Compère as Maurice
• Bruno Podalydès as Professor Chambard
• Alix Bénézech as Etudiante aux Beaux-Arts

Production

Principal photography took place in Limousin and in Paris from 22 July to 16 September 2014.^[4]

Izïa Higelin revealed that the shooting was not a pleasure, far from it: "The nude and love scenes, it is perhaps the last time for me. I really had a hard time with them, I didn't think I would dislike them that much. There weren't as many in the original script, but Catherine thought that Cecile and I were a little too friendly. So she added quite a bit. And honestly, it made me very uncomfortable. It was the first time I dared and I really didn't like doing it."^[7]

Reception

Critical response

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 92% based on 59 reviews, and an average rating of 6.7/10. The site consensus reads, "Summertime (La Belle Saison) presents a well-acted, beautifully framed period romance that offers a refreshing perspective on its era in the bargain".^[8] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 72 out of 100, based on 16 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".^[9]

Muriel Del Don of Cineuropa writes "upbeat and majestic with tragic undertones", the film is a "real emotional odyssey in which passion seems to conquer all, even the most tenacious of prejudices".^[10] In a review for Variety, Peter Debruge called it a "luminous, golden-hued period piece" and a "beautifully realized tearjerker".^[11]

Reviewing it for The Hollywood Reporter, Boyd van Hoeij said that "Though the narrative somewhat awkwardly morphs from a period drama about the French women's liberation movement in early 1970s to a more rural melodrama about being closeted and choosing between duty and family and personal happiness, the story is anchored by strong performances from Cécile de France and Izïa Higelin, who have a natural chemistry that’s not only credible but actually infectious."^[12]

Accolades

Award / Film Festival	Category	Recipients and nominees	Result
Apolo Awards[13][14]	Best Supporting Actress	Noémie Lvovsky	Nominated
	Best Couple	Izïa Higelin and Cécile de France	Nominated
César Awards[15]	Best Actress	Cécile de France	Nominated
	Best Supporting Actress	Noémie Lvovsky	Nominated
Locarno International Film Festival[6]	Variety Piazza Grande Award		Won
Lumières Awards[16]	Best Film		Nominated
	Best Director	Catherine Corsini	Nominated
	Best Actress	Izïa Higelin	Nominated
	Best Screenplay	Catherine Corsini and Laurette Polmanss	Nominated
	Best Music	Grégoire Hetzel	Won
Trophées du Film français[17]	Duo cinéma	Catherine Corsini and Élisabeth Perez	Won

See also

• List of lesbian filmmakers
• List of LGBT-related films directed by women

References

1. "Hunger Games - La révolte : partie 2, Night Run, Enfant 44... les 20 photos ciné de la semaine". AlloCiné (in French). 22 March 2015. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
2. "La Belle Saison". JP's Box-Office. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
3. "La Belle Saison". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
4. Lemercier, Fabien (30 June 2014). "Summer shoot for La belle saison by Catherine Corsini". Cineuropa. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
5. "Palmarès 2015". Locarno. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
6. "Locarno Film Festival Announces Lineup for Its 68th Year, Awards Edward Norton on Opening Night". Indiewire. 15 July 2015. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
7. "La Belle saison : Izïa Higelin a détesté tourner les scènes de sexe et de nu". www.cineserie.com. 13 July 2022. Retrieved 5 August 2022.
8. "Summertime (La Belle Saison) (2016)". Rotten Tomatoes. 22 July 2016. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
9. "Summertime". Metacritic. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
10. "Summertime, "my body belongs to me"". Cineuropa. 10 August 2015. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
11. "Locarno Film Review: 'Summertime'". Variety. 6 August 2015.
12. "'Summertime' ('La belle saison'): Locarno Review". The Hollywood Reporter. 7 August 2015. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
13. "Las mejores películas de temática LGTB del 2016: ganadores de los II Premios Apolo de cine LGTB". dosmanzanas (in Spanish). Retrieved 2022-01-24.
14. "Las mejores películas de temática LGTB del 2016: nominaciones a los II Premios Apolo de cine LGTB". dosmanzanas (in Spanish). Retrieved 2022-01-24.
15. "'Golden Years,' 'Marguerite,' 'Dheepan,' 'Mustang' Lead Cesar Nominations". Variety. 27 January 2016.
16. "Prix Lumières 2016 : Trois souvenirs de ma jeunesse et Mustang en tête des nominations". AlloCiné. 4 January 2016.
17. "Palmarès Trophées du Film Français 2016 : la comédie à l'honneur !". AlloCiné (in French). 3 February 2016. Retrieved 2 July 2021.

Further reading

• Anderson, Melissa. Paris and Limousin Are Burning in This Great Lesbian Love Story. The Village Voice. July 18, 2016
• Ide, Wendy. Summertime review – potent romance. The Guardian. July 17, 2016
• Mobarak, Jared. Summertime. The Film Stage. July 20, 2016
• Scott, A. O. Review: Warm Burst of Romantic Bliss in ‘Summertime’. The New York Times. July 21, 2016
• Toumarkine, Doris. Filmmaker of All Seasons: Catherine Corsini’s ‘Summertime’ is a ’70s tale of sexual liberation. Film Journal International. July 22, 2016
• Turan, Kenneth. 'Summertime' a warm embrace of a French same-sex couple's evolving relationship. Los Angeles Times. July 21, 2016

External links

• Summertime at Pyramide Films
• Summertime at Strand Releasing
• Summertime at IMDb