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Hurry, please: Summer Hours worth your time
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Juliette Binoche, left (AP)
Despite the fact summer itself is fast approaching, Summer Hours is, well, running out of time around Los Angeles. If you were me, you'd catch it while you can.
The French drama's writer and director, Olivier Assayas, has surrounded himself with a refined ensemble including Juliette Binoche, Charles Berling and Jeremie Renier -- and a top-flight group of supporters.
The tale on tap seems rudimentary enough: An elderly French matriarch, art-collection heiress with a country home where her adult children converge each year, passes away ("She tired herself out.") Discussions, some uncomfortable, ensue about the valuable estate and its prized belongings.
Leisurely and chatty, which is not to say dull, the production boasts a keen attention to detail, with no disruptive interludes or sappy anthems. Instead we're treated to the satisfying sounds of nature, plausible pauses in conversation, a sidewalk scene amid the rain.
Time and again, Assayas proves to be masterfully in control. Case in point: The camera positioned behind a forlorn housekeeper as she silently traverses the residence. And the spotlighted residence's gorgeous, sun-filtered property is exquisitely rendered, like one of Monet's finest -- with vivid colors and open, breezy spaces.
Summer Hours examines life and loss, a family splintered, without the slightest hint of pretense. Assayas prefers to show, not tell, when it matters most: All the more realistic that way.
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Summer time with the director
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