Last Summer

(L’été dernier)

“Breillat might be known for exposing sexual perversion, but it’s the emotional violence that is at the heart of her work, and she exposes it in Late Summer. She knows exactly what lies in our dark hearts, and how we might let that darkness consume us.” – ScreenAnarchy

With her first film in a decade, the fearless 75-year-old French auteur Catherine Breillat (Fat Girl, The Last Mistress) proves she’s as provocative as ever with her Cannes-stirring film, which drives down the dark road of uncontrollable passion. A remarkably nuanced, radiant Léa Drucker plays Anne, an attorney who has plateaued in her marriage to Pierre (Olivier Rabourdin), a distracted businessman. His son, troubled seventeen-year-old, Theo (Samuel Kircher), from a previous marriage, has recently returned to Pierre’s ineffectual and despondent care. When Pierre leaves town for a business trip, Anne and Théo — confined under the same roof for the first time — find themselves in the throes of an unexpected and dangerously lustful affair, threatening the stability of the household. Music by Kim Gordon heightens the erotic tension of LAST SUMMER, a film that boldly surveys power dynamics, female desire, and fulfillment.

Directed by Catherine Breillat. Written by Catherine Breillat, Pascal Bonitzer, Maren Louise Käehne & May el-Toukhy. Starring: Léa Drucker, Samuel Kircher, Olivier Rabourdin, Clotilde Courau, Serena Hu & Angela Chen.

“Breillat’s sharp writing and even sharper camera make for a cinematic challenge, a cinematic gem.” – Drew Gregory, Autostraddle.

“By Breillat’s standards, this is an unprecedentedly sleek commercial play, alluring and grabby — yet with an innate, considered nastiness, an unspoken intellectualisation of our least explicable instincts, that never feels compromised.” – Guy Lodge.