Review by
Eric Hillis
Directed by: François Ozon
Starring: Félix Lefebvre, Benjamin Voisin, Philippine Velge, Valeria Bruni
Tedeschi, Melvil Poupaud, Isabelle Nanty
The film opens with 16-year-old Alexis (Félix Lefebvre), who
prefers to go by "Alex" (there's a subtext of France's succumbing to the
Anglo-centric pop culture of the era, with a Union Jack prominently
displayed in another character's bedroom), in police custody. Breaking the
fourth wall, Alex tells us how the movie we're about to watch is the story
of a corpse, and the person he knew before they became said corpse.
Backed by a sombre score by Jean-Benoît Dunckel (one half of
French electro-pop duo Air), it's a brooding opening to what has been
marketed as a sunny teen romance, but immediately Ozon switches tones as
we cut to a beach in Normandy, The Cure's 'In Between Days' kicking in as
we're plunged into the pastel world of the mid '80s. Alex decides to kick
off the summer by taking a borrowed boat out to sea, but his lack of sea
legs leave him in trouble when he gets caught in a storm, his boat
capsizing. Appearing like a mirage is handsome 18-year-old David (Benjamin Voisin, who has all the feathered hair and cockiness of a young Robert Downey
Jr), who rescues Alex, from drowning and possibly from a life of
denial.
The two instantly bond as friends, and David even gets Alex a summer job
working in the boating shop run by his predatory mother (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, always a welcome presence). Their friendship soon turns into an intense
sexual relationship, but Alex is taking it all a little too seriously for
David's liking. In the film's most striking scene, Alex dons a walkman
while in the middle of a crowded dancefloor and slow dances to Rod
Stewart's 'Sailing' while David pogoes manically to the club's high tempo
dance track, both young men lost in dance, but to very different beats.
When worldly 21-year-old English au pair Kate (Philippine Velge)
befriends the two boys, Alex grows intensely jealous, and thoughts of that
corpse he referred to come raging back.
A romantic drama that constantly teases an imminent thriller plot,
Summer of 85 seems to be taking its cues from the
distinctive structure of Jean Becker's 1983 film
One Deadly Summer. Both films play out over a French summer in the mid-80s, and both hint
at a coming darkness while engaging in frothy frolics. Of course, in both
Isabelle Adjani and Voisin's David, both have seductive figures whose
intentions we're not quite certain of. With their messy tonal shifts,
neither film quite pulls off what it's setting out to achieve,
particularly in the case of Summer of 85, as its final act turns out to be largely anti-climactic compared to how
Ozon, and particularly Dunckel's moody score, have prepared us for the
revelations set up by the film's arresting opening.
Remove any hint of a thriller (because it really isn't one) and
Summer of 85 would likely be a more satisfying coming-of-age
drama. It's distinctive enough in this regard to stand out in this crowded
field, particularly in its honesty about how heartbreak is like measles -
the younger you contract it, the more prepared for adulthood you'll be. In
newcomers Lefebvre, Voisin and Velge, Ozon has unearthed three future
stars who perfectly embody the young people they're playing, with their
varying levels of confidence and self doubt. While at times Ozon's
attempts to appeal to a young audience come off a little too "Oh Grandad"
(a set-piece involving Alex in drag is particularly cringey), I suspect
the Gallic forthrightness of Summer of 85 and its point
blank refusal to patronise or condescend to teenagers will strike a chord
with many a young viewer, and may prove an effective gateway to foreign
language cinema for teens of a curious nature.
Summer of 85 is on MUBI UK
now.