L’Heure
d’été (Summer Hours)
This French-made film has a relatively modest cast of characters,
a “local” geographical range (Paris and Valmondois) where scenes are set, and no unusual or particularly
memorable individual events or dramatic plot twists of the type that are sometimes accompanied by zealous and obvious
fanfare. Rather than being held at one remove from the proceedings, we are
immersed in the action, and observe from a position within the characters’ social
circles. Our understanding of the characters is informed by degree, and occurs
almost imperceptibly. We have the impression that we are “getting to know” the characters
slowly, from our privileged position as mute observers, seeing and hearing all at
their social gatherings. This effect is definitely cumulative, and the pace may
seem slow at first, but the committed audience member is eventually rewarded by
an overall impression of having spent time in the company, as it were, of an
authentically heterogeneous group of individuals.
The Musée d’Orsay participated in the making of the film and, as a consequence, if you are interested in the type of art
exhibited there, or if you are one of the probably several millions who have
visited the museum, you may find something appealing here. In that
regard, the film's props that are related to the art world (artist’s notebooks, a painting by Corot, among other things) helped
to establish an authentic environment for the
characters, and a credible one for the audience. The d’Orsay is also visited within the remit of
the storyline. At that moment, and throughout the film, the lessons that some of the characters ostensibly
learn (the worth of art pieces and their place within or without of the confines of a museum)
are not difficult to understand, and the characters’ travails, such as they
are, are, with some dubious exceptions (see below), depicted with style and fluidity. (To such a degree, in fact, that
some may argue that the sometimes dehumanised and clinical
atmosphere of an art museum is echoed by the film’s tendency towards
the superficial – the old chestnut of style over substance – but
this was not my own experience of the piece.)
To help us immerse ourselves in the
lives of the characters, we are presented with a series of long set pieces (one of the best of which is the closing scene)
where the characters interact in a deliberately naturalistic way. Examples of
this naturalistic style occur when the speaker is obscured by another character
passing in front of the camera. On another occasion, we listen to the mobile phone
conversation of what we initally believe to be an anonymous non-speaking
background character when he steps from the background to the foreground of the
scene. In stark contrast to this studied naturalism are the multiple and, to
my mind, obvious continuity mistakes when the state of an apple varies greatly
between shots of the same scene. That these “mistakes” were so obvious means
that the director is trying to communicate something by them. Perhaps his intention is to
comment on the film's more prominent themes by making us, the viewers, reflect
on our own commitment to “art”, for which read “this film”.