This film is the third of the four works that make up the famous tales of the seasons by french Rohmer, the stories in which he covers various circumstances and relationships between human beings, in different circumstances and always framed, as is obvious, in the seasons of the year. The director also continues with the works that can be counted among the well-known Comedies and proverbs, again the filmmaker is involved in his film, being, apart from the director also responsible for the development of script, performs the work of scriptwriter, and certainly will be recognizable that detail, as in previous films. The director takes the opportunity to capture one of the themes of his life, one of the topics that can be considered an obsession in the filmmaker, that is, young people's love affairs, very similar to what we could see, to give an example, at the award-winning Pauline at the Beach (1983). It is the story of a young, recently graduated student of mathematics, who before continuing his studies takes a summer vacation in a beach area, where he will meet his girlfriend, but while waiting, he will meet and start romances with other two young women. With a subject previously addressed by the filmmaker, the film, frankly, can not be considered a major contribution to the cinematographic art.
The action starts with Gaspard (Melvil Poupaud), a teenager individual who is about to take a few days off, vacation on the beach town Dinard, comes only with his backpack and his guitar. After a few days, he walks alone on the sunny beach, goes daily to eat at a cafe, where the waitress is the young Margot (Amanda Langlet), beautiful girl who will later recognize him on the beach, not taking long in talking to him and making friends. He is on vacation before pursuing math studies, she is an ethnologist, they exchange stories of their lives, they spend time together, but he confesses that he is in there to meet another girl. They go to a nightclub, Margot manifests his likes for him, in vain, although she manages to get a kiss from the young man. Then meets Gaspard Solene (Gwenaëlle Simon), one of the girls in the club, with whom an idyll is soon produced, spend time with some relatives of her in a boat, but do not consume the romance. Upon learning Margot of the affair, jealous, is upset, not distancing herself from him nevertheless. One day, appears Lena (Aurelia Nolin), the girl that Gaspard expected, his romance is reborn, but half, because she gives priority to other things. He decides to take a trip with Margot, breaks up with the other two, and finds a surprise when she will travel, but with her boyfriend. Gaspard leaves alone.
Rohmer presents us the third installment of his famous tales of the seasons, a film that is absolutely impregnated with his everlasting theme, and his ever-present image in french cinema, the sea, a sunny, well-lit beach, more summer than never, it will be again the frame where the characters of turn will unfold. Having already spent more than two quinquennia since the filmmaker shot mostly feature films and put aside his initial works, documentaries and short films, there is no doubt that a topic of all the filmography of the french is this, youthful flirtations, dalliances and love affairs, passengers idile, light courtship, clubbing, and in the middle, a lot, but a lot of dialogue; certainly a subject that the director does not seem to have got sicked of, unlike many of the spectators. Surprisingly, the first few minutes of the film are silent, that is to say there is no words, everything happens almost without a word being pronounced, all recorded expressly in a diary, this is helping more quickly to warn the character of Gaspard, dry, a sparing character, tasteless, that is understood, at least in part, in those succinct and initial minutes; a silence of course that will soon be broken, and once broken, will almost never reign throughout the footage. It does not become too difficult to predict, after barely half an hour of the film, what awaits us as spectators of the film, since Gaspard, being a young individual, is tasteless and insipid, something even devious, could not have different adventures his character, to some extent tiresome and boring, as the protagonist of them. Regrettably, we appreciate the same film weaknesses that, again, I quote, Pauline at the beach, we notice a film about which phrases or favorable judgments not in excess we might emit. Several years had passed since that movie, but it is impossible to miss that those same weaknesses still abound in the cinema of Rohmer, he keeps repeating some mistakes, but what is worse, he does not finish exploding aesthetically, not in this film at least, a pity knowing that the director is perfectly capable of producing visual beauty.
Naturally, echoes of previous films are felt, and, for example, despite mediating more than a decade between films, the thematic and aesthetic closeness with the aforementioned Pauline at the beach is undeniable, winks that are reflected even in the occupation of Margot, ethnologist, as was one of the men in Pauline's adventure. Of course, that similarity goes further, we find it in its audiovisual language itself, with the symmetrical framings of the beach, sky and sea meeting in the distant horizon, with pleasant vanishing, they are a print that is not absent, for ephemeral pleasure of the public. The coherence and extension of its visual elements does not stop, something positive, we can even appreciate boat ornaments, decorative elements already appreciated in previous movies. We found another unmistakable visual stamp of the filmmaker, the aforementioned beauty of those luminous exterior images, the beach, summer image par excellence, the almost always clear sky, a recognizable audiovisual construction, as recognizable as the tedious excess of conversations, dialogues, now this aggravated with the theme of the diary that inflates the story with a rigidity that will never stop flowing. The camera unfolds with a fluency that attests to the years that have passed, tirelessly slipping following the characters during the interminable conversations of Gaspard, with the three girls, but mostly with Margot. We observe the usual follow-ups of that camera, follow-ups to the characters, their movements, it is positive and correct the resource of how, with subtle travellings, the protagonists are followed with remarkable precision, by open spaces, by narrow streets, during walks, but not only the physical movements of the protagonists are reflected, but, again, their eternal conversations. The camera is probably one of the most decent elements, an appreciable narrative element within the film, a film where the director returns to normality in his narrative, that is, to frame everything within a main perspective, to bias the audience with a focus mainly, of course, Gaspard's perspective, since the whole film is rigidly structured as a binnacle of the young Gaspard's vacation experiences, his somewhat acerbic attitude, his parsimony, or awkwardness, sentimental, not paying attention to the constants Margot's insinuations.
Margot, the most serious, compared to the others, and that greater interest manifested in the boy, ends up becoming his confidant, and little more than that, another example of attitudes that at times border on the stupidity on the part of the indecisive young man, because later it will be too late. The male character rather has a behavior that brings him closer to a feminine, endless ramblings, congenial with some individuals but at the same time does not finish doing it, says one thing and ends up doing another, his behavior is one of the factors that ends up making the viewing of the film something tedious, added, of course, to the unnecessary extension of the footage. We will be exposed, like that, to the trivialities of the boys, whining, running around, their actions, boyfriends' badomies, they do not end, everything is structured, all basted according to Gaspard, who apparently does not know what he wants, and when at last he seems to glimpse it, he has lost his chance. Often happens. And the director surprises for not getting tired of expressing it, a strange relax by him, reiterated concomitance of that topic, making it not difficult for the film to end up boring some palate, with an unnecessary duration of almost two hours, plagued by endless dialogues, trinkets, flirting, whims, three different girls who are going to corroborate us just that fickle character of the young man, who behaves like a weathervane, plays a triple band game, staying at the end with nothing. It invades a tedium from which not even the girls manage to rescue the film, of rather moderate beauty, and even more moderate performances, do not consolidate as an element that enhances the film, which enhances its bonuses. It is true, however, that the film is adorned with the plasticity of the flesh, Margot's legs in a moment, almost framed Gaspard, this without mentioning, of course, Solene and Lena, wearing the skin that is necessary in a beach, in a hot summer season. In general, there is no significant evolution in the director, it is not a significant contribution or advance compared to other previous films, we can not speak of an extraordinary film or step forward for Rohmer, perhaps his documentaries, and short films for the small screen, have diminished a little his artistic progress. Unfortunately, it must be said that no one will see a masterpiece in the film, as indeed there is not, as Rohmer is an appreciable filmmaker, we have in the present work an exercise that is not precisely his best production.
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