‘Last Summer’: A Salacious French Drama Hits the Screens Just in Time for Summer

If you’re at all familiar with the French provocateur, Catherine Breillat, you’ll know that the 75-year-old master does not shy away from the taboo. In fact, she embraces it with gusto and sincere pathos. It’s what makes her films wildly compelling, even if they make you squirm, gasp, or look away in shock and shame. It’s true, her films are not for everyone, but her uncompromising look at complicated people, and her daring exploration of women’s sexuality, have cemented her name in the cinematic history books.

And now, after a 10-year hiatus, the brilliant Breillat is back with her latest film, Last Summer, a remake of 2019’s Danish film, Queen of Hearts. Léa Drucker plays Anne, a cool and collected lawyer that defends minors in sexual assault cases. She lives in a beautiful mansion in the countryside outside Paris with her wealthy caring husband, Pierre, and their two adopted daughters. But their idyllic summer is bound to take a turn when Pierre’s troubled 17-year-old son, Théo, comes to spend the sweaty months with his once-distant father, in hopes that some stability will set him on a good path. How wrong they all are.

You may see where this is going. Before you can say “Now Anne, think about this for a second…” the established lawyer and her husband’s son start an explosive, highly inappropriate, and scandalous affair, one that threatens the fabric of the family, Anne’s career, and most importantly Théo’s well-being.

Now, it may sound like a familiar set up, but a Lifetime movie this is not. Rather than play into the archetypes a film like this might suggest, Anne does not seem to be wanting for more passion. Pierre isn’t the neglectful husband. In fact, Anne remarks she likes how his body shows its age. Anne doesn’t express signs of repression or some deranged proclivity towards youth. She’s not a woman on the verge; she’s a highly accomplished, deliberate, if not a little distant, professional woman with an amazing life. And although we know what will happen between Anne and Théo – this is a Breillat movie after all – the telltale signs aren’t there. There’s hardly a hint that she could even be susceptible to Théo’s advances and boyish adolescence. So what drives Anne to make a choice she can never come back from? Uncontrollable lust? Control? A perversion lurking under Anne’s surface? Breillat refuses to psychologize and give a tidy explanation.

And unlike many of Breillat’s previous films, which can feel dark, cynical, and even nihilistic, Last Summer is able to retain a light, airy, and even occasionally funny atmosphere – like a breezy Parisian afternoon in the country, which in a way, makes it even more unnerving. It’s not sensational. And while it’s not as salacious, gratuitous, or in your face as her other films, it is still in its own way, confrontational. Especially in its depiction of power dynamics and the fragility of youth. The hypocritical Anne knows all too well how it works for young sexual assault victims; how often they are ignored or not believed; how damaging it can be to their psyche; how easy it is to manipulate. Who would believe a habitual troublemaker like Théo, anyway?

Breillat does what she does best, and expertly complicates our own feelings on the matter, blurring boundaries, obfuscating what’s right and wrong, causing us to question where our allegiances lie. Who are we really rooting for? We should know the answer to that. But Breillat, the seasoned provocateur, has other plans. What she does show is that lust is like a dangerous drug; it can be as destructive as it is intoxicating.

Last Summer is playing at the Riviera Theatre starting July 19th.