L’Heure d’été (Summer Hours) (2009)
83%RT Audience Score: 70%
Awards & Nominations: 8 wins & 19 nominations
Olivier Assayas’ contemplative family drama handles lofty ideas about art and culture with elegance and lightness
Summer Hours is a film that will make you want to call your siblings and reminisce about your childhood memories. It’s a heartwarming story about family, tradition, and the passing of time. The film’s message is clear: life goes on, and we must learn to let go of the past to embrace the future. The performances are superb, and the cinematography captures the essence of late summer perfectly. It’s a must-watch for anyone who loves a good family drama with a touch of humor and nostalgia.
Production Company(ies)
Independent Film Channel, Channel, Four Fourth Floor Pictures,
Distributor
IFC Films
Release Type
Filming Location(s)
Taiwan
MPAA / Certificate
Not Rated
Year of Release
2005
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Dolby Digital
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Aspect ratio:1.85 : 1
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Runtime:1h 42m
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Language(s):Mandarin, Min, Nan
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): May 15, 2009 Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Oct 6, 2009
Genre(s)
Drama
Keyword(s)
starring Édith Scob, Charles Berling, Juliette Binoche, Jérémie Renier, Dominique Reymond, Kyle Eastwood, directed by Olivier Assayas, written by Olivier Assayas, drama, French language, box office gross $1.6M, reviewed by Frédéric Bonnaud, Derek Elley, Jonathan F Richards, Ray Bennett, Stephen Cole, Greg Quill, Juliette Binoche as Adrienne, Charles Berling as Frederic, Jérémie Renier as Jeremie, Édith Scob as Helene, produced by IFC Films, MPAA rating N/A, art collection, mortality, family drama, possessions, sentimental value, financial value, museum, inheritance, passing of time, memories, grave, slow-paced
Worldwide gross: $581,875
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $886,768
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,624
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 96,703
US/Canada gross: $151,922
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $231,527
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,514
US/Canada opening weekend: $14,197
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $21,636
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,489
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): NA
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): NA
Production budget ranking: NA
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
ROI to date (est.): NA
ROI ranking: NA
Charles Berling – Frederic
Jérémie Renier – Jeremie
Édith Scob – Helene
Dominique Reymond – Lisa
Kyle Eastwood – Self
Director(s)
Olivier Assayas
Writer(s)
Olivier Assayas
Producer(s)
NA
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
8 wins & 19 nominations
Academy Awards
All Critics (106) | Top Critics (43) | Fresh (100) | Rotten (6)
( … ) Summer Hours is Assayas’s best film set on home turf-the one that best puts things in perspective and loudly proclaims that one must know how to shed dead skin to go on living.
November 17, 2013
Frédéric Bonnaud
Film Comment Magazine
TOP CRITIC
Assayas’ script is more allusive than demonstrative, with a distinct whiff of Eric Rohmer in its conversational blocks separated by fadeouts.
December 16, 2009
Derek Elley
Variety
TOP CRITIC
n Summer Hours, Olivier Assayas’s gently provocative rumination on family and possessions, a trio of siblings wrestles with the problem of what to do with the old homestead once Mother is gone.
August 23, 2009
Jonathan F. Richards
Film.com
TOP CRITIC
Evocative look at a family trying to decide what to do with its treasures.
June 19, 2009
Ray Bennett
Hollywood Reporter
TOP CRITIC
Where a Hollywood film of a family feuding over a fabulous estate would surely end with a slapped face and an infantry charge of lawyers, Assayas’s work concludes with a smile and a shrug. Life goes on. What else can it do?
June 19, 2009 | Rating: 4/4
Stephen Cole
Globe and Mail
TOP CRITIC
Performances in this small and profoundly eloquent film are superb, yet none redirects attention from Assayas’s earnest meditation on the ravaging effects of a shrinking world on family traditions and entrenched personal relationships.
June 19, 2009 | Rating: 3.5/4
Greg Quill
Toronto Star
TOP CRITIC
A profound and affecting film that is both inspiring and unforgettable.
June 6, 2019 | Rating: 3.5/4
Mattie Lucas
From the Front Row
I love films which capture that atmosphere of late summer, lazy and sultry and shadowed by the coming autumn. So I found this very moving.
September 6, 2018
Eve Tushnet
Patheos
In crafting his own objet d’art, Assayas has paid careful consideration to the fine aesthetic practiced in Taiwan, particularly that of Hou Hsiao-hsie.
October 10, 2017
Jay Kuehner
Cinema Scope
Avoiding easy conflict and histrionics, Summer Hours instead shows loving siblings, relatives and friends negotiating differences the best that they can.
August 24, 2017
Eric Hynes
Stop Smiling
Olivier Assayas’s new meditation on French domestic life, the wisely ironic Summer Hours, begins with children’s games and ends with adolescent partying and pairing off — that is, the real business of life
March 17, 2015
Stuart Klawans
The Nation
Has the feel, if not the look, of an old man’s film, a meditation on the passing of time.
August 26, 2011
Kelly Vance
East Bay Express…
Plot
After their mother’s passing, three siblings must come to an agreement on what to do with her valuable art collection while also grappling with their own mortality in Olivier Assayas’ contemplative family drama, Summer Hours.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
The film features Juliette Binoche in the role of Adrienne.
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