CIFF 2020: Summer of 85
ciff 2020Young summer love has captivated cinema screens for decades, often leading to intimate and emotional portrayals of the adolescent soul. François Ozon's newest moody feature Summer of 85 looks to do just that, following a young man who goes by Alex (Félix Lefebvre) trying to find his way in life when he meets and falls in love with a local boy named David (Benjamin Voisin). Whilst the romance and moodiness of Summer of 85 starts to build something special, the film works against itself by crafting depths to a conversation never fully realised, causing the film to lose focus and ultimately fail to deliver on its promises to the extent that it could.
What does work in the film wonderfully is its setting. Though 1985's Northern French coast might not scream as the most interesting setting as a period piece, the world built within Summer of 85 is seductively stylish and warm. From the costume design by Pascaline Chavanne to the production design by Benoît Barouh, Summer of 85 sucks audiences into this small coastal town and doesn't let the dreamy effect the town holds fade away throughout the entire runtime. Without getting too far into spoilers, this setting also plays well with the deeper thematic themes the movie holds. Whilst the overall ideas might not fully connect, Summer of 85 is a film that holds a morbid curiosity with death and morality — which are highlighted thematically as they go against the beautiful summer setting.
The acting throughout the film is also quite impressive. Whilst Félix Lefebvre has been in a few smaller features, Summer of 85 serves as a powerful coming out party for the young actor who proves himself as a true talent. Alex is a character with complexities and clear emotional turmoil. Being only 16, Alex is still engaging with life and the human condition as a kid filled with moodiness and confusion on what his role in the world around him is. Félix Lefebvre does a wonderful job bringing this confused character to life with a focused intention. In supporting roles, Benjamin Voisin and Philippine Velge don't quite stand out to the same level but also prove perfectly competent. Both performances have a confidence to them that plays nicely off of the emotion on display from Lefebvre, and though they might not be the best performances of the year, they are decently memorable for side characters.
Where the movie starts to struggle is in its screenplay. At heart, Summer of 85 is a decently simple coming of age story featuring love and a kid interested in death. The film however tries to portray its story as more, setting up a narrative structure meant to engage the audience further by promising a big reveal that never fully forms. The third act also goes in a direction that feels incredibly overproduced and forced. A very similar film, 2017's Call Me By Your Name, thrived because of how grounded its emotions were, always focused and understanding of the film's subtle display of real life. Summer of 85 also carries this realistic approach of showing life and adolescence but, at the end, tries to find a deeper emotional core which feels out of place. In its attempt to go deeper, the film ends up feeling rather hollow as it loses focus of the story it was building, failing to provide a rewarding conclusion.
Whilst Summer of 85 still overall works for the vast majority of the runtime, the third act does enough to really hurt the film overall. What could have been an incredibly subtle and stylized coming of age story bites off more than it could chew, feeling frustratingly confused regarding its own identity. Had the ending carried a greater sense of relevant poetry, Summer of 85 easily could have been one of the LGBTQ+ masterpieces of 2020 but as is, it will go down as a "good" film that never quite made the jump to being anything more.
