Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.5

Summer Hours Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov April 1, 2010

Winner of the Best Foreign Language Film Award granted by the National Society of Film Critics, Olivier Assayas' "L'heure d'ete" a.k.a "Summer Hours" (2008) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental feature on the disc include an interview with director Olivier Assayas conducted exclusively for the Criterion collection; Making of; "Inventory" - a documentary by Olivier Gonard, shot partly in Paris's Musee d'Orsay; and a 26-page illustrated booklet containing an essay by renowned film critic Kent Jones. In French, with optional English subtitles. Region-A "locked".

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Olivier Assayas' Summer Days tells the story of a large French family facing a number of difficult dilemmas. Helene (Edith Scob, Comedie de l'innocence), who has just turned 75, has invited her two sons, Frederic (Charles Berling, Ceux qui m'aiment prendront le train) and Jeremie (Jeremie Renier, L'enfant), and their families, as well as her daughter, Adrienne (Juliette Binoche, Les amants du Pont-Neuf), to visit her. In addition to celebrating her birthday, Helene would also like to talk about her will. She senses that she may not be around for too long, which is why some things need to be taken care of as quickly as possible.

One of those things is Helene's house, which she inherited from her uncle, a well known painter. Another is Helene's unique collection of antique pieces - paintings, vases, sculptures, a Victorian desk. Some are in excellent condition. Some are not. Some are valuable, others are not. The family must decide what would happen to them once Helene is gone.

Frederic, Helene's oldest son and the only one still living in Paris, hopes that his mother, Jeremie and Adrienne would agree that neither the house nor the antique pieces in it should be sold. He would like to have his, Jeremie and Adrienne's families come back to the house every once in awhile and use it. It is a place full of memories, a part of the family.

Frederic has spoken to Helene about the house before and she knows what he wants. She would love it if things turned out the way he wants them to, but deep inside her heart she feels that Jeremie and Adrienne would probably want to sell.

During the birthday party, Helene, Frederic, Jeremie and Adrienne talk about their jobs, their lives, and the future but fail to agree on what to do with the house and the antique pieces. A couple of days later, Helene dies.

After the funeral, the three meet again. This time they must decide what to do with the house. Not only because Helene is no longer around, but also because Eloise, the family housekeeper, who has lived with Helene for years, must be told what to do.

Frederic quickly announces what everyone already knows - he is determined to keep the house. Jeremie, however, has something else in mind. He has just accepted a lucrative job in Beijing and does not think that the house would be of much use to him or his family. In fact, he does not think that he would be back in France in the next couple of years. If Frederic and Adrienne do not mind, he would like to see the house sold. With his share of the money, Jeremie would make a downpayment for a new home in Beijing.

Adrienne also has news. She and her longtime American boyfriend are finally getting married in New York. She hates to say it, she really does, but she also would not mind having the house sold. Frederick is heartbroken. He isn't angry at Jeremie and Adrienne, but is deeply disappointed by them. He quickly contacts an appraisal agency to get a quote on the house and the antique pieces in it.

Assayas' Summer Hours is a film about a type of transition we all experience at least once in our life. It is a difficult transition which most of us do not want to think about. And there is a good reason why. When the time comes and we are forced to deal with it, we suffer. Then, our lives change forever.

Assayas' mother passed away in 2007, and I think that Summer Hours reveals at least partially what type of transition he faced, how his life changed. Throughout the film there is a lot of talk about valuable objects, their stories and what they mean to us once those who we have been associating them with are gone. I think that at some point Assayas had to reorganize his life just like the main protagonists in Summer Hours do, and he realized that life is what makes most everything around us valuable.

Charles Berling, Jeremy Renier, and Juliette Binoche are exceptionally good. They manage to maintain a level of authenticity in their acting that makes it very easy to relate to their characters. On the other hand, there are a couple of very interesting metaphors in Summer Hours about globalization and the changing landscape of borderless Europe.

Summer Hours Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Olivier Assayas' Summer Hours arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.

This new high-definition transfer of Summer Hours - which has been supervised by director Olivier Assayas and cinematographer Eric Gautier - looks terrific. Compared to the R2 SDVD release of Summer Hours, which British distributors Artificial Eye produced quite some time ago, Criterion's Blu-ray release offers substantial upgrades in practically every key area that we typically address in our reviews, from fine object detail and clarity to contrast and color-reproduction. Furthermore, the mild edge-enhancement and especially macroblocking that are noticeable on the R2 SDVD are nowhere to be seen on the Criterion release. The color-scheme is also notably better; greens, blues, yellows, browns, blacks and whites look warm but fresh and natural. Finally, I did not detect any disturbing scratches, cuts, debris, or stains to report in this review. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray disc. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).

Summer Hours Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one audio track on this Blu-ray disc: French DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. For the record, Criterion have provided optional English subtitles for the main feature.

Mastered at 24-bit from the original digital audio master files using Pro Tools HD, the audio is rock solid. The film is primarily dialog-driven so there really isn't a whole lot of surround activity, but the dialog is crisp, clean and exceptionally easy to follow. Furthermore, while viewing Summer Hours I did not detect any disturbing pops, cracks, or hiss to report in this review.

Summer Hours Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Interview - an interview with director Olivier Assayas conducted exclusively for the Criterion collection in Paris in January 2010. In this interview the French director talks about his films, the unique feelings and emotions Summer Hours deals with, its "global" message, the new trends in French cinema, etc. In English, not subtitled. (29 min, 1080p).

Making of - this half-hour documentary features interviews with director Olivier Assays and actors Charles Berling and Juliette Binoche, and shows the cast and crew at work. In French, with optional English subtitles. (26 min, 1080i).

Inventory - this hour-long documentary by Olivier Gonard, shot partly in Paris's Musee d'Orsay, examines the film's approach to the art featured in it. In French, with optional English subtitles. (51 min, 1080i).

Booklet - a 26-page illustrated booklet containing renowned film critic Kent Jones' essay "A Time to Live and a Time to Die".

Summer Hours Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I cannot recommend Olivier Assayas' Summer Hours highly enough. It is exceptionally well acted and superbly directed film. It is also a notably mature film. Those of you who appreciate intelligent contemporary cinema will be delighted with it. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.