Summer Of '85. Maybe this is why his film stands as one of the best in that genre. Any queer film set in the mid-80s must in some way pay homage to all the lives which were tragically lost in that decade within the queer community. This is the essence of young love, but really, of any regenerative experience. But will the dream last more than one summer? The meaning is clear; solitude is protective but also limiting, rendering the inhabitant landlocked without much possibility of escape. Unlock access to all of Film Inquiry`s great articles. He asks Alex, “why waste time? Alexis thinks he's just met the friend of his dreams. With David, Alex’s hard built defences seem to erode, allowing metaphorical land and sea to merge in the wake of their love, just as the physical elements merge here, in this northernmost region of France. Last screened at HOME just before we closed, you can now watch this film online via Curzon Home Cinema.Use the discount code LOCKDOWN2 to get 15% off the rental price for this title (code valid until Wed 2 Dec). French. © 2020 Film Inquiry. Tuesday 27 October 2020, hosted by Ian Haydn Smith . Ozon’s use of music to embody this fluidity is also clear in the film and has become a fixed part of his poetics. Considering its title, Summer of 85 appears to be a hermetically sealed story of love. The film is about losing and finding and gaining; losing and surrendering a previous self, and finding a new one, or constructing it. Bookings open soon! Find out about exclusive screenings, competitions and news about our film releases. But devilish and spikey David sees himself as a free spirit and refuses to be tied down. But like the book it’s based on, Ozon’s storytelling informs us early on that David dies and through flashbacks, we discover how. Featuring superb 80’s styling and music from Rod Stewart, Bananarama and The Cure. All rights reserved. Watch Now. Summer of ‘85 – François Ozon 14. Here at Curzon Goldsmiths, we never have and never will share your information with third parties. In one scene the boys are at a club when David places a pair of headphones on Alex and plays the song for him. After capsizing a boat on the sea, he’s saved by David (Benjamin Voisin), confident and slightly older, who immediately takes him under his wing. WINNER OF THE 2017 BAFTA FOR OUTSTANDING BRITISH CONTRIBUTION TO CINEMA. After a global summer indoors, the idyllic landscape quenches our longing for escape, providing a welcome rush of nostalgia, and the promise of more colourful summers ahead. He has been writing about film since the start of 2014, and in addition to Film Inquiry, regularly contributes to Gay Essential and The Digital Fix, with additional bylines in Film Stories, the BFI and Vague Visages. Because of his work for Film Inquiry, he is a recognised member of GALECA, the Gay & Lesbian Entertainment Critics' Association. Privacy policy (hosted on curzoncinemas.com), Summer of 85, francois ozon, Spotify Playlist, music, Movie Music, soundtracks, Being a Human Person, Competition, Roy Andersson. It fades when it should burn. Based on the British 1982 YA novel Dance on My Grave by Aidan Chambers, Ozon’s adaptation transports events to Northern France focusing on Alex (Félix Lefebvre), a death-obsessed 16-year-old in need of a friend during a long hot summer. Summer of 85 reaches viewers as a beautiful bolt from the blue of the sweeping Normandy coastline. This musical refuge in Summer of 85 is Rod Stewart’s “Sailing”. In this case, there’s only a slight age gap of two years, but one that the film’s detractors would likely say highlights the power imbalance due to both characters being in their teens. In an alternate reality, François Ozon ’s Summer of 85 premiered at Cannes, won the Palme d’Or, and kickstarted the Summer of Ozon. Yet, love does not happen in a vacuum, and, likewise, this film is not set in a vacuum. They share an interesting discussion about mortality (Alex’s obsession with death exists because he’s never really experienced grief as opposed to David whose father died the year before) but it’s mostly paper-thin, if pleasant, flirting and when tragedy strikes, it doesn’t strike us hard enough. As it is, the French auteur’s 19th film – that’s 19 in 22 years, all with a writing credit – was confirmed by Thierry Fremaux to have been officially selected for the cancelled festival. Alex learns from David throughout the film, and when watching it a line from Maggie Nelson’s beautiful text The Argonauts, which explores both love and queerness, came to mind. Tuesday 20 October 2020, hosted by Ian Haydn Smith. SUMMER OF ‘85 With François Ozon, Félix Lefebvre, Benjamin Voisin, Philippine Velge. Two teenage boys fall for each other with tragic results in an intimate and well-acted, if a little overfamiliar, drama about infatuation and death, Last modified on Mon 14 Sep 2020 09.17 EDT. Benjamin Voisin, Felix Lefebvre, Philippine Velge. Sign up below to receive our weekly listings and special bulletins from Curzon Goldsmiths. How will Alexis respond when he realises he can’t have David all to himself? But this is once again overlooking Ozon’s ability to bend to seemingly any genre that takes his fancy, with Summer of 85 representing an unexpected foray into the YA genre – an adaptation of a beloved 80’s teen novel that may have not brought that period setting forward to the present day but still ticks every box for a contemporary young adult story. On the surface, it seems like another similarity between this film and Luca Guadagnino’s beloved Oscar nominee would be the likelihood of generating discourse on the age gap between the couple. Keep an eye on this page and our social media sites for updates as-and-when we plan to reopen. The nostalgia here is from the perspective of a young man looking back at his first love, and how that helped him realise his identity. Looking back on our romantic history can lead to an unhealthy amount of rose-tinted nostalgia but, with a deeper analysis, it can also lead us to consider situations from the other side, a vital realisation that feelings are never entirely identical. Light will come, the bright blue of the Normandy shorelines still exist, even when we cannot see them. At sea, time seems suspended; the fluidity and liminality, and the lack of rigid borders, allow one to explore or construct a new self. When 16-year-old Alexis capsizes off the coast of Le Treport, 18-year-old David heroically saves him. But devilish and spikey David sees himself as a free spirit and refuses to be tied down.
By which I mean, this is a film with two things on its mind: first love, and the fear of death, two things any YA film post-Twilight has needed to captivate its younger, emotionally confused audience. IN CINEMAS & ON CURZON HOME CINEMA 23 OCTOBER, GENRE:
Although not a major work in Francois Ozon’s filmography, Summer of 85 is still one of the best coming of age stories in recent memory – an affecting tale of first love and first heartbreak, all rolled into one. Alistair is a 25 year old writer based in Cambridge. When 16-year-old Alexis capsizes off the coast of Le Treport, 18-year-old David heroically saves him. His flawed, bittersweet drama feels less at home screening at this year’s virtual. Over one hot summer in 1985 naive teenager Alexis (Félix Lefebvre) falls deeply and dangerously in love with David (Benjamin Voisin). Félix Lefebvre stars as Alexis, a 16-year-old who lives in a French seaside town. 5:00pm Time seems to slow down and, again, David impacts Alex’s temporality. For Alex, it’s a lesson we can tell will imprint in his memory but for us, there’s something about the film that isn’t quite heady enough to stick. Please read our Covid-19 guidance prior to attending our screenings. Summer of 85 is released in the UK via Curzon on Demand on October 23. Originally intended for a Cannes unveiling this past May, François Ozon’s blue-skied coming-out-of-age romance Summer of 85 would have been a fitting film for the Croisette, filled with vistas not dissimilar to those one would have seen post-premiere. In his earlier work, Le Refuge (2009), Louis-Ronan Choisy’s character repeatedly plays a song on piano which punctuates the film, drawing the viewer back to a point of refuge upon each hearing. Saturday, September 9, 2017 – Saturday, September 23, 2017 Unlike the woozy love at its centre, Summer of 85 doesn’t haunt in the way that it should. I’ve never managed to review a François Ozon film without speaking, at length, about how he is one of the few truly chameleonic directors working. Romance, LANGUAGES:
Copyright © Curzon 2020. Water surrounds the locale of the film and becomes an important element in the process of time being rendered different. The trauma Alex must face up to is made slightly more bearable by his ability to turn himself into a character in a story, a similar idea to one that was explored in Safy Nebbou’s Who You Think I Am last year although in this instance, there’s no room for fabrication, just a growing awareness of how perspectives can wildly differ within a relationship. We’re all mortals”, promising him, “you and I will take a thousand trips”. BEING A HUMAN PERSON With Fred Scott. In order to process what happened, Alex is urged to document the summer months, to figure out both his emotions and the specifics of how David died and it becomes one of the film’s more piercing elements. The pair become inseparable on the beaches and dancefloors of sun-soaked … Synopsis. You’ve finally got a boyfriend. Thank you for your continued support from all at Curzon Goldsmiths! But again, this seems to be the point Ozon is making; the older of the two is less sensitive, and less intuitive to his emotions, causing ripples in their blossoming summer love. 7 – 2000-Present: Life After the Handover, The History of Hong Kong Action Cinema Pt. But anyone leaving the cinema having watched this film will have learnt what it can mean, how much of life it can make possible, to love someone in one summer, who sees the world in a different way. Hi everyone, just want to start by saying I am not 100% sure if this post is allowed, I read the rules and it is not clear if asking for streaming platform tips is allowed, if it isn't, I apologize. Alistair is a 25 year old writer based in Cambridge.…. But we know this can’t end well for the pair before we even see them together, as we are introduced to our protagonist waiting for his court hearing following David’s death, putting rainclouds over their relationship before we see it blossom.