Froid comme l'été (2002) (TV)

User Rating:

7.5/10   

Director:

Jacques Maillot

Writers:

Pierre Chosson (writer)
Jacques Maillot (writer)

Release Date:

3 October 2003 (France)

Plot Keywords:

Lesbian | Gay Interest | Summer | Holiday | Sea

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Sarah Grappin	...	Rachel
Nathalie Richard	...	Claire
Mika Tard	...	Cécile
Eric Bonicatto	...	David
Joseph Malerba	...	Gérard
Valérie Mairesse	...	Elizabeth
Catherine Ferran	...	La mère de Rachel
Fred Ulysse	...	Le père de Rachel
Audrey Fleurot	...	Marine
Liliane Rovère	...	La mère de Claire
Malik Zidi	...	Baudelaire
Bruno Paviot	...	Le médecin légiste
Luc Leclerc du Sablon	...	L'employé de la SNCF
Françoise Pinkwasser	...	Madame Aymard
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Zacharie Babinet	...	L'enfant du bac à sable
Marc Chapiteau	...	Le médecin de nuit
Marie Delmares	...	La vendeuse du magasin de chaussures
Nathalie Dherbey	...	L'employée de la crêche
Edith Garraud	...	La femme âgée
Laurent Godard	...	Laurent
Pierre Hiessler	...	Jean-Louis
Jean-Claude Jay	...	L'homme âgé
Agnès Obadia	...	La femme du square
United Souls	...	La chorale
Daphné Tarka	...	Louise
Alain Ussel	...	Le voisin
Alice Varenne	...	L'amie de Cécile

Also Known As:

Cold as Summer (USA)

Runtime:

88 min

Country:

France

Language:

French | English

Color:

Color

Filming Locations:

Gorges de l'Hérault, Hérault, France

Company:

Arte France

Difficult to believe this was made for TV

The most chilling aspect of any villain is his or her normalcy. The more aberrant the behavior, the easier it is to dismiss their villainy. Normal folks doing bad things though is a bit more unsettling. We see their ordinariness reflected in the mirror. One such antihero is Rachel (Sarah Grappin) in Jacques Maillot's superb Cold as Summer.

Rachel is a single mother raising a child she doesn't really have the temperament for. She gets Rohypnol from her doctor not only to help her sleep, but to keep the baby from crying at night as well. In any scene where she's with the kid it's clear that she has absolutely no idea what to do in any given situation. Her life is not where she wants it to be but she doesn't know or cannot do what it takes to properly get someplace else. She finds an alternative route that has consequences beyond anything she intended.

Rachel is contrasted with Claire (Nathalie Richard). She's a cop struggling with child issues of her own. Events take her towards Rachel, a woman she is appalled by even as she grows more sympathetic. Both Richard and Grappin put in excellent performances. Maillot and Pierre Chosson's script manages to move the story towards a level of sympathy one wouldn't think to feel for Rachel but it's Grappin's accomplishment that it works so well. One can't help but hope she succeeds while reviling her at the same time.

So much of the effectiveness of this film is predicated on not knowing much about the story line. Suffice to say, it is an excellent movie. All too often made-for-TV films are artistic toilets overflowing with cinematic waste. Cold as Summer is a plunger that makes all that nastiness head down the drain leaving only pristine porcelain perfection to contemplate. OK, the metaphor sucks but you get the point.