to paraphrase the opening lullaby from Porgy and Bess. The folk opera written by George Gershwin, his brother Ira, and DuBose Heyward, author of the novel on which the show was based, opened on Broadway in 1935 but coincidentally an 'adult' play, The Children's Hour, by Lillian Hellman opened on Broadway and the 'adult' theme was the accusation (false) by a malicious schoolgirl that the two unmarried young women who owned the private school were engaged in an active lesbian relationship. 80 years later women are in the provinces are still not allowed to display sexual affection openly and that is the main thrust of this excellent film. For me, a heterosexual male the selling point was third-billed Noemie Lvovsky as the mother of one of the two female lovers followed by Cecile de France whom I had seen only in ingenue-type roles. The key to the film was the time it was set, 1971, when 'feminist' activists were making a noise world-wide but farmer's daughter Izia Higelin is in no position to express feelings about anything in Limousin so she moves to Paris and in nothing flat is heavily involved in women's lib and in nothing flatter she seduces a leader of the movement, Cecilde de France, who, as it happen, is in a relationship (they share a home) with a man. It's not, of course, much of a problem to maintain an all-female relationship in Paris but that would be too easy so when the farmer suffers a stroke his more than able-bodied daughter moves back to Limousin to run the farm. Cecile de France, now in way over her head, follows her and they continue the passionate affair clandestinely. This is a very lyrical film with gorgeous shots of the country around Limousin and farming activities like haymaking designed to enhance the unorthodox story. It ends in tears, natch, but it is a journey well worth sharing with the protagonists.
Review of Summertime
