The Vertical Ray of the Sun

Let it be known that I made a sincere effort to understand and appreciate À la verticale de l'été. I did understand that the director is searching for "beauty in its simplest form" as another comment about this film reads. The film is indeed very beautiful, the joy of waking up and the Tai Shi-thing not the least. My problem is that for the first eighty or so minutes, it lacks a basic conflict. After that, several conflicts surface. If you are able to tell the characters apart, the not-so-obvious conflicts might have been really interesting. However, the movie also lacks a development in the characters personality, or a transition between different states of mind. The individual's development as a result of some kind of conflict is, for me, absolutely necessary for a movie to tell an interesting story. And this is what movies should do, isn't it - tell a story? There just isn't enough of a plot in this one to keep me interested. I am happy for the people who love it. I personally think that it's beauty is not enough. À la verticale de l'été should have been a painting instead of a movie.