A Burning Hot Summer (2011)

The once-happy marriage between brooding painter Frederic and his movie-star wife Angele hits the rocks when another couple joins them on a Roman holiday.

Director:

Philippe Garrel

Writers:

Marc Cholodenko (scenario), Caroline Deruas-Garrel (scenario)

Stars:

Monica Bellucci, Louis Garrel, Céline Sallette

1 nomination.

Cast

Credited cast:
Monica Bellucci	...	Angèle
Louis Garrel	...	Frédéric
Céline Sallette	...	Élisabeth
Jérôme Robart	...	Paul
Vladislav Galard	...	Roland
Vincent Macaigne	...	Achille
Maurice Garrel	...	Le grand-père
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Benjamin Abitan	...	Un soldat
Anthony Audoux	...	Danseur
Julien Bouanich	...	Un soldat
Romain Canonne	...	Un soldat
Jean-Charles Clichet	...	Un soldat
Rodolphe Congé	...	Un soldat
Grégory Fitoussi	...	Lepartenare du film d'époque
Jean-Luc Guillotin	...	Le sergent

Storyline

Frédéric and Angèle are a married couple, he a painter, she an actress of some renown who gave up her career to be with him. She is a woman who most men desire. Struggling actors Paul and Élisabeth, neither who has any money, start to date after they meet as extras on a movie set. Shortly before Paul and Élisabeth met, Frédéric and Paul became friends after being introduced by a mutual acquaintance. By association, all four become friends, especially strengthened when Paul and Élisabeth decide to move into Frédéric and Angèle's spacious apartment in Rome. Following an attempted suicide by Frédéric, Paul reflects on the friendship between the four. Because of physical proximity, they couldn't help but become closer emotionally. So whenever something happened within one of their lives, either directly concerning one or more of the others or not, it couldn't help but affect the other three, the battle lines more often drawn not by couple but by gender.

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Plot Keywords:

female nudity | love triangle | rome italy | cinecitta | temptation of suicide | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

France Italy Switzerland

Language:

French Italian English

Release Date:

29 June 2012 (USA)

Also Known As:

A Burning Hot Summer

Company Credits

Production Co:

Rectangle Productions, Wild Bunch, Faro Film (II)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Quotes

Frédéric: I don't want us to break up. I don't want to.

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Soundtracks

On a Wedding Anniversary
performer: John Cale
writer: John Cale and Dylan Thomas

User Reviews

Major disappointment

My wife and I saw this film at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival under the title "That Summer." This film repeatedly employs what I call "tableau and talk" as it focuses on a visual--perhaps a wall inside a home or an outdoor vista--and then has an off-camera voice-over talk (or more precisely drone) on about something. The film that we saw pretty much opens with the climactic scene so the audience knows very early on where this is headed. It is a film about two couples though the more famous and prosperous couple (Louis Garrel and Monica Bellucci)get the lion's share of the attention. Despite their successes, this couple is clearly more troubled and less happy. They seem to take turns sabotaging the relationship and their actions make neither especially sympathetic. This severely constrains audience investment in the unfolding tragedy. As one may clearly gather from my rating of the film, I was very disappointed. However, I don't think my reaction was atypical for that audience as this was the only festival film out of 30 we saw in Toronto last year for which no one applauded at the end. Every other film that we watched received at least a smattering of applause even though it may have been characterized as polite or even half-hearted.