Directed by:
Catherine BreillatScreenplay:
Catherine BreillatCinematography:
Jeanne LapoiriePlots(1)
After exactly a decade, this unnerving return to cinema from French provocateur Catherine Breillat revisits and rewrites Danish filmmaker May el-Toukhy’s 2019 Queen of Hearts. Its premise centers on Anne (Léa Drucker), a successful lawyer who lives in a villa on the outskirts of Paris with her husband Pierre (Olivier Rabourdin) and their two adopted daughters. A relatively uneventful, though contented, suburban existence is disrupted when Théo (Samuel Kircher, in his first role), Pierre’s troubled 17-year-old son from a previous marriage comes to live with the couple. Finding herself the object of the tousled-haired, frequently shirtless teen’s attentions, an impossible-to-resist sexual attraction threatens Anne’s career and her marriage. A vibrant contribution to a career-long exploration of female desire, Breillat’s brilliant interpretation sees the affair as simultaneously passionate, exciting, disgusting and absurd – a relationship rooted in fantasy, while its potential repercussions are terrifyingly real. (AFI Fest)
(more)Reviews (2)
Last Summer is another variation on the theme of a young boy’s affair with his stepmother in an otherwise functional family. The film is okay, as it works on all levels in psychological terms, even when the situation gets complicated and the uncovering of the truth becomes imminent. Queen of Hearts, a more memorable Danish-Swedish variation on the same theme, is much more dramatic and sexually adventurous. [Cannes FF]
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Quite a good film about a summer romance between a lawyer and her stepson, but it left me with very conflicting feelings and thoughts. On the one hand, Léa Drucker is fantastic, the way she plays the innocent wife when everything blows up is absolutely perfect. But on the other hand, I found her inner motivations a bit vague and undefined. What could she possibly see in that obnoxious and troubled 17-year-old boy? What was it about him that attracted her, was it purely physical lust? I feel like I didn't quite have a chance to understand her, nor was I sure if she felt any remorse. So I will remember her performance as great, but at the same time unreadable. Samuel Kircher as the stepson annoyed me a lot. As I mentioned above, he’s an obnoxious young rebel, unlikeable in every way, whom I couldn't even feel sorry for in the end. Was that the intention, or was this young actor absolutely not to my taste? Despite the conflicting feelings, I ended up actually liking the film, but I probably won't feel the need to see it again. [Festival de Cannes 2023]
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