‘Last Summer’ Review – A Sultry Yet Subtle Romantic Thriller

In Catherine Breillat’s new film Last Summer, summer becomes a season of passion and deception. A wife and her stepson find themselves living under the same roof when sparks fly. Caught in the throes of an affair, the film serves erotic tension on a silver platter and captivates its audiences with steamy performances from its three leads. In a movie peppered with nuances and shifting perspectives, it does a number on the audience. Lines blur and fog in a haze of lies, betrayal, and lust. The subject may be divisive, but there is a power in which Breillat creates a film about complex characters. Last Summer will generate discussion through its provocative story but engage through the engrossing performances and beautiful filmmaking.

Last Summer unwinds with a quiet precision. We begin by examining the ordinary and yet distracted lives of its characters. Anne (Léa Drucker) is an attorney married to Pierre (Olivier Rabourdin), a distracted businessman. Their marriage is stale and borders on indifference. Pierre is older than Anne, something he comments on through their intermittent sexual congresses. Consumed by work, he is oblivious to Theo (Samuel Kircher), his son from a previous marriage, and to his wife’s needs. This spells disaster as Anne and Theo are drawn to each other and begin a passionate affair. 

The film is all about the tension. Anne has a sense of latent frustration and even resentment towards Pierre, which she and Theo share. Last Summer is, in effect, a slow burn, though the characters’ energy keeps the film from stalling. The twisted version of will-they-won’t-they plays to a masterful effect. A titillating score accentuates the sexual tension. Even with its sultry scenery, the film is never gratuitous. 

To create a brilliant effect, the film toys with the audience by keeping the perspective shifting. Anne and Theo are central leads, but there is never a firm establishment over a dominant point of view. This effort is jarring in a more straightforward film, but due to the storyline and the blurring of lines, it makes perfect sense for an imbalance in the perspectives. There is a tilted feeling even as the characters submit to their prurient interest. 

The morally loose tenets of this film certainly stem from the torrid love affair between mother and stepson. This alone is enough to drive the narrative, but the film takes it further by calling on Anne’s career as a lawyer. In the opening scene, Anne speaks with a girl over consensual sex. Their conversation implies an unspoken power dynamic, and while some might find this part a little heavy-handed, the scene plays off well when Anne finds herself in the same morally grey zone with Theo. 

Unlike some films in this subgenre, there is no villain, just as there is no clear character to root for. The film has a harness to it. It is less about the corrupting of youth and more about the dogmas of adulthood. Theo transitions out of childhood and even goes as far as to create a barrier between him and Anne that is ultimately breached once passions unfurl. The film becomes as much about adulthood as it does about reclaiming lost youth. Still, there is an attempt to navigate the complexities of lust and romance. 

Last Summer, in its provocative offerings, is never preachy. It leans into the eroticism and allows the audience to pass judgment. However, the film becomes more of a reckoning. Ultimately, three people, Anne, Theo, and Pierre, are, in their own way, scarred individuals, each trying to make sense of their lives at various points. Theo, from the perspective of the youth, is all about confusion, hopes, and uncertainty. Anne is the portrait of middle age and all the intricacies of regrets and longing. Pierre personifies aging with the perspective of what has passed and lost.

Anne and Theo are the crux of the story, but Pierre has a lingering sadness and finds himself on the outside looking at his life and marriage. Through this dynamic, the performances excel. Drucker’s Anne could easily be tarred and feathered as a malignant force, but the film is more innovative and portrays a woman seemingly at war with herself. Further, Kircher plays off as both innocent and sophisticated. The film is perfect because it never threads the needle over who the instigator of the affair is; instead, it allows the audience to debate the game of cat and mouse. 

This film could have been a straightforward erotic thriller, but instead, it chooses to go bold and offer a stirring commentary on each of its characters’ lives and perspectives. It is no doubt torrid, but the film never forsakes its story. Last Summer sells intrigue with its flash, but its substance will stay with the audience as they ponder the blurred lines and intricate complexities of three lives. It is decadent but never to a fault.

Last Summer will debut in select theaters on June 28, 2024, courtesy of Sideshow and Janus Films.