summer things (embrassez qui vous voudrez) 2002 region free dvd5 french bcbc

Summer Things (French: Embrassez qui vous voudrez; Italian: Baciate chi vi pare) is a 2002 French-Italian-British film directed by Michel Blanc based on the novel of the same name by Joseph Connolly. Karin Viard won the César Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Véronique.

(Contains movie and hardcoded English subtitles. No menus or extras).



Plot

Elizabeth and Bertrand are typical representatives of Parisian society. Behind the facade of a perfect marriage is dissatisfaction and boredom. He is a successful real estate agent having fun with much younger women or men behind the back of his wife. She suffers under the crushing uneventful life of a housewife and looks forward to a family holiday with daughter Emily. Bertrand backs out at the last minute and sends in his place Julie, Elizabeth's best friend and his former lover. He is free for a new love affair in Paris. The neighbors, Véro and Jérôme have very different problems. Jérôme is unemployed and collects gas meters. He hides his feelings of failure from Véro and son Loic. Since Véro wants to keep up with the neighbors, both families end up in the same resort. Numerous mistakes, misunderstandings and surprises are inevitable.



Cast

Charlotte Rampling : Elizabeth Lannier

Jacques Dutronc : Bertrand Lannier

Carole Bouquet : Lulu

Michel Blanc : Jean-Pierre

Karin Viard : Véronique

Denis Podalydès : Jérôme

Clotilde Courau : Julie

Vincent Elbaz : Maxime

Lou Doillon : Emilie

Mélanie Laurent : Carole

Gaspard Ulliel : Loic



Summer Things (Embrassez Qui Vous Voudrez) (2002)

Reviewed by Tom Dawson



Scripted and directed by French actor Michel Blanc, this sparkling adaptation of British writer Joseph Connolly's comic novel was a notable box office success across the Channel.



Charlotte Rampling plays Elizabeth, a bourgeois housewife who's vacationing one summer at the upmarket seaside resort of Le Touquet.



Her two-timing husband (Jacques Dutronc) has remained in Paris, pleading work commitments, and her rebellious teenage daughter (Lou Doillon) is partying in Chicago. But Elizabeth is not holidaying alone.



For company, she has her single-mother pal Julie (Clotilde Courau), who's looking to enjoy a holiday romance despite her screaming baby, and some hard-up neighbours (Karin Viard and Denis Podalydes) and their adolescent son, forced to rough it in the nearby trailer park.



Meanwhile amongst the fellow guests at Elizabeth's upmarket hotel are a morbidly-jealous husband (Blanc himself) and his exasperated wife (Carole Bouquet), and Maxime (Vincent Elbaz), a serial womaniser understandably keen not to reveal his marital status.



Expertly marshalled by Blanc - who intelligently weaves together the various storylines - and confidently performed by an impressive ensemble cast, "Summer Things" succeeds as a witty farce of mistaken identities, amorous (mis)adventures, and emotional subterfuge.



The atmosphere of sexual fluidity, the often dark humour, and the unravelling of family secrets brings to mind one of François Ozon's spiky domestic entertainments. Yet beneath the crisp one-liners and farcical encounters, there's an appealingly melancholic core to the film.



Female camaraderie is cherished, the desirability of marriage and coupledom is questioned, and middle-aged disappointment ruefully acknowledged.



It's left to Elizabeth, the most richly drawn character, to ponder just why "our lives don't turn out like our dreams".