Writers Catherine Breillat and Pascal Bonitzer
Director: Catherine Breillat
On the face of it, Catherine Breillat’s new film is very dangerous. It charts the sexual relationship between a woman in her late 40s and her 17-year-old stepson. The sex scenes are long and steamy – although never pornographic – but in this day and age it is uncomfortable seeing an 18-year-old actor naked, especially with a woman over twice his age who’s meant to be a mother figure. And the fact that Breillat refused to use an intimacy coordinator makes the issue even more worrying.
But, despite these concerns, Breillat, now in her 70s, has created a scenario where desire, especially illicit desire, is inescapably human. The story is based on the 2019 Danish film Queen of Hearts, but in this original version, the woman was more predatory, clearly taking advantage of her stepson. In Breillat’s, however, the relationship is more mutual, but is a 17-year-old responsible enough to make these kinds of decisions? All throughout the film, there’s a nagging sense that the woman should know better.
The fact that Anne is a lawyer dealing in child protection makes her actions more reprehensible. Her work involves helping girls who have been raped, but it doesn’t appear to cross her mind that she may be guilty of the crime too. She’s more worried about being caught by her husband than by the police. There’s the implication that she too is a victim here, at least a victim of her libido when faced with boyish youth.
Before her stepson’s arrival into the home she shares with her husband and their two adopted children, Anne has sex with her husband. They have been talking of old age and as her husband makes love to her, she tells him – in improbable literary terms – of the crush she had on an older man when she was still at school. Anne was fascinated by his parchment skin and the fact that he was failing made him more special, more desirable. She finishes the story with a punchline – too good to reveal here – but is this fascination with age and experience shared by her stepson when he makes love to her?
Théo’s arrival is not wanted. He’s a moody teenager who smokes and leaves his clothes around the house. He’s rude to his father and initially oblivious of Anne. But when Anne finds out he is responsible for a burglary in their house, she strikes a deal. Either she tells his father or he begins to behave like a proper family member. Soon the two are inseparable, and their growing attraction to each other is nicely played by the two actors.
Léa Drucker gives Anne a personality that is easy to like. She is a little cold – in her job, she has to be – but is also fun, getting involved in games and activities with her two daughters. Her obsession with her stepson comes as a surprise to her, but she does little to prevent it, always surrendering to her desires. Her declaration, after the first time they have sex, that it should never happen again brings laughter from the audience.
Son of Jérôme Kircher and Irène Jacob, Samuel Kircher follows in his brother’s footsteps in this film. Paul Kircher played the sexually confused teenager in the queer film Winter Boy, which screened this year at BFI Flare. However, Samuel’s character in Last Summer is more confident, at least at the start, than Paul’s. In Last Summer it feels as if we are to trust Théo is mature enough to know what he is doing, even though his boyishness – and the camera loves him – is plain to see.
There’s a sense that Catherine Breillat doesn’t care about today’s sensibilities and is more interested in portraying life as it is rather than it should be. Would a male director be able to make Lolita today? Probably not.
Last Summer is screening at the BFI London Film Festival 2023.
