Summer Hours

Wile away the summer in the lush countryside. The hours are important in this French import because they turn into months and then generations. Director Oliver Assayas (Demonlover, Irma Vep) was the subject of a retrospective about five-years ago at the Rice Media Center. The RMC showed select films of his from the 80s and 90s. For the program Assayas had sent a list of music to be played before each film, different songs reflecting his state of mind when doing each film stated the notes. (I can fill you in on the exact songs if you contact me.)
You have to admire any director that took the time to write down a discography of mostly new wave and post punk songs to accompany showings of his earlier works. At the end of Summer Hours (L'Heure d'été) the credits roll with such a fresh sound and although I consider late 60s psychedelic folksters The Incredible String Band obscure by American standards those in the know accept it (the song is off their second LP The 5000 Spirits or The Layers of the Onion) as one of the core LPs from that era. Films by Oliver Assayas mean something.
Summer Hours imparts as much character into non-animate objects like designer armoires and desks, late 19th century vases and famous paintings as it does its human cast. The opening act matches bright summer light with the shadow of old age as the matriarch of a family informs her children the manner in which she wants the family heir looms divided after her death. One museum in particular wants some of the furniture while several sketch books of a close-friend famous artist promise a stampede at a Christy's auction in New York.
Successive sequences are drained of certain colors but the light's still strong. The three children have ties all over the world. One manages over slave labor at a Puma tennis shoe factory in the third world; another works in America (Juliette Binoche sporting a blond emo look); while the eldest brother advises on economics in Paris. When mom passes the idyll at the country house is less colorful. The reality of inheritance taxes and the expensive movement of art work through customs brings them down to Earth. At this point the film opens up to some other aspects of their lives, like the kids being in trouble at school. Then the adults leave the story entirely as we see the last sequence from the point-of-view of the daughter who was in trouble. The house has been sold but before the new ownership takes place her parents are letting her throw a party at the country residence. Assayas lets his camera roam the acreage. What truly gets passed on from generation to generation the filmmaker asks in the penultimate scene where we see the house's effects nicely displayed at the previously mentioned museum.