Faced with the death of the beloved mother, an heiress to a valuable art collection, three adult siblings, played by Binoche, Charles Berling, and Jérémie Renier, must confront the official close of their childhood. While dealing with their mother’s estate, the children must confront their own mortality. The three siblings address what their mother’s legacy, shared past, and national identity means in the light of an increasingly modern, future-driven, globalized society.

As a key figure of the French New New Wave, Assayas absorbs his own position between the past and future of French cinema into SUMMER HOURS.  This former editor of CAHIERS DU CINÉMA and current board member at the Cinémathèque Française signals a connection to his nation’s cinematic past and is a driving force in re-imagining it within a transnational world.  After a trilogy of globetrotting narratives composed of DEMONLOVER, CLEAN, and BOARDING GATE, Assayas returns to a delicate and subtle French family film reminiscent of his earlier LATE AUGUST, EARLY SEPTEMBER.  Geoff Andrew of TIME OUT LONDON heralds this return and SUMMER HOURS as “Assayas’ most fully satisfying film for some while” and adds, “this is a warm, wise drama about the tensions and mysteries of family life.” Assayas, along with his cast and crew, crafts a film worthy of and equal to the art pieces borrowed from the Musée d’Orsay.

Schedule:
Friday, June 5, 9:15pm
Saturday, June 6, 4:00pm & 8:30pm
Sunday, June 7, 2:00pm & 6:30pm