NZIFF: Last Summer

A dangerous romance ensues between a successful lawyer and her teenage stepson as Catherine Breillat returns for the first time in a decade having lost none of her propensity to transgress.

Competing for the Palme d’Or at Cannes, Catherine Breillat’s Last Summer echoes films that have come before—most notably, 2019 Danish drama Queen of Hearts, on which it’s based—but it proves most daring in the ways the film departs from its more conventionally moralistic source, and especially in Breillat’s refusal to call either party a parasite.
Yes, the affair between a lawyer and her 17-year-old stepson is a betrayal—of her marriage, of her parental responsibilities, of everything she stands for as an attorney—but that’s nothing compared with how the 50-ish woman deals with it when word gets out in this thought-provoking domestic drama.
The differences between Last Summer and its source material serve to reveal Breillat’s fascinations as a filmmaker, especially in the latter scenes, when Anne’s fellow adults consciously decide what they’re willing to accept. In keeping with the controversial director’s earlier work, the answer may well be: a lot more than most audiences.
Rated R16