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At first I didn’t think that I could be sympathetic toward the plight of three wealthy siblings who have the onerous chore of deciding how to dispose of their extensive inheritance, which consists of a house and art collection that once belonged to a successful artist. While most of us leave behind heaps of junk headed straight to a garbage dump, nearly everything that Hélène Berthier (Edith Scob) leaves behind, down to the smallest vase, has a potential home waiting for it in a museum or private collection. The sensible thing to do would be to donate a few major pieces to museums for posterity’s sake, keep a few personal items for sentimental value, and sell the rest. As she anticipates her death, Hélène not only wishes, but knows that this is how things will play out. After all, people are much more motivated by economics than by art or memory.

To Hélène’s son Frédéric (Charles Berling), the inheritance isn’t just beautiful and valuable, but allows the family to remember and to re-live the house’s past summers as a Romantic oasis, where life is ruled by artistic considerations, and not economic ones. As desperately as Frédéric tries to convince the public, his family, and himself that people are not beholden to economic laws, his case is untenable. His brother Jérémie’s (Jérémie Renier) utility would be maximized by using his share of the inheritance to support his career in international business by starting a new life in China, complete with a new vacation home in Bali. While his sister Adrienne (Juliette Binoche) does have an affinity for art, she prefers the contemporary variety, and needs cash to bolster her career as a designer in New York. Even Frédéric finds that his seemingly infinite love for two paintings has a price tag associated with it.

But is it really the things themselves that are so important to Frédéric, or the activities that surround them? He can visit some of his mother’s most prized possessions at the Musée d’Orsay (which produced the film) whenever he wants, and all of the public can enjoy them with him. The problem with the museum is that it is calm to the point of lifelessness. The objects of art are behind glass, the sunlight shines unceasingly through the skylights, the tourists quietly walk through unmoved, and the music (very important in this film) is mellow. Frédéric not only wants to save the house, but he wants to prevent it from turning into a museum. It is not just the objects that make the house, but the fact that children are playing in the garden (with a frantic camera emphasizing their activity), vases are filled with flowers, and the whole family sits down to lunch together.

I was most struck by this film when I realized that it wasn’t about economics, art, or the struggle between the two. I will even be bold enough to say that the film isn’t really about memory either. The film is about how we must play our own roles in life, and how, in a Walt Whitman sense, there is a beauty and dignity to nearly every activity, as long as we do something and, as the cliché goes, are true to ourselves. From the beginning of the film, Hélène realizes that her role as a woman at the end of her life is to contemplate to herself and to get out of her children’s way. Jérémie does what a man who wants to get ahead in business and raise a family should, and there’s nothing wrong with that. We cannot condemn Adrienne for trying to advance her career and begin life with a new husband. We can only go so far in chastising Frédéric’s daughter Sylvie (Alice de Lencquesaing) for her nonconformist boyfriend, cheap liquor, pot, and bubble gum pop. After all, she is a teenager. Frédéric will never find peace until he realizes that he is a father (it was easy both for him and for the viewer to forget over the course of the film) and economist, and not an artist or art collector. He must allow himself to see that he can behave rationally without betraying his family heritage.

If, as I hope, you enjoy Summer Hours, keep on the lookout for a possible sequel dealing with Adrienne’s life in New York. It will be interesting to see what she does with her mother’s tea set.

-Robert Henderson

Lovely review, Robert. Clearly, you enjoyed and understood this multi-layered movie. Thanks for sharing!

Comment by James van Maanen 07.12.09 @ 4:12 pm