A Burning Hot Summer

Beware Of The Title: Not Much Heat In This French Relationship Drama, More Of A Chilly Aloofness
With its incendiary title and its provocative DVD cover, it might be easy to mistake Philippe Garrel's new "A Burning Hot Summer" for a racy and hot-blooded melodrama. Instead, the film is a quintessential French character piece that has a moody aloofness that should be familiar to anyone that has sampled Garrel's other works. A quartet of friends struggle with relationships, debate political theory, and mainly just exist in an isolated world of idealism and hypocrisy. This "hot summer," therefore, is punctuated by inaction, extended silences, and a rather mundane ordinariness for much of the picture. This is not a movie made for audiences expecting big moments or actions, but one that succeeds on a smaller story which relies heavily on the things that people leave unsaid.

At heart, "A Burning Hot Summer" tells the story of two interwoven relationships. Louis Garrel (the filmmaker's son and frequent leading man) and Monica Bellucci play an established married couple that...

"A DRAMA THAT TUGS AT THE HEART!"
A couple who were once very much in love and happy got married. At first their marriage was going good with love and passion. But then, the husband who is a painter begins to have struggles and challenges with his movie-star wife. Before you know it, their marriage begins to fall apart. Acting Performance Excellent, and the story holds your interest from start to finish. Overall, Enjoyable and Entertaining. Highly Recommended!

Love and marriage in today's secular society
Don't be misled by the title, the box cover photo, or the trailer: "A Burning Hot Summer" (ABHS) is not a titillating French sex farce or lighthearted romp through the sheets. It is a serious film about relationships, love and marriage in today's modern secular society. The setting is Europe, but the social mores of the main characters will be familiar to those who live in secular regions of the United States.

The film focuses on two couples, one which may be nearing the end of the relationship and one which may be beginning. As the two couples face challenges to their relationships, and as the four characters interact with each other, a variety of important questions get explored. Is it possible or desirable to have a lifetime monogamous relationship, and if not, should one bother entering into a serious relationship? Why get married or divorced? How should couples handle infidelity? Does a one-night stand mean anything? The rules of the relationship game have...

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