Summer 85: A universal love story

This Tuesday July 14 is released Summer 85, the first Cannes 2020 label film to be released in theaters. François Ozon signs a teenage love story, summer and so universal.

Alexis, 16, meets 18-year-old David when he saves him from drowning during a sea trip on the Normandy coast. A friendship is born between them, then a passionate love, then comes jealousy and arguments … The summer of 85 will undoubtedly be the most memorable of Alexis’s life. Free adaptation of the novel by Adain Chambers, The Cuckoo Dance, Summer 85 is, without question, carried out with nameless sincerity. François Ozon was 17 when he read this story for the first time. At the time of his discovery of the novel, we are in 1985 and the sincerity of the story touches him deeply. One day, he will make the film adaptation, he told himself. The years pass and while his film Thanks to God is in the media turmoil, François Ozon falls back on the novel by Adain Chambers. The observation is real when it is reread: if François Ozon had left aside his desire to adapt the novel The Cuckoo Dance, the imagination of this story has pursued him throughout his career, without him realizing it.

This is undoubtedly one of the main strengths of Summer 85. When we know the work of François Ozon, we watch his new feature film contemplating the result of years of filmmaking that have had an impact on the audience. Frantz, A summer dress, A best friend, Under the sand… Many elements of his previous films are found in Summer 85.

Besides accomplishing a long career, Summer 85 is above all a story of universal love. If the two young men live a passionate history, François Ozon did not make their homosexuality the main theme of the film. The fact that they love each other is not problematic by their sexual orientation, at least very little. What remains at the center of this story is the jealousy and passion that drives them. The story of Alexis and David is that of many adolescents when the first emotions arise and that it is difficult to manage them with hindsight.

François Ozon assumes the codes of teen movie and we can only be delighted. In addition, there is a particularly well-written script. If we follow the relationship between these two adolescents, we vacillate between flashback and sequence in the present. Alexis is at the police station then meets an educator before confiding in his French teacher. David seems to be “His corpse”. These are, in any case, his words. Throughout history, references to death, its fascination, keep appearing. We're sure of a tragic fate, but we don't know which one.

We imagine the worst but François Ozon above all depicts a story that will speak to everyone and which is brilliantly interpreted by Félix Lefebvre and Benjamin Voisin. Each transmits a charisma specific to his character. Together, they form a duo that may well become iconic over time. Summer 85 full of nostalgia because it brings back the memories of teenagers of each. Cradled in romanticism, this film brings a benevolent look to these two young men.
Summer 85 at the cinema this Tuesday, July 14.