Summertime

Early 1970s Paris may have been a hotbed of radical politics, but rural Limousin is still deeply conservative and dominated by gruff male farmers in Catherine Corsini’s warm French drama about two young women whose fledgling romance is challenged by the strong pull of duty and tradition.

Delphine (Izïa Higelin), a young farmer’s daughter, and Carole (Cécile de France), a politically engaged and slightly older Parisian teacher, meet when the younger woman moves to the capital after a failed, secret relationship with a local girl. Their love is deep and exciting – but it’s soon challenged when Delphine’s father falls ill and she has to move back and run the family farm with her mother.

The performances from Higelin and de France are hugely endearing; Higelin is especially good at communicating the shifting, complex feelings of her character – especially in the face of her confused, repressed mother. Elsewhere, the film can feel truncated, as if only a longer film or TV series could do proper justice to the details of the story. But it’s a sensitive and moving tale nonetheless.