An Eclectic Send-Off to Summer

Contemporary French film the focus of new Essential Cinema series

<i>A Burning Hot Summer</i>
A Burning Hot Summer

Quelle surprise: The country that produced Madame Bovary and Thérèse Raquin continues to usher adulterers into its pantheon of unforgettable characters. But don't look for breast-beating or arsenic-swilling in Mademoiselle Chambon, the 2009 melodrama that opens the Austin Film Society's Essential Cinema overview of recent French cinema: A moving study of duty, self-denial, and the spark great art can light in a man, Mademoiselle Chambon sources great strength from its unwavering restraint.

That film has a provincial setting shared by The Grocer's Son, which follows a city dweller's reluctant return home to tend to a familial village shop while his father recuperates in the hospital. But the series' final three films shift the lens back to city life. Rome's ancient architecture provides the backdrop for A Burning Hot Summer, about the crumbling marriage of an actress (played by Monica Bellucci) and a painter (played by director Philippe Garrel's regular leading man, son Louis). The Father of My Children charts the sad slope toward bankruptcy of an overextended Parisian film producer and devoted family man; it was inspired by the real-life French film industry figure Humbert Balsan, who worked with Claire Denis, Lars von Trier, and Merchant-Ivory, among others (don't Google his name if you don't want to know how the second half of this sharply bifurcated film plays out). Series capper (and Fantastic Fest 2011 favorite) Sleepless Night is set in Paris, too, though you'd hardly know it: After a shoot-out in broad daylight, most of the film plays out in a darkened, sweaty, and sprawling nightclub bedeviled with an Escher-like layout. A kicky action-thriller with an arthouse brood, Sleepless Night is the perfect way to say goodbye to summer's bombast and hello to fall's more high-minded fare.

Essential Cinema: La fin de l'été: Recent French Cinema

Series runs Tuesday nights at 7pm at the Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar, except for The Father of My Children, which screens at the Alamo Drafthouse Village. See www.austinfilm.org for ticket info.

Sept. 4: Mademoiselle Chambon (D: Stéphane Brizé, 2009)

Sept. 11: The Grocer's Son (D: Eric Guirado, 2007)

Sept. 11: A Burning Hot Summer (D: Philippe Garrel, 2011)

Sept. 25: The Father of My Children (D: Mia Hansen-Løve, 2009)

Oct. 2: Sleepless Night (D: Frédéric Jardin, 2011).

A note to readers: Bold and uncensored, The Austin Chronicle has been Austin’s independent news source for over 40 years, expressing the community’s political and environmental concerns and supporting its active cultural scene. Now more than ever, we need your support to continue supplying Austin with independent, free press. If real news is important to you, please consider making a donation of $5, $10 or whatever you can afford, to help keep our journalism on stands.

Support the Chronicle  

READ MORE
More Essential Cinema
The Pen May Be Mightier Than the Sword, but Sometimes It Makes You Want to Slit Your Wrists
The Pen May Be Mightier Than the Sword, but Sometimes It Makes You Want to Slit Your Wrists
The Austin Film Society's latest series zooms in on creative block

Kimberley Jones, May 2, 2014

The Many Faces of Janus
The Many Faces of Janus
AFS Essential Cinema series presents a wild lineup

Kimberley Jones, April 12, 2013

More by Kimberley Jones
Jumping the Shark in This Weekend’s Recommended Arts & Culture Events
Jumping the Shark in This Weekend’s Recommended Arts & Culture Events
Multiple ways to get high ... on art

June 6, 2025

Keeping Our Eye on the Week’s Recommended Arts Events
Keeping Our Eye on the Week’s Recommended Arts Events
Art and culture abounds, even on the weekdays

June 6, 2025

KEYWORDS FOR THIS STORY

Essential Cinema, Austin Film Society, Mademoiselle Chambon, Stéphane Brizé, The Grocer's Son, Eric Guirado, A Burning Hot Summer, Philippe Garrel, The Father of My Children, Mia Hansen-Løve, Sleepless Night, Frédéric Jardin, La fin de l'été

MORE IN THE ARCHIVES
One click gets you all the newsletters listed below

Breaking news, arts coverage, and daily events

Keep up with happenings around town

Kevin Curtin's bimonthly cannabis musings

Austin's queerest news and events

Eric Goodman's Austin FC column, other soccer news

Information is power. Support the free press, so we can support Austin.   Support the Chronicle