A Burning Hot Summer
Director: Philippe Garrel
Year Released: 2011
Rating: 2.0
A successful painter (Louis Garrel) and his ravishing wife (Monica Bellucci) live in Rome and invite another couple (Céline Sallette and Jérôme Robart) to stay with them (on basically a whim) - unfortunately for the painter and his woman, infidelity is tearing their relationship apart. Though easy (and breezy) to watch, there isn't a whole lot of substance to this Garrel picture: the misogyny is barely concealed (Bellucci's flighty and slutty; Sallette's just flighty) and Garrel's fate is basically foretold in the opening shot when he runs his car into a tree out of sorrow and heartbreak, which basically neuters the drama of his storyline. Garrel's done the whole battling-with-breakup concept before - this is much more straightforward (and, dare I say, mediocre) attempt than his more surrealist efforts (notably, the unforgettable The Inner Scar).
