Filmmaker Catherine Corsini melds the personal with the political in this depiction of a lesbian relationship set in the 1970s. When Delphine's (Izïa Higelin) farmer father encourages her to find a husband, she claims disinterest, but she is actually seeing a woman in secret. After her girlfriend marries and moves away, Delphine is left on her own except for her friend, Antoine (Kévin Azaïs). Although she would prefer to stay in the country, Delphine moves to the city to attend college and she joins a women's liberation group brimming with cigarette smoke and protest activities. Delphine soon develops a crush on the charismatic Carole (Cécile de France), a Spanish teacher, and is disappointed to learn that she has a boyfriend. Since most of the women are straight, Delphine keeps her sexual orientation to herself. Under her urging, however, they free a member's gay friend from an insane asylum (his parents committed him due to his sexual orientation). Although Carole initially rejects her advances, an affair eventually ensues, and even after Delphine returns to the country in the wake of her father's stroke, the relationship continues, but the time and place prevent the women from going public. Ultimately, both women will define feminism differently: for Delphine, it's about a woman running a farm, and to Carole, it's about a same-sex couple living together openly, but either way they are living in the wrong era. Recommended. (K. Fennessy)
Summertime
Strand, 106 min., in French w/English subtitles, not rated, DVD: $27.99, Nov. 15 Volume 31, Issue 6
Summertime
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