Written and Directed by François Ozon
Starring Félix Lefebvre, Benjamin Voisin, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi
Runtime 1 hour 40 minutes
In theaters June 18

by Ryan Smillie, Staff Writer

François Ozon’s Summer of 85 will inevitably invite Call Me by Your Name comparisons. Another gay European summer romance coming-of-age 80s period piece based on a book – how could it not? And though I don’t think anyone in the Summer of 85 cast has been accused of cannibalism (yet), it’s still the darker of the two similar films, replacing Call Me by Your Name’s obsession and sensuality with a macabre undercurrent and an ominous framing device. Apt for a story set on Normandy’s rocky beaches as opposed to a sweltering Italian villa, even if its costumes also seem to be borrowed directly from my high school French textbook.

New to this small town in Normandy, Alex (Félix Lefebvre) is a bit of a loner, fascinated with death and trying to plot his future. His life is turned upside down – literally – when his boat capsizes in a storm, and David (Benjamin Voisin), an enchanting stranger, comes to his rescue on the aptly-named Calypso. David teaches Alex how to right his boat but leaves him knocked over emotionally. The two become fast friends and coworkers, inseparable as Alex can’t resist David’s charm and an offer to work at David’s deceased father’s fishing goods store, now operated by David and his mother (the always delightful Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, in a small but dynamic role).

Lefebvre and Voisin are perfectly cast in their roles. As the 16-year-old Alex, Lefebvre’s babyface projects freshness and inexperience, while Voisin’s ease and confidence emphasize the 18-year-old David’s comparative adultness, even if to my 30-year-old eyes, they’re both kids. But can’t you remember the vastness between those two ages as you’re living through them? Two years could feel like a lifetime, the difference between knowing nothing and knowing everything. Voisin, in particular, impresses as a warm-hearted free spirit whose air of insouciance masks a well of feelings below the surface. A teenager who’s lived through more than his admirer has but is still only eighteen. 

Their intimacy is immediate, even before their relationship take an explicitly romantic turn, and some of the film’s strongest moments are these charged moments: sharing clothes after Alex dries off at David’s, leaning into each other while seeing a movie, squeezing together on a ride at a neon-lit carnival. After a homophobic fight breaks out at the carnival, Alex and David undress to treat each other’s wounds, making the dabbing of iodine just as romantic as any sex scene.

Later, the two go dancing, in their own world even while surrounded by people. While perhaps not as memeable as Call Me by Your Name’s “Love My Way” dance, Alex and David’s moves are jagged and sweet. As a disco song thumps in the background, David slips headphones over Alex’s ears, Rod Stewart’s “Sailing” replacing the sounds of the club. It’s a bittersweet gesture – on the one hand, Alex is fully feeling his feelings even on a crowded dance floor, but on the other, only he can hear the music.

All the while, Ozon returns to a mysterious framing narrative: Alex meets with various officials, all seeking answers for some unnamed act that Alex can’t answer for. At first, this peek into the future adds a bit of intrigue to Alex and David’s introduction, but as their story heats up, the repeated flashforwards only serve to drag down the plot, especially once the reason for these inquiries is made painfully clear. In Aidan Chambers’s novel, this revelation is made clear from the very beginning, and even by its title. Without that knowledge upfront, there’s enough darkness in the main plot to forebode a tragic conclusion on its own: the stormy day that Alex and David meet, Alex’s interest in Ancient Egyptian burials, the recent death of David’s father. Even David’s switchblade comb serves as a better bit of foreshadowing, a combination of beauty and danger. 

In the end, Summer of 85 goes off the deep end as it digs into the aftermath of Alex’s first love, first heartbreak, and first real brush with tragedy. Even as the movie veers towards the absurd, however, there’s a certain amount of emotional truth to its conclusion; of course this is how an emotional 16-year-old might respond to everything he’s just been through. But because Ozon had already so deftly captured Alex and David’s more intimate (but still explosive) moments, you wish he would’ve seen that impulse through to the end, perhaps focusing more on Alex’s realization that he only ever saw David through his eyes and not how he actually was. It’s no Elio crying by the fireplace, but as I’ve been writing this, I’ve been thinking about everybody’s favorite it teen, Olivia Rodrigo. Like Rodrigo, Summer of 85 is a serious and specific treatment of young feelings, important and urgent because they’re so novel. Maybe in the moments where I couldn’t quite connect, there’s a younger Ryan who’s looking for this exactly.