Endless Summer Syndrome
Directed by Kaveh Daneshmand
Written by Laurine Bauby, Kaveh Daneshmand, and Gem Deger
Starring: Sophie Colon, Mathéo Capelli, Gem Deger
Unrated
Runtime: 1 hour, 38 minutes
Opening in Select Theaters and on Video-on-Demand December 13

by Gary M. Kramer, Staff Writer

An early scene in the intriguing, low-key thriller Endless Summer Syndrome has Delphine (Sophie Colon), a lawyer, stating, “Family is the first place where a child learns about violence.” This intense film, directed by Kaveh Daneshmand, who cowrote it with Laurine Bauby and Gem Deger, is about family violence, but it would spoil the film to reveal more. 

The story unfolds over a weekend at a French country home. Delphine and her husband Antoine (Mathéo Capelli), a writer, are lounging by the pool with their two adopted children, Adia (Frédérika Milano) and Aslan (Gem Deger). Cocktails are being consumed when Delphine’s phone rings. The caller, who remains anonymous, informs her that her husband drunkenly confessed to having “something going on with one of his children.” Delphine is speechless, shocked, and scared. What is more, the caller suggests she may have gotten this wrong. 

Endless Summer Syndrome takes off from this reveal, which feels inspired by Woody Allen’s relationship with his adopted daughter, Soon-Yi. Thankfully, director Kaveh Daneshmand does not play up its scenario with histrionics or campiness. Instead, Delphine absorbs the shock and sets out to confirm the truth. This leads to her taking pains to have Adia cover her naked breasts while sunbathing in view of Antoine, or eying Antoine’s horseplay with their kids with suspicion. 

The film gets juicier as Delphine continues to pry into her children’s lives. She smokes a joint with Aslan to fish for info about Adia—does she have a boyfriend? Later, while snooping through her daughter’s room, Delphine discovers hidden condoms. And when she sees Antoine attending to a burn wound on Adia’s inner thigh, Delphine imagines far more (and far worse) things happening between father and daughter. When Delphine secretly eavesdrops on her husband—planting a phone recording him at home while she is out running errands—the drama builds. Will Delphine uncover the truth? Moreover, is Antoine guilty or innocent? 

Daneshmand keeps things simmering at a slow burn, teasing out the answers. Endless Summer Syndrome features a handful of scenes that involve Adia and Aslan as well as Antoine being interviewed by a police officer (Roland Plantin), and these episodes not only create some ambiguity about the investigation, but also generate tension as the story comes to a head. What is really going on takes on another possible meaning and that is what makes this hothouse chamber drama so delicious. 

The performances are perfectly pitched. Sophie Colon, in her film debut, is impressive, calibrating (and recalibrating) her emotions as she grapples with her responses to what she hears and sees. She generates sympathy because of her situation, but watching her act aggressively towards her children and her husband (however justified) adds to the film’s sense of unease. As Antoine, Mathéo Capelli is also a complex character, who berates his son at games and is affectionate with his daughter in ways that may be innocent but can also feel creepy.  As for the children, cowriter Gem Deger knows exactly how to play Aslan as a moody teenager while Frédérika Milano, also making her film debut, makes the free-spirited Adia an engaging character. These teens both have a secret or two of their own that impact the story.

Endless Summer Syndrome plays things perhaps too coolly, but this nifty little film will keep viewers rapt as the truth comes to light.