Summer Things (French: Embrassez qui vous voudrez; Italian: Baciate chi vi pare, also known as See How They Run) is a 2002 romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Michel Blanc, based on the 1998 novel of the same name by Joseph Connolly. The ensemble cast includes Charlotte Rampling, Jacques Dutronc, Carole Bouquet, Michel Blanc, Karin Viard, Gaspard Ulliel and Mélanie Laurent. The film is a co-production between France, the United Kingdom and Italy.
| Summer Things | |
|---|---|
 French theatrical release poster | |
| French | Embrassez qui vous voudrez |
| Directed by | Michel Blanc |
| Written by | Michel Blanc |
| Based on | Summer Things by Joseph Connolly |
| Produced by | Yves Marmion |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Sean Bobbitt |
| Edited by | Maryline Monthieux |
| Music by | Mark Russell |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by |
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Release dates | |
Running time | 103 minutes[2] |
| Countries | |
| Languages |
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| Budget | €11.4 million[3] |
| Box office | US$8,7 million[4] |
The film was released to critical acclaim and was a box-office hit in France, with over 1 million tickets sold. Karin Viard won the César Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Véronique. Gaspard Ulliel won the Lumières Award for Most Promising Actor for his performance as Loïc.
Plot
editElizabeth and Bertrand are typical representatives of Parisian society. Behind the facade of a perfect marriage is dissatisfaction and boredom. He is a successful real estate agent having fun with much younger women or men behind the back of his wife. She suffers under the crushing uneventful life of a housewife and looks forward to a family holiday with daughter Emily. Bertrand backs out at the last minute and sends in his place Julie, Elizabeth's best friend and his former lover. He is free for a new love affair in Paris. The neighbors, Véro and Jérôme have very different problems. Jérôme is unemployed and collects gas meters. He hides his feelings of failure from Véro and son Loic. Since Véro wants to keep up with the neighbors, both families end up in the same resort. Numerous mistakes, misunderstandings and surprises are inevitable.
Cast
edit- Charlotte Rampling as Elizabeth Lannier
- Jacques Dutronc as Bertrand Lannier
- Carole Bouquet as Lulu
- Michel Blanc as Jean-Pierre
- Karin Viard as Véronique
- Denis Podalydès as Jérôme
- Clotilde Courau as Julie
- Vincent Elbaz as Maxime
- Lou Doillon as Emilie
- Sami Bouajila as Kévin
- Gaspard Ulliel as Loïc
- Mélanie Laurent as Carole
Reception
editCritical response
editOn Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 100%, based on 6 reviews, with an average rating of 7.4/10.[5]
AlloCiné, a French cinema website, gave the film an average rating of 4.0/5, based on a survey of 23 French reviews.[6]
Box office
editIn France, Summer Things was released to 408 screens, where it debuted at number three at the box office, selling 480,951 tickets.[3] It sold a total of 1,336,579 tickets after 6 weeks in cinemas, ranking at number 24 of the highest-grossing films in France in 2002.[3][7] The film grossed a total of $8,738,101 worldwide.[4]
Accolades
edit| Year | Award / Film Festival | Category | Recipient(s) | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | César Awards | Best Supporting Actor | Denis Podalydès | Nominated | [8] |
| Best Supporting Actress | Karin Viard | Won | [8][9] | ||
| Best Writing | Michel Blanc | Nominated | [8] | ||
| Most Promising Actor | Gaspard Ulliel | Nominated | [8] | ||
| Lumières Awards | Most Promising Actor | Won | [10] |
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f "See How They Run". UniFrance. Archived from the original on 6 August 2022. Retrieved 14 August 2022.
- ^ a b "EMBRASSEZ QUI VOUS VOUDREZ - SUMMER THINGS". British Board of Film Classification. Archived from the original on 14 August 2022. Retrieved 14 August 2022.
- ^ a b c "Embrassez qui vous voudrez (2002)". JPBox-Office (in French). Archived from the original on 21 February 2014. Retrieved 14 August 2022.
- ^ a b "Summer Things (2002)". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on 14 August 2022. Retrieved 14 August 2022.
- ^ "See How They Run (2002)". Rotten Tomatoes. May 2008. Archived from the original on 2 February 2022. Retrieved 14 August 2022.
- ^ "Critiques presse pour le film Embrassez qui vous voudrez". AlloCiné (in French). Archived from the original on 7 February 2020. Retrieved 14 August 2022.
- ^ "Box Office du film Embrassez qui vous voudrez". AlloCiné (in French). Archived from the original on 7 February 2020. Retrieved 14 August 2022.
- ^ a b c d "Embrassez qui vous voudrez | Académie des César". Académie des César (in French). Archived from the original on 5 July 2022. Retrieved 14 August 2022.
- ^ "Karin Viard, César 2003 de la Meilleure Actrice dans un Second Rôle pour EMBRASSEZ QUI VOUS VOUDREZ". Vimeo (in French). 30 September 2013. Archived from the original on 14 August 2022. Retrieved 14 August 2022.
- ^ Tartaglione, Nancy (16 February 2003). "Amen shines at France's Lumieres". Screen Daily. Archived from the original on 20 October 2020. Retrieved 14 August 2022.