One Deadly Summer Reviews

The film starts out as a broad sort of sex comedy but then explores darker places. It had a strong effect on me as a young man in the early 80s, admittedly in large part due to the sight of Isabelle Adjani in a ra-ra skirt, and less. In short, i fell in lust, but the film's worth seeing anyway. Not long back it was picked in Sight & Sound's (forgotten pleasures) list of 75 Mainstream Marvels of the last 30 Years.

Back in the 70's and 80's, Isabelle Adjani was the most highly acclaimed French actress, she was even bigger than Catherine Deneuve back then (she won a staggering 5 Césars (the French Oscars) during her career). Unfortunately, after 'La Reine Margot' released in 1994, her career went nowhere and in France, she came more often in the news concerning her private life than for her (disappointing and sporadic) new features. It's too bad because she was a terrific actress and it is always with pleasure that I watch the movies she made in her golden period. For example, this movie is a typical French thriller with a rather far-fetched story and an obligatory twist at the end. Adjani gives again an electrifying performance and carries the whole thing on her shoulders. The rest of the cast was also pretty good, it was pretty funny to see Alain Souchon (a famous singer in France) as an actor and I thought he gave a decent performance as well. Even though the story is not really amazing, I still prefer this kind of thrillers because they focus on the characters whereas American thrillers usually focus on action scenes like shootings, chases and explosions. To conclude, it is a pretty good thriller and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like French movies.