‘Summer Hours’: Olivier Assayas’ best film is the only one inspired by personal experience
Olivier Assayas’ films are intricate webs of interpersonal dynamics and meta-commentary on the nature of art and creation. They leave audiences distinctly unsettled and slightly confused. His stories are often long and slow-burning, weaving subtle threads into a complex tapestry of questions that resist clear answers. Instead, they provoke lingering uncertainty, leaving viewers mulling over their meaning for days, with a persistent sense of unease stemming from their open-ended narratives.
While Assayas is best known for Personal Shopper, Irma Vep, and Clouds of Sils Maria, as well as his frequent collaborations with Kristen Stewart, one film stands out among his works. It is his most personal project and, perhaps not coincidentally, my personal favourite from his entire filmography.
Summer Hours, released in 2008, follows three siblings who are left in charge of their mother’s estate after her death. Starring Juliette Binoche, Charles Berling and Jérémie Reiner, it is a warm and compassionate story that does not descend into predictable arguments and melodramatic moments and instead shows a family dealing with grief and conflict in a kind way, trying to navigate her wishes in a way that preserves her memory and life’s work.
The matriarch of the family is an avid art collector, leaving behind a treasure trove of priceless paintings and furniture that her children struggle to contextualise. They grapple with whether these items should be placed in a museum, sold to support their own growing families, or kept as sentimental heirlooms. This dilemma forms one of the film’s most compelling threads as Assayas delves into the inherent worth of objects and art and how their significance shifts over time.
Through this lens, the film examines our evolving sense of identity in the face of globalisation, crafting a delicate yet unsentimental exploration of our relationship with material things. Objects that once held deep personal meaning for their mother now take on new and varying values after her death, reflecting how the lifespan and significance of art are constantly in flux—shaped by who views it and the context in which it is displayed.
When asked about his approach to this thematic strand, Assayas said: “It all took shape very naturally because the reason why the world is changing, the reason why these people are selling their family home, the reason why all those objects end up the way they do end up at the Musée d’Orsay has to do with the way the world is changing in general: How the big history of modern society changes the small history of a group of people, how the globalization we deal with in abstract terms is in fact something that hits home in very dramatic ways”.
It’s a fascinating question that is explored in such a careful and beautiful way, perhaps because Assayas found the inspiration for the story from his own family and the French cultural identity. Each of the children in the film live in different countries around the world, showing the way that we expand our roots and how this connects us to a bigger picture, making us inseparable from the people around us as we leave our own mark on objects that will live on without us, whether we are aware of it or not.
It is a deeply moving and poignant film, striking in its simplicity compared to Assayas’ more intricate works. Its tender heart makes the profound questions it raises feel intimate and grounded, despite their philosophical weight. What truly elevates the film is the director’s personal connection to the subject matter; its autobiographical nature enhances the emotional core of the story, weaving life and art together seamlessly.
The film beautifully demonstrates how life imitates art, but also how art exists in tandem with life, shaped by the people it touches. A priceless vase may lose its significance when left unused in a museum viewed by thousands, yet it becomes invaluable through daily use in a home, cherished by only a few. This interplay between utility, context, and personal connection underscores the film’s exploration of the evolving meaning and worth of art.
By infusing the meta subject matter with the vulnerability of his own lived experiences, Assayas transforms and elevates his trademark style, bringing a much-needed sensitivity and familiarity to a subject matter that would otherwise feel impersonal, showing the true value of art by merging the philosophical questions with his inner world, creating a multi-faceted piece of art that reflects the complexity of its very existence.
