Summertime: Beautiful Seasons 2015 Movie Review

『Between Desire and Reality: A Record of Unyielding True Feelings』

🎥 Movie Overview

🎬 Title: La Belle Saison (2015) (Summertime: A Beautiful Season)
🌍 Country: 🇫🇷 France
🎞️ Genre: Romance / Queer Drama / Period Drama
🗓️ Production & Release: Les Films Pelléas, Feature
⏳ Runtime: 105 min
📢 Director: Catherine Corsini
🖋️ Screenplay: Catherine Corsini, Laurette Polmanss
📺 Platform: Selected streaming services (varies by region)

👩‍💼 Cast: Izïa Higelin – Delphine
Cécile de France – Carole

🧩 Story Deep Dive (Spoilers)

🌿 Meeting of Different Worlds and Sparks

In 1971, in the French countryside, Delphine (Izïa Higelin) works on a farm and, upon reaching adulthood, leaves for Paris to escape parental pressure to marry. In Paris, she meets Carole (Cécile de France), a lively feminist activist and Spanish teacher.

🔥 Love, Conflict, and Social Oppression

Delphine joins Carole’s women’s liberation group and becomes awakened to the freedom of city life and the fervor of feminist movements. Initially living with a boyfriend, Carole gradually falls for Delphine’s pure and intense charm, and the two plunge into a passionate romance. Happiness is short-lived as Delphine’s father suffers a stroke, forcing her to return to the countryside to help on the family farm. Carole follows her, leaving her entire life in Paris behind.

💬 “I need you, but I have to stay here”

For the free-spirited Carole, rural life is unfamiliar and uncomfortable, yet she grows close to Delphine’s mother and helps with farm work. However, Delphine must hide their relationship from the conservative rural community and her family. Carole gradually becomes exhausted by the secrecy and by Delphine’s sacrifice of love for her family’s duties. This tension escalates into a crisis when Delphine’s mother discovers their relationship.

🦋 Emotional Resonance and Significance

🎨 Clash of Two Worlds: City and Countryside

The film’s most powerful narrative device is the stark contrast between Paris and the countryside farm.

• Paris: The city where Carole is active represents liberation and change. Women protest in the streets declaring “We are not men’s property,” challenging the male-dominated society and exploring new ways of life. Here, Delphine openly embraces her hidden sexual identity and learns the courage to claim love. The city signifies freedom and possibility for her.
• Countryside Farm: Delphine’s rural home represents tradition and duty. After her father’s illness, Delphine is weighed down by the responsibility to maintain the farm. The oppressive atmosphere she experienced since childhood remains, prioritizing family survival over personal desire. Carole brings unexpected vitality to this traditional space, yet faces the conservative gaze and Delphine’s mother’s rigid attitude.

The clash of these two spaces visually manifests Delphine’s internal conflict. She wants to fully embrace her identity yet cannot ignore her love for her family, trapped in a dilemma between the two worlds.

📚 A Realistic Reflection on ‘Love’

What sets this film apart from other romance films is that it removes illusions of love and confronts its realistic challenges head-on.

• Importance of Context: Love does not endure on romance alone. The film illustrates how social, economic, and cultural contexts are crucial for sustaining love. Carole immerses herself in farm work and builds rapport with Delphine’s mother to understand Delphine’s life, yet their relationship cannot overcome the limitations of the time and place.

• Growth Through Separation: The ending is neither tragic nor overly romantic. Delphine stays in the countryside instead of returning to Paris with Carole, making a ‘realistic’ choice. A later letter reveals that Delphine eventually leaves the farm to have her own home, implying that their love was not a failure but an essential growth experience for Delphine. Through her encounter with Carole, Delphine gains courage and hope for a future where she can live independently.

🔗 Direction and Acting: Subtle Emotional Explosions

Catherine Corsini’s direction is restrained yet excels at revealing the characters’ emotions explosively. The focus is on capturing facial expressions, gestures, and the beauty of nature rather than flashy techniques.

• Performances: Cécile de France and Izïa Higelin convey their feelings perfectly through eyes and subtle actions. Early moments of love and later emotional shifts during crises are made more compelling by their acting. Notably, the scene where Delphine cannot contain her desire for Carole and the despair after her mother discovers the truth immerse the audience deeply.

In conclusion, 《Summertime: A Beautiful Season》wears the guise of a romantic love story but contains profound themes of societal injustice and personal struggle. It shows that true love begins not only with the courage to defy prejudice but also with understanding and accepting oneself fully.

🎯 Personal Rating

💕 Love Scene Intensity: ♥♥♥♥♥
⭐ Rating: ★★★★★