Last Summer

With her creamy wardrobe of tasteful neutrals and dreamy mansion in the Paris suburbs, Léa Drucker’s Anne has created an impenetrable exterior for herself in “Last Summer.” At least, that’s how it looks from the outside.  

But Anne doesn’t know she’s the main character in a Catherine Breillat movie, and so she – and we – are up for some upheaval. The provocative French auteur is back with her first feature in more than a decade, and at nearly 76, remains as curious and clear-eyed as ever in her depiction of women’s sexuality. There’s no judgment in her portrayal of Anne’s torrid, taboo affair; her downfall will occur regardless of what we think of her. Breillat’s approach is technically intimate yet tonally detached — languid as a summer’s day, sometimes unbearably so, and often uncomfortably warm.