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One Deadly Summer

R 1983 2h 13m Drama List
60% Tomatometer 5 Reviews 77% Popcornmeter 500+ Ratings
Shortly after Elle Wieck (Isabelle Adjani) moves to a small French village, she begins dating Pin-Pon (Alain Souchon), a quiet young mechanic who has grown obsessed with the beautiful newcomer. But Elle has her own reason for the relationship: Pin-Pon's deceased father was one of the men who brutally gang-raped her mother (Maria Machado) two decades before, and she's out to get her own form of revenge. However, Pin-Pon's deaf aunt (Suzanne Flon) suspects Elle's true motivation.

Critics Reviews

View All (5) Critics Reviews
Clayton Dillard Slant Magazine Isabelle Adjani is la belle image and femme fatale in One Deadly Summer, Jean Becker's enticing noir pastiche, now available in a serviceable Blu-ray package from Bayview Entertainment. Nov 17, 2015 Full Review Anton Bitel Projected Figures a tale of small-town rape-revenge and tragic myopia, with a versatile Isabelle Adjani Jul 31, 2019 Full Review Rob Aldam Backseat Mafia Starts out as an amiable French comedy before going down a strange and unexpected path. Jul 25, 2019 Full Review Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com Rated: 2/5 Jul 16, 2005 Full Review Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews It is difficult to feel sympathetic to someone so bent on getting revenge. Rated: C Jan 12, 2004 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Audience Member "One Deadly Summer" was one of France's biggest films in 1983. It was nominated for nine French Oscars and won four of them, was the second highest grossing movie of the year in that country, and continued Isabelle Adjani's reign as the premier actress of the 1980s. A deadly concoction of erotic thriller tropes, vengeance movie delecatations, and Sirkian melodrama, it has the makings of a fervent arthouse masterwork. But its initially tightly wound, lurid promise slowly disintegrates to reveal a bumbling mess distinctly unsure of what direction it wants to move in. In "One Deadly Summer," Adjani plays Elle, a new-to-town floozy so wet dreamy in her appearance and attitude that she immediately enraptures the attention of the male population in her new place of living. But while most assume that she's nothing more than a walking exhibitionist looking for a cheap thrill, Elle is anything but: in actuality, she's a revenge seeking dame hungry to avenge the decades old gang rape of her mother. Believing that the descendants of the perpetrators are living in the area, she hopes to right the wrongs done to her family, by specifically seducing (and, thus destroying) Fiorimonto (Alain Souchon), the son of one of the men she believes to be responsible for the dusty crime. But when it is discovered that payback was definitively taken care of years earlier, with the family she's presenting preying upon verily innocent in the matter, Elle begins to lose grip of what's left of her stability, ultimately ensuring that damage, based in bloody reprisal or not, makes its way onto the scene. Adjani is as brilliant as she is sometimes cloyingly coy -- she treads a fine line between overacting and deftly calculated embodiment. Per usual, there's no one better at pretending to lose their mind on the silver screen than she is. But Elle, trashily sexual and never quite coherent enough to be sympathetic, is a character too incomprehensibly written for Adjani to flawlessly portray. And with its swamp of characters, saddled with Jean Becker's (who co-writes and directs) fatal decision to switch the film's perspective through varying voiceover, "One Deadly Summer" goes from stinging to muddled stunningly fast; rather than be supplemented by the insight it so ardently tries to fulfill, it's more discombobulating than effectual. He's incapable of setting a surefire tone, and his beating around the bush is noxious to the potent effect the film is looking for. Sometimes it's a sex farce, sometimes it's a rape and revenge stereotype, and sometimes it's a good old-fashioned femme fatale oriented noir. But the flurry of styles is so scattershot that the film oftentimes feels as though it's still in the stages of planning, as if Becker expected Adjani's versatility to distract us from noticing his indecisiveness. Frequently, that is a reality. Most of the time, though, it's not, and the film swims about looking for a cinematic life raft when there's none for miles. Thirty-three years later, in comparison to "One Deadly Summer," I find myself reminded of 2015's "Joy," a Jennifer Lawrence starrer that, despite its mixed reception, netted the actress a Best Actress nomination. Currently, Lawrence is a cultural phenomenon so beloved that one can expect Oscar adoration no matter the characterization. Three decades from now, no one is going to be talking about "Joy." And there's a sense that "One Deadly Summer" was the same way back in 1983: not a masterpiece, but acclaimed nevertheless because of Adjani's dominance over the French film industry at the time. Now that she's a legend rather than a fresh-faced star, one can see "One Deadly Summer" for what is actually is -- a misfired tale of obsession. It's sometimes interesting. But mostly, it isn't, even when Adjani is. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/03/23 Full Review Audience Member A warm mysterious summer! Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/22/23 Full Review Audience Member Je ne suis pas folle vous savez ! Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 01/22/23 Full Review Audience Member Excellent psychological thriller.Recommended for (another) terrific performance by Isabelle Adjani. I'm a true fan of her now!!:) Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/10/23 Full Review Audience Member Isabelle Adjani best movie! Brilliant! Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/09/23 Full Review Audience Member An interesting character study that benefits from a strong performance by Adjani as a beautiful young woman bent on revenge. Even so, the story is not only greater due to a predictable ending that you can see coming halfway through the film. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/14/23 Full Review Read all reviews
One Deadly Summer

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Movie Info

Synopsis Shortly after Elle Wieck (Isabelle Adjani) moves to a small French village, she begins dating Pin-Pon (Alain Souchon), a quiet young mechanic who has grown obsessed with the beautiful newcomer. But Elle has her own reason for the relationship: Pin-Pon's deceased father was one of the men who brutally gang-raped her mother (Maria Machado) two decades before, and she's out to get her own form of revenge. However, Pin-Pon's deaf aunt (Suzanne Flon) suspects Elle's true motivation.
Director
Jean Becker
Producer
Gerard Beytout, Christine Beyout
Rating
R
Genre
Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (DVD)
May 11, 2010
Runtime
2h 13m