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Summer

R Released Aug 31, 1986 1h 38m Comedy Drama List
93% Tomatometer 30 Reviews 85% Audience Score 1,000+ Ratings
Delphine (Marie Rivière) is a beautiful young Parisian who is still smarting from a recent break-up. When a friend nixes their travel plans shortly before the trip, Delphine is left to decide how to spend her holiday. Soon she is dealing with various uncomfortable situations, including a beach getaway where she is the only single person. After attempting a trip to the overcrowded Alps, Delphine entertains more vacation options, but will the restless soul ever find what she's looking for? Read More Read Less
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Critics Reviews

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Tina Hassannia Village Voice A beautiful narrative of self-discovery, elegant in its simplicity; Rohmer doesn't have to push hard on his basic premise to find extraordinary meaning. Aug 23, 2017 Full Review Wendy Ide Times (UK) Some films exist in a vacuum. Others, like Le rayon vert, the fifth tale in ric Rohmer's Comedies and Proverbs series, are destined to have a seismic impact on the cinema that comes after it. Rated: 4/5 Mar 6, 2015 Full Review Jonathan Romney Observer (UK) A perspicaciously empathetic study of solitude, depression and anxiety. Rated: 5/5 Jan 4, 2015 Full Review Farah Cheded A Good Movie To Watch [Marie] Rivière, who improvised much of her incisive dialogue, puts into words things that so many have felt but few would admit. In that sense, The Green Ray feels as much like a miracle as its last shot does. Rated: 89/100 Jul 26, 2023 Full Review Luis Fernando Galván En Filme Serves as an enlightening look at contemporary metropolitan life in France and Europe in the eighties. [Full review in Spanish] Rated: 4/5 Nov 17, 2020 Full Review Craig Williams CineVue It's a film of unwavering humanity -- unflinching in the face of prickly, tangled emotions -- and yet it is defined by a strange, magical diversion towards the metaphysical. Rated: 5/5 Apr 4, 2019 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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james w Never have been satisfied by Rohmer's films. Lots of pointless conversations and irrelevant interaction, apparently improved. Guess you have to be French. Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review Audience Member Después de bastante tiempo, la semana pasada volví a ver El rayo verde, una película de Eric Rohmer que relata la deriva de Delphine, una secretaria parisina de vacaciones (Marie Riviere) , por diferentes sitios de veraneo y que arrastra un desengaño amoroso que no puede superar. .......................................................................................................................................... Es increíble la lozanía que mantiene esta película de 1986 (forma parte del ciclo de Rohmer Comedias y Proverbios) , una referencia ineludible cuando se habla de películas sobre vacaciones (sobre todo de vacaciones en soledad) y de replanteos existenciales frente al mar o de almuerzos o meriendas con amigos o extraños en un jardín. Justamente la volví a recordar al ver Isabella, con sus ritos frente al Rio de la Plata y los paseos de una de sus protagonistas. ...................................................................................................................................... La naturalidad y sutileza de los diálogos (y sus ramalazos de humor), la irrupción de diferentes personajes de la nada, los cambiantes estados de ánimo de Delphine (que puede ser adorable o exasperante) de la mano de la maravillosa actuación de Marie Riviere, los climas que se van creando y un movimiento que no cesa en una película que transcurre casi enteramente en exteriores. Rohmer logra a través de Delphine una sorprendente unidad en una película de estructura episódica. ......................................................................................................................................... Todos estos, factores que configuran el universo rohmeriano. ...................................................................................................................................... Una película que nos depara uno de los finales más maravillosos y epifánicos de la historia del cine. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- After a long time, last week I saw again The Green Lightning, a film by Eric Rohmer that recounts the drift of Delphine, a Parisian secretary on vacation (Marie Riviere), through different places of summer and that drags a love disappointment that does not can overcome. The freshness that this 1986 film maintains is incredible (it is part of the Rohmer Comedies and Proverbs cycle), an unavoidable reference when talking about films about vacations (especially vacations in solitude) and existential rethinking in front of the sea or lunches or snacks with friends or strangers in a garden. The naturalness and subtlety of the dialogues (and their outbursts of humor), the emergence of different characters from nowhere, Delphine's changing moods (who can be adorable or infuriating) hand in hand with Marie Riviere's wonderful performance, the climates that are being created and a movement that does not stop in a film that takes place almost entirely outdoors. Rohmer achieves through Delphine a surprising unity in a film with an episodic structure. All these factors that make up the Rohmerian universe. A film that brings us one of the most wonderful and epiphanic endings in the history of cinema. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/27/23 Full Review Audience Member Blown away. Summer in a bottle. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/13/23 Full Review Audience Member Eric Rohmer's films are unique. We observe French people talking about their lives and loves. Often they are confused about what to do. Here, he presents a sort of character study of Delphine (Marie Riviere, who apparently improvised enough of her part to warrant a screenwriting credit), a woman who is indecisive, even avoidant, when it comes to meeting men and starting a relationship. She is principled and wants things on her own terms but she is desperately lonely as a result and prone to crying. Yet the film is light-hearted and depicts Delphine's attempts to have a holiday (first in Cherbourg, then the Alps, then Biarritz). We meet other women who do not seem to have her problems, easily meeting men, or accepting them because of lower standards. The title invokes a proverb suggesting that when one witnesses the last green ray of the sunset (described by a group of older people Delphine eavesdrops on), then one will gain insight into one's own heart/purpose and that of others. The film is the fifth in Rohmer's Comedies and Proverbs series. Don't come looking for plot but instead be prepared for a wistful even frivolous look at those early days when life hadn't yet settled. Charmant. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/04/23 Full Review Audience Member #5 in Rohmer's comedies & proverbs Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/21/23 Full Review Audience Member Top tier Rohmer. Maybe my favorite of them all. One of the best performances in all of cinema. Holy shit. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/19/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Summer

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Cast & Crew

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Movie Info

Synopsis Delphine (Marie Rivière) is a beautiful young Parisian who is still smarting from a recent break-up. When a friend nixes their travel plans shortly before the trip, Delphine is left to decide how to spend her holiday. Soon she is dealing with various uncomfortable situations, including a beach getaway where she is the only single person. After attempting a trip to the overcrowded Alps, Delphine entertains more vacation options, but will the restless soul ever find what she's looking for?
Director
Éric Rohmer
Producer
Margaret Ménégoz
Screenwriter
Marie Rivière, Éric Rohmer
Distributor
Orion Pictures
Production Co
Les Films du Losange
Rating
R
Genre
Comedy, Drama
Original Language
Canadian French
Release Date (Theaters)
Aug 31, 1986, Original
Release Date (DVD)
Sep 13, 2011
Box Office (Gross USA)
$37.5K
Runtime
1h 38m
Sound Mix
Mono
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