Summer of 85

Play trailer

1:40

Summer of 85

2021

1h 41m

Drama

Romance

LGBTQ+

Play Trailer

Watchlist

Watchlist

Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

81%

Tomatometer

102 Reviews

80%

Popcornmeter

100+ Ratings

When Alexis capsizes off the coast of France, David comes to the rescue and opens his eyes to a new horizon of friendship, art and sexual bliss.

Watch on Fandango at Home

Stream Now

Critics Consensus

While not François Ozon's best work, Summer of 85 serves as a beguiling, bittersweet ode to teen love and its lingering after-effects.

Read Critics Reviews

Ty Burr

Boston Globe

"Summer of 85" balances intriguingly but a little too murkily on a fulcrum of unreliable narration, and it becomes impossible to tell whether Ozon means us to take the story at face value or undercutting Alex's own melodramatic pronouncements.

Rated: 3/4

Jul 7, 2021

Full Review

Ann Hornaday

Washington Post

Despite some distracting contrivances, "Summer of 85" transports viewers to a place, time and feeling that feel altogether real, and not nearly as far away as they initially might seem.

Rated: 2.5/4

Jun 24, 2021

Full Review

Claudia Puig

FilmWeek (LAist)

It's all predicated on the strength of [Félix Lefebvre and Benjamin Voisin's] performances, and they're really good.

Jun 22, 2021

Full Review

Serena Seghedoni

Loud and Clear Reviews

In Summer of 85 (Été 85), François Ozon puts his own spin on Aidan Chambers’ coming-of-age novel Dance On My Grave, crafting a complex, meaningful story about love, loss and growth.

Rated: 4/5

Aug 13, 2023

Full Review

Mo Muzammal

Vague Visages

Summer of 85 is a well-designed coming-of-age work that makes for a sentimental and sensual drama, even if it fails to meet its potential.

Jul 27, 2023

Full Review

Juan Barquin

them.

French director François Ozon has been delivering nothing but gems for decades now...

Nov 2, 2022

Full Review

Read all reviews

Virginie

The summer aesthetic was nice and enjoyable but the characters were incredibly under-developed and I didnt feel the romance progressed in a natural, believable way. Seemed like all the characters introduced themselves and became incredibly fast friends/love interests right away I get it was supposed to encompass the feeling of a summer fling but the screenplay was disappointing to me and lacked substance. While tragedy was inevitable, I found myself unmoved by what happened to the characters because I didnt feel attached to them at all and had no sympathy for their plights because of how surface-level it all seemed. The ingredients were all there but the execution fell flat to me.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

06/29/21

Full Review

Dotson Rader

Convincing love story, beautifully played.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

06/19/21

Full Review

Patrick

Great movie. The actors were amazing.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

06/19/21

Full Review

Garry A

The first half of the movie was good. There was real chemistry between the two young men. After one of them died it became too melodramatic.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

11/04/25

Full Review

Audience Member

Wow 😍👍 I definitely recommend this.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

06/01/25

Full Review

Kalissa H

Way better than I thought it would be. I like that the movie took place in two times in Alex’s life.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

05/30/25

Full Review

Read all reviews

Read More

Read Less

POST RATING

WRITE A REVIEW

EDIT REVIEW

François Ozon

Director

Félix Lefebvre

Alexis

Benjamin Voisin

David

Philippine Velge

Kate

Valeria Bruni Tedeschi

Madame Gorman

Melvil Poupaud

Monsieur Lefèvre

Cicada

95%

70%

Cicada

Watchlist

Disobedience

84%

75%

Disobedience

Watchlist

TRAILER

for Disobedience

And Then We Danced

94%

95%

And Then We Danced

Watchlist

TRAILER

for And Then We Danced

Supernova

89%

69%

Supernova

Watchlist

TRAILER

for Supernova

Discover more movies and TV shows.

View More

Summer of 85: Trailer 1

1:40

View more videos

View more photos

Synopsis

When Alexis capsizes off the coast of France, David comes to the rescue and opens his eyes to a new horizon of friendship, art and sexual bliss.

Director: François Ozon
Producer: Éric Altmayer, Nicolas Altmayer
Screenwriter: François Ozon, Aidan Chambers
Distributor: Music Box Films
Production Co: Scope Pictures, Mandarin Films
Genre: Drama, Romance, LGBTQ+
Original Language: French (France)
Release Date (Theaters): Jun 18, 2021, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 17, 2021
Box Office (Gross USA): $70.7K
Runtime: 1h 41m
Aspect Ratio: Flat (1.85:1)

Most Popular at Home Now