Themes: Romantic Betrayal, Brief Encounters, Love Triangles
Release Year: 1996
Country: FR
Run Time: 15 minutes
Plot
Fed up with his boyfriend, a young man has a brief encounter with a woman he meets on the beach in this short from director François Ozon. A Summer Dress opens with the straitlaced Frédéric (Frédéric Mangenot) criticizing the more flamboyant Sébastien (Sébastien Charles) for incessantly prancing around their cabin while blasting his favorite '60s pop singer, Sheila. Frédéric bikes to the beach to escape and meets an older woman named Lucia (Lucia Sanchez) who, without much conversation, leads him to a secluded spot where they have sex. Frédéric notices an onlooker during their lovemaking; when he returns to the beach, his clothes have been stolen. With no choice but to wear Lucia's spare dress, Sébastien prepares himself for an odd confrontation with Frédéric. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
Review
One of François Ozon's last short films before his graduation to features, the impressionistic A Summer Dress shows the young director at the height of his teasing, suggestive powers. Ozon could make a trip to the grocery store suspenseful, and that's basically what he does here, adding drama and intrigue to what is essentially a humorous, minor-key tale of misplaced -- or rather, miscalculated -- lust. Summer Dress' sense of post-adolescent sexual politics is at once enigmatic and perfectly clear: Though he might like to think he's on a higher rung than his effeminate boyfriend, Frédéric finds that he's not, and, ironically, it takes a fling with an experienced woman to put him in his place. Designed with a painter's eye for color and composition, the film shows a strong affinity for such classic experimental works as Maya Deren's Meshes of the Afternoon or Kenneth Anger's Fireworks and yet it holds up as a bold and completely modern work of its own. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
