ÉTÉ 85 — My thoughts on and why this movie has a special place in my heart
“Je l’aimais autant que je croyais connaître le sens de ce mot.”
(WARNING: THIS POST CONTAIN SPOILERS FROM THE MOVIE)
Months ago the French movie ‘Été 85’ was released in France, and for some reason it caugh my attention. To add the fact that it naturally caught my attention, a friend of mine (coucou Anne ❤) started to talk about it with me, and then, well…i just knew i had to watch it.
Basically, the movie talks about the relationship between two young boys, Alexis and David, during the summer of 85 in France. They meet after David saved Alex from a boat accident in the middle of a storm and from that on their lifes end up being connected, and they live this brief but interesting and intense relationship, or whatever you prefer to call it.
I wasn’t able to watch the way I was planning, as I wanted to watch in Paris with both Anne and Sab, my two little human gifts that I got from France, as there’s a pandemic happening and I realized that it would be impossible to be with them both in this end of the year. But it’s okay, because I was able to watch thanks to an angel called Liz (hi Liz!), who saw on twitter, since the release of the movie, how much I was dying to watch it and helped me.
Fact is that it’s been almost three weeks since the first (and only, for a while) time that I was able to fully watch the movie (after giving myself some spoilers, ops!) and let me tell you something: IT WAS BLOODY WORTH IT! What a painful but beautiful movie!! For 1 hour and 40 something minutes I was transported to the French summer of 1985 and ‘lived’ David and Alex’s story with them. I was able to feel their feelings, live their story and was left in awe.
It’s not a love story, but you do end up falling in love with Alex and David’s connection. It leaves a mark on you (or at least it left on me). It touches deeper subjects such as loss, falling in love with the idea of what you see of someone, mental illness (in my pov) and how two characters so interesting deal with all this.
‘Été 85’ has one of the most gorgeous cinematography I’ve ever seen. The place where the story is set is quite dreamy and the directing is perfect! Benjamin and Félix’s acting is amazingly beautiful! They were able to portray David and Alex’s feelings and emotions in such a brilliant way that you can feel how real the characters are. They couldn’t have casted better actors to portray Alex and David. And their wardrobes fits the characters, their personalities and their state of minds so perfectly well!
And just like with any movie that i love, i do have some favorite scenes. Two of my favorite scenes have “Sailing” playing and made me feel so many emotions! The first one is set at the night club, when Alex is listening to this slower song (Sailing), after David put on him some headphones with the song playing, while watching David jumping and dancing around to a much happier song. It’s so simple, but so beautiful!
And the other is one of the most beautiful, deep, simple but powerful scenes. When Alex keeps the oath he and David made to each other, and dances in front of David’s grave, which made me cry so much! He sort of had all the reasons to hate on David at that point, but an oath is an oath and I also feel that it was a way for Alex to have his last moment with David. That scene was definitely one of the most beautiful ones for me, and even though there is no dialogue in it, it says so much and it has so much pain and strong emotions in it.
Another scene that made me think sooo much about the topic of the dialogue, is the one between Kate (the American girl they meet) and Alex, when she already knew about Alex and David’s story. During their conversation about what happened between the boys she mentions that Alex might not have fallen in love with David’s in himself, but with the idea he created of David in his head.
This took me straight to the fan/idol relationship we sometimes create with an artist we like. We might see what the person posts on social media and all that, but we don’t actually know them. It’s not that what we see is a lie, but it’s not the whole truth, and sometimes we might end up creating this idea of the person and ‘falling in love’ with it, when it might actually not be the reality. So when we ‘discover’ the truth, we realize that we fell in love with the idea we created. And I feel that tha’ts what happens with Alex. Yes, David was a real person, but Alex didnt know him entirely.
And that’s another thing that the movie gives to us. The character that Benjamin Voisin portrays in such a mind blowing and incredible way. Talking to Anne I started to think more and more about his character. David was complex, he had a lot of layers, that even though they weren’t developed in front of our eyes, they were all there in front of us. I might be wrong here, but I feel that he had some type of mental illness and this clicked to me when Anne mentioned in our conversation.
I unfortunately don’t know the name of David’s mental illness, but it’s as if he only had the ups from it. As if it was bipolarity, but only with the high side. He wouldn’t stay still for one second during some scenes, he was always up to something (he even talks about speed with Alex in the first time they are on the motorcycle going to the Ferris Whell). And I feel that when he told Alex that he was bored at him, after they met Kate at the beach, it was actually him saying that the new, the unknown is what makes him keep it going. He already knew Alex and, in a way, there was nothing more to discover or to live that was new with Alex, therefore he went to the next adventure. And I feel that he did that because it’s almost like the ups and downs that his mental illness had.
Once he stopped he could feel things and he didn’t want because it would cause him to deal with, maybe, a depression. So with Alex things weren’t new anylonger, therefore things were still, and he couldn’t deal with ‘still’. He needed the new, the unknown, and that was Kate. And maybe once Alex confronted him with what was going on, he was sort of obligated to face the ‘stillness’ and just couldn’t deal with it, so once Alex let the store in a rush and really hurt, David grabbed his motorcycle and ran.
And maybe he ran both to find Alex and to just take those feelings of reality away from him, he didn’t want to feel things anymore, and maybe he just left the speed take over…causing his death (not a spoiler, by the way). David was a complex character and Benjamin deserves all the praises for the way he portrayed him.
And Felix as well! He might not have portrayed someone so intense and with so many layers, but he definitely was mind blowing while portraying Alex. His emotions, his expressions, his acting — once you watch the movie and see how he beautifully portrayed Alex and his state during the present and also the scene when he dances on the grave you get why they are both mind-blowing.
And fun fact (I hope this is right): In the grave scene Felix was actually listening to the song while dancing, which for me makes everything even more beautiful, because he’s not only portraying Alex, but he is going deeper reach where Alex would be mentally and physically, and that’s just beautiful to me.
I didn’t have the chance to watch the movie on the big screen, but I couldn’t recommend this movie more to everyone who’s reading this. I mean, it might not be your type of movie, which is okay. But if it is, if it called your attention, if it left you curious and if you have the chance, please go and watch. You won’t regret it.
This movie goes beyond the relationship of two young boys knowing each other in the summer of 85 in France, as we can see. I think I can say that (for me) ‘Été 85’ is a masterpiece! I could go on and on talking about ‘Été 85’ (as you all witnessed a bit), so I’m gonna stop here. But if you have the chance, go watch the movie. It’s beautiful, it’s painful, and it’s worth it.
