A Summer's Tale

Can you feel nostalgic for a place you never been? Rohmer really perfected that here — now I know why Guadagnino referenced this film so much for CMBYN. And side note, Gaspard’s style was immaculate. But this movie is fr one of them ones. The characters, all so well-written and the script was too good. Rohmer’s quiet cruelty is that Gaspard isn’t a tragic character because he’s torn between great loves; he’s tragic because he’s terrified of being defined. Gaspard didn’t avoid committing but he avoided making decisions. —  “men are so low, they don’t take risks”— Gaspard really wasn’t choosing between women; he is avoiding choosing himself.  Each relationship threatens to define him, and definition feels like a loss of choice or optionality. And when he started to decide on Lena and Solene, they both surprised him. Yes, the tape recorder solved his situations with both of them but it not working out with Margot was perfectly fitting. Though still not a true sailor, as he was leaving the port, it mirrored the song he was writing — leaving is a postponement, a way to preserve possibility by refusing to land anywhere. Phenomenal film. And Margot was really the best one. “It’s beautiful to be in love”