LeRoyMarko Patrice Leconte is one of my favorite director. Although this film is not one of his best, it's still worth watching. It's burning with sensuality. Great characters: from the eccentric doctor René to the Marmaduke look-a-like dog. Good performances by Marielle, Girardot and Majani. Too bad it's her only film. This movie tells the story about two persons in love. But love, as every true movie fan will know, is not always the easiest thing. Verdict: not the best Leconte, but a very enjoyable way to spend 89 minutes.Seen at home, in Toronto, on September 20th, 2005.76/100 (**½)

writers_reign What can you say about a film by a leading director that flopped at the box office and whose leading lady was never heard from again (shades of Les Portes de la nuit and Nathalie Nattier) yet has drawn a half dozen sympathetic comments on this very board. For me the twin selling points were Patrice Leconte and Jean-Pierre Marielle and neither let me down. A friend in France whose judgment I value warned me against it and although I could see where she was coming from I'm still glad I saw it. In some respects Leconte has produced the ultimate valentine to lost love and shot it in a hazy, wistful, slightly unreal style the way we tend to remember lost time. The handful of linking scenes featuring the narrator looking back to 1958 are shot in stark, sombre tones contrasting wildly with the pastel palette of the flashbacks set in and around Lake Geneva. The dreamlike quality is present from the start; in a dream there are no formal introductions or elaborate establishing of relationships, they are just there, you meet someone and instantly know them or know all you want or need to know to fall in love. As others have said on this board Leconte withholds information about all the three principals but even with a story as leisurely paced as this one we don't really care. The eroticism whilst more blatant than in say, The Hairdresser's Husband, is still light years short of being even soft porn but is in keeping with the dreamlike quality throughout. On balance a fine film which did not deserve its neglect.

mifunesamurai 1958 and the summer of secrets haunt Victor as his memories dwell into the lustful past of Yvonne's passion. They are accompanied by the eccentric gay Doctor and all together they hide secrets. Director Leconte never reveals in detail the meaning of their secrets but hints on them, allowing the viewer to work that little bit harder. The main interest is the sexual passion the camera has with beautiful Yvonne, a woman of leisure that distracts Victor and the viewer.

paddy-20 A truly beautiful film by Patrice Leconte. As usual Patrice Leconte provides us with a magnificent blend of a fine cast (a memorable performance by Jean-Pierre Marielle as Dr. Rene Meinthe), beautiful music and photography and a captivating story. A film less known than Patrice Leconte's "Le mari de la coiffeuse" but equally enjoyable.