'Summer Hours' review

Jérémie Renier, Juliette Binoche and Charles Berling (Credit: Jeannick Gravelines/IFC)

Three grown siblings—Adrienne (Juliette Binoche), Frédéric (Charles Berling) and Jérémie (Jérémie Renier)—reunite each summer for the birthday of their seventysomething mother Hélène (the impeccable Edith Scob). But this summer will be the last. Hélène dies not long after, and the siblings must decide how to divide up her estate, including some impressive museum pieces.

The buzz: French filmmaker Oliver Assayas is always unpredictable, though his more recent work has tended toward the bombastic, including cyber sex thriller "Demonlover" and globetrotting noir "Boarding Gate." His films almost always make it to the U.S., and "Summer Hours" has the added bonus of Binoche—one of the few French actresses who can practically guarantee an international release.

The verdict: What is it that unites a family? What role do possessions play in our lives? What do they mean to the people we leave behind when we die? How are memories made, forgotten, reclaimed? Who the hell put that desk in the museum? These are some of the many questions raised by the dazzlingly beautiful "Summer Hours," a film small in scale but not in impact. Yes, the movie is talky, plotless and French, with characters who appreciate fine art. And yet in place of the stuffy, elitist affair one might expect is a work of universal wisdom. Be patient with the film, let it sink in, and you'll be rewarded. Filmmakers rarely capture the passage of time as elegantly and powerfully as Assayas does here, and his achievement is all the more pleasurable because it's so unassuming. There's no grandstanding or pretension or self-importance on display as Assayas focuses on the joyous, mundane and heartbreaking moments that occur as a family comes together and drifts apart. "Summer Hours" is a true work of art.

Did you know? "Summer Hours" is the second film to emerge from a project initiated by the Musée d'Orsay in Paris to celebrate its 20th anniversary. The first, "Flight of the Red Balloon," also featured Binoche.

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