SUMMER OF 85
AN INTERVIEW WITH FRANQOIS OZON AND THE ACTORS
After making "By the Grace of God," which was rather taxing,
especially during our promotion tour,
I felt like doing something a little bit lighter.
I came across a book I'd read as a teenager
called "Dance on My Grave."
I read it again and thought
that was exactly what I needed: a summer movie,
something radiant about teenagehood.
It took me back to my first experiences-- kissing,
discovering other bodies, the first feelings of desire.
We had eight weeks of summer vacation--
July and August-- before going back to school.
S0 we had eight weeks to fully experience our first love stories.
What I wanted to show is that it's a film about love,
about the ideas we have about love and the confrontation
between a rather idealistic vision of love
and one that's more clear-sighted, more realistic,
and even more cynical.
The shock between those two visions of love
gave the story its strength.
The central themes of the film
are highly contemporary. It's about fascination,
and that love story is truly universal.
It could definitely happen in the present day.
The love that two people feel is what matters.
If it's between two women or two men, or not,
it doesn't make a difference
and our generation understands that.
- Completely. - We understand and want to believe.
Past generations don't really understand
or they have a problem with it.
S0 I think that setting the film in the '80s is... awesome!
- It brings everyone together. - Absolutely. It's strong.
What I liked about the story is that it's built like a puzzle.
There are several levels of reality,
several time lines, so it was interesting to put it all together.
That structure seemed interesting
because it created some kind of suspense.
The viewers had to ask themselves questions
and imagined things that could be positive
and sometimes more tragic.
We have to talk about what you did.
I don't want to.
I'm not here to judge you but to try and understand.
The judge needs to know why you acted that way
and I have to give them my opinion.
N0. It's none of your business.
I had been warned about Frangois, and I think you were, too.
He does two or three takes, tops. S0 you have to be reactive.
S0 I was ready,
he was ready, because we had done a great deal of work beforehand.
We had to. You can't show up on set not knowing anything.
It took some time for the chemistry
to really happen.
They became close right away,
but I had to work with them,
to read with them, so we could believe
what was happening between them.
The chemistry had to be there
because the whole film is entirely based on that.
- S0 it's-- - Beautiful.
- And this will hide your ugly face. - Asshole.
We have to render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's:
Frangois has the eye for those things.
We're simply bare-chested on the beach, saying our lines
but he's the one waiting for the right colors,
the right light, the best time for me to undress,
the perfect shot when he looks at me
and the perfect shot when I look at him looking at me.
Are you a good swimmer?
I think so.
I ask because Alex is the king of shipwrecks.
The stress we initially feel, working with such a great director,
quickly disappears thanks to the closeness
he creates on set.
He's been working with the same people,
the same heads of department, for 20 years,
because he's loyal and because he enjoys it.
That in itself made us feel like family.
With Pascaline Chavanne, who does costume design,
and Benoit Barouh for production design, we tried to be as realistic as possible
while giving the film its own style.
When you go back in time for a film,
it is important to try and find "totems,"
things from that time that take you back,
that bring back memories.
Things that represent that era.
For costume design,
we remembered that we used to all wear denim:
we had a denim jacket,
a pair of jeans and a bandana around the neck.
We tried to bring in those little details.
It's not 100% realistic,
we simply looked for the right style for that time.
The initial title was "Summer of 84." I thought it was sexier,
and it was a homage to Robert Mulligan's film "Summer of '42."
What happened is that I used the song
"ln Between Days", by The Cure, which I absolutely love,
and when the producers were supposed to buy the rights for the song,
Robert Smith, the singer of the band,
replied, "I wish I could sell you the rights to the song,
but it came out in July of '85 and your film's called 'Summer of 84'."
S0 I wrote a personal letter to Robert Smith,
telling him that song was so important to me,
I was ready to change the title
and call the film "Summer of 85."
He accepted and here it is: "Summer of 85,"
because I couldn't imagine using another song.
What's important when you make a summer movie
is to show bodies, sensuality.
So what I particularly liked here was going back to film.
We shoot in digital now
and to go back to film reminds us of the sensuality of it.
Bodies and skin look different.
The grain, the image look different and I tried to show
some sort of idealization of the '80s.
After what we've been through,
with the Covid and the lockdown,
it's a little bit like regaining Paradise lost.
We could do things back then that we can't do now.
I wanted to look at him, to touch him
and I wanted him to touch me.
I wanted to be with him all the time,
for three million, six hundred and twenty eight thousand, eight hundred seconds.
I was delighted to work with these two actresses:
with Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, with whom I'd already worked, and with Isabelle Nanty.
Their characters as mothers are very important in the story.
They are playing important parts.
They have very different relations with their respective sons,
but they're both very maternal, and maybe a little toxic.
Valeria was perfect to play the possessive, extraverted Jewish mother,
while Isabelle Nanty played the working-class morn
who is way more reserved and a little depressed.
Those two characters completed each other and even mirrored each other.
When I first saw Valeria during rehearsals, I thought,
"That explains my character,
that's why things went awry at some point."
Valéria is like a beautiful storm
you have to fall into and follow.
We loved working with her.
Yes, you get carried out to sea and you surrender.
- If you fight it, you die. - You die.
Or you just follow and accept.
You follow and realize it's like dancing.
Look at him, poor thing, he'll catch his death.
Let's go take a bath.
- All you need is a warm bath. - Let's go.
David's friends get a bath when their boat capsizes.
You'd think they do it on purpose. Come on!
Maybe they like my bathroom.
Alex comes from a working-class family
and David is part of the upper middle class of Tréport
who own businesses.
There is an underlying class conflict
in the story
and on top of that, David went through real tragedies.
Alex has a naive,
innocent vision of life.
David had several sexual relationships
and he's experienced death, with his father's passing.
Their confrontation
is nourished by their differences.
Before meeting David, he stayed in his room,
reading books.
He's quite an introvert
until David comes along and helps him open up.
It happens throughout the film.
I like a lot of stuff.
- Right. - See, I like this, for example,
- but things don't look good on me. - I know what would.
For sure? Are you kidding me?
- I'd get even more excited. - You perv!
Get it away from me!
Let's go take care of you.
David is a character who devours life.
He's like the characters
in the movies of the '60s,
like James Dean, who likes speed,
who does good things and who does bad things.
He's like a Cocteau character, a fallen angel.
He's a character
who moves through the film
with sensuality but also dangerously.
That's what the other characters love about him,
whether it be the English girl or Alex.
He's like a meteorite passing through town.
I said, "I don't get it, Frangois, I don't know what you want"
and he sent a message back saying, "Just be a scorpion."
S0 I thought a lot about it and I finally understood:
a scorpion can be fascinating, you can watch it for hours
while forgetting it's got a venomous tail.
S0 the character is like that.
I had to be absolutely fascinating,
I had to be magnetic from the moment you met me.
- We've know each other just a few hours. - Why waste time?
We won't live forever.
Sure. I need time to get used to things.
Okay, I'll shut up.
I loved telling the story from Alex's point of you,
with his naivety, his innocence,
and the way he idealizes others.
He dreams of having a friend,
he talks about him, then once he's met him,
he realizes the friend of his dreams
might not be what he expected.
It is that disillusion which makes the story so powerful.
The film revolves around this question:
do we create the people we love
or do we see them for what they are?
When we love someone,
their flaws become beautiful to us.
It's interesting to capture that violent confrontation
every teenager experiences when facing reality,
whether it be in "Young and Beautiful"
or even in "ln the House."
Those characters
have to face the world's cruelty.
How do they survive it?
How do they manage to go beyond that?