A summer of longing where your father holds all the cards and your cousin holds your heart.
At the beginning of the century. To punish him for his failure at school, Count Ivan Petrov takes his son Alexander to spend the two summer months in their Crimean estate, far from any distraction. For the 18-year-old, this is the beginning of a long period of isolation, one-on-one with a father whose severity he fears. Once on the spot, Ivan announces to his son the imminent arrival of his cousins Katia, whom he loves in silence, and Natacha, accompanied by their mother Elena. The joy of Alexander is short-lived, Natacha learning to him immediately that Katia comes in fact to celebrate her engagement with Nicolai. His dismay increases when he discovers that it is his father who arranged this marriage, of which Katia does not seem to be very happy.
Cinematography
Golden hour that feels like a sentence.
Acting
Claude Rich's terrifying paternal restraint.
Costume
White linens trapping heat and longing.
Director
Jérôme Foulon
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This adaptation of a Turgenev fragment was shot on location in Crimea before the 2014 conflict made such productions impossible.
The film captures the specific Russian literary tradition of 'superfluous men'—aristocrats too sensitive for their own good, drowning in unacted passion.
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