Ten years have passed since the brilliant writer/director Catherine Breillat graced us with a new project. So you can imagine my excitement when I heard Last Summer was gearing up for its physical media release. Even more interestingly, this movie is based on the Danish movie Queen of Hearts (OT: Dronningen) which I also adore.

I would like to leave any direct comparisons between the two movies aside, as I believe each movie should be able to exist based on its own merits.

My first impression of Last Summer is that the movie is beautifully shot. Breillat invites us to sidestep the norms of society for one summer without getting entangled in any legal or moral subtleties. Furthermore, her direction and clear understanding of emotion, tension, and sexuality help change the perception of this relationship drama from something rather crude to an exciting affair of forbidden desire.

Anne (Léa Drucker) and Théo (Samuel Kircher) absolutely sizzle as they become drawn to each other in the early stages and the evolution of their connection feels organic. The movie remains grounded, however, never crossing the line into outright melodrama or titillation. And in the end, I was left wanting to see more. Last Summer could have gone for three hours and I would have happily been on board. A strong recommendation, especially if you haven't yet seen Queen of Hearts.

Based on the Danish film "Queen of Hearts", Catherine Breillat's French remake carries strong performances, gorgeous camerawork and interesting themes that the original didn't offer and personally, I think I like this one better.

Filmmaker Catherine Breillat is a risky yet talented filmmaker who has made some very controversial movies in the past which some I have enjoyed. As for the original film, I thought it was decent but it didn't really wow me. This remake does offer some new concepts, changes and ideas which as a whole, it's new perspectives and vision of the film makes an uncomfortable yet intriguing watch.

Throughout, the production, colors, costumes, sound designs, and setting is pretty good. Breillat still carries on with her directing style and provides an interesting style. The narrative explores themes about taboo relationships, conflicts, hypocritics, grooming, and eroticism which many of the themes and ideas were explored pretty well. With Breillat, there are extremely uncomfortable moments that are bizarre and weird but done unintentionally to grasp the themes and setting. By using those moments, it helps to capture the dynamics and main purposes of the narrative.

The performances from the cast members are really good with the two main lead providing strong chemistry and dialogue between one another. The characters have interesting merit as the characters personalities, views, and depth changes overtime and while certain character developments feel a bit messy, seeing the characters shift throughout was interesting.

The soundtrack is solid. The pacing does struggle as certain moments were a bit way too slow. But as a whole, it is an interesting new vision. I can see people would be really hating this movie but I personally think it's great.