An Unforgettable Summer
Encyclopedia
An Unforgettable Summer is a 1994
drama
film directed and produced by Lucian Pintilie
. A Romania
n-French
co-production based on a novel by Petru Dumitriu, it stars British
actress Kristin Scott Thomas
as the Hungarian
-born aristocrat Marie-Thérèse Von Debretsy. Her marriage with Romanian Land Forces
captain Petre Dumitriu brings her to Southern Dobruja
(present-day northeastern Bulgaria
), where they settle in 1925. There, she witnesses first-hand the violent clashes between, on one hand, the Greater Romania
n administration, and, on the other, komitadji
brigands of Macedonian
origin and ethnic Bulgarian
locals. The film shows her failed attempt to rescue Bulgarians held hostage by the Romanian soldiers, and who are destined for execution. An Unforgettable Summer also stars Claudiu Bleonţ
as Captain Dumitriu and Marcel Iureş
as Ipsilanti, a general whose unsuccessful attempt to seduce Von Debretsy and the resulting grudge he holds against the couple account for Dumitriu's reassignment.
Completed in the context of the Yugoslav wars
, the film constitutes an investigation into the consequences of xenophobia
and state-sanctioned repression, as well as an indictment of a failure in reaching out. It is thus often described as a verdict on the history of Romania, as well as on problems facing the Balkans
at large, and occasionally described as a warning that violence could also erupt in a purely Romanian context.
Released by MK2 Productions, An Unforgettable Summer was financed by the Council of Europe
's Eurimages
fund for continental cinema. In the United States
and elsewhere, it was made available on limited release
. Other actors credited in secondary roles include George Constantin as General Tchilibia, Răzvan Vasilescu
as Colonel Turtureanu, Olga Tudorache as Madame Vorvoreanu, Cornel Scripcaru, Carmen Ungureanu, Dorina Lazăr, Mihai Constantin and Ioan Gyuri Pascu
.
called "a mad gallop, with the camera in the saddle, giving viewers a crash course in regional rivalries circa 1925." In the opening scenes, Romanian authorities are shown to be frantically engaged in shutting down a brothel
, whose presence they believe would embarrass local high society at a time when a grand ball is set to take place. This scandalized prostitutes include the Hungarian Erzsi, who is also a communist
sympathizer, and who irritates the officials by shouting out insults and mooning
them through a window. During the latter scene, John Simon notes, Land Forces officers are shown staring up "in mixed horror and admiration at the familiar globe whose owner they promptly identify." As she is beaten up by the soldiers, Erzsi continues to defy her aggressors by shouting up revolutionary slogans coined under the Hungarian Soviet Republic
.
The film then centers on the gala, which is attended by the Dumitrius and offers the setting for Von Debretsy's rejection of General Ipsilanti's advances. The characters' backgrounds are explained through the gossip of Madame Vorvoreanu, a distant relative of Von Debretsy, who is attending the event. The spectators are thus told that Von Debretsy is the daughter of a Romanian boyar
ess and a member of the Hungarian aristocracy
, and that she is held in contempt by the local notabilities. In parallel, Ipsilanti himself is shown to be not just a military commander, but also as a prince.
Film historian Anne Jäckel describes the story as dealing with "the slow descent into Hell of two honest, liberal people." The two persons are the short and monocle
d Captain Dumitriu and his sophisticated wife. Confronted with the general's spiteful decision, they find themselves isolated to a garrison in a land frequently raided by Macedonian
komitadji
, in rebellion against Romanian rule. Initially shocked by the cultural clash, Von Debretsy, a mother of three, attempts to adapt her aristocratic lifestyle to the new requirements, but manages to make herself stand out when she continues to seek a life of luxury. French critic Sylvie Rollet argues that this attempt to "tame the world" by erecting "frontiers" is a central aspect of An Unforgettable Summer.
While Petre Dumitriu is motivated by his pursuit of discipline, his wife preserves her sophistication, reading the works of Marcel Proust
, playing the harpsichord
, employing a nanny
to educate her children, and comparing the surrounding landscape with Japan
's Mount Fuji
. Variety calls her "sensitive-yet-flamboyant in the mold of Zelda Fitzgerald
". To her husband's assurance that they were not going to spend long in Southern Dobruja, she replies: "I like it here." In pursuing this path, she only manages to widen the gap between her and most other characters. This rift is made apparent by a number of omen
s: unknown attackers through rocks into the Dumitrius' house, while the vegetables she planted in the garden prove unpalatable. Confronted with these signs, Von Debretsy still attempts to make the best of the situation; online
film critic James Berardinelli
notes: "[She] does her best to make a happy home for her family, despite stray bullets that shatter mirrors." Bulgarian locals, taken as hostage
s by the military, are made to work on the garden. Their labor brings immediate improvement to the crop, and, upset by their condition, Marie-Thérèse decides to pay them out of her own pocket, serves them tea and eventually befriends them. In a scene that provided the original title for Petru Dumitriu's book, she invites Ipsilanti and other officers to dinner, and they are all shown to be enjoying the salad provided by Bulgarian labor. However, the episode also renews tensions between Ipsilanti and his Hungarian host, when she expresses her appreciation of her servants' work and attempts to intervene on their behalf.
As a result of one Macedonian incursion, during which border guards are killed, Dumitriu is ordered to round up and execute a number of his Bulgarian prisoners. Horrified by this random reprisal, Marie-Thérèse strives to have them pardoned and released, but her plea only serves to irritate her husband's superiors. Her husband alienates his superiors further when he asks for the execution order to be ratified through official channels, whereas they would prefer an extrajudicial killing. The resulting toll on Dumitriu's career means that they are forced to leave Southern Dobruja, shortly before which the captain's colleagues make public their resentment of the couple. The captain feels dishonored when an angry General Tchilibia draws a comparison between Von Debretsy and the prostitute Erzsi and stresses that, as Hungarians, both women are natural suspects in Romania. It is a result of this that Dumitriu decides to commit suicide, unable to decide whether to shoot himself in the mouth or in the temple, and ultimately falling of the stool (which his mare had chewed on) and weeping uncontrollably. This episode, Simon points out, was not present in the original text, and was invented by Pintilie to underline the degradation his character undergoes in order to survive. In what is one of the closing scenes, Marie-Thérèse is stoned by those Bulgarian women whose husbands await execution.
by the communist regime
, which came to an end during the Romanian Revolution of 1989
. The two films are thus among the first in which Pintilie was allowed to express himself freely. The New York Times
chronicler Caryn James writes: "His return [with An Unforgettable Summer] has added a significant name to the list of world film makers."
The two films were both produced with assistance from Eurimages
, and were donated production funds from French private ventures, as well as from the French state. The credited producers of the film also include the television stations La Sept
and Canal Plus, the Romanian Ministry of Culture's Studio of Film Production and the French Ministry of Culture
's Centre national de la cinématographie, the Romanian firm Filmex, as well as filmmakers Marin Karmitz
and Constantin Popescu.
The screenplay, written by Pintilie, was based on the Petru Dumitriu's novel Cronică de familie ("Family Chronicle"), and in particular on its chapter Salata ("The Salad"), which is often described as a stand-alone novella
. Reportedly, the director wished to use Salata as the film's title, but the name was imposed on him during production. An Unforgettable Summer differs from the original story by adding an English
education to Marie-Thérèse Von Debretsy's background, in what American
film critic John Simon
indicates is intended to explain the Oxford accent
Scott Thomas uses in her Romanian-language lines, and to allow the actress to express herself in English during several scenes.
", arguing that the 1994 film is "simpler, often lyrical and far more accessible."
An Unforgettable Summer was especially noted for its depiction of oppression, nationalism
and xenophobia
, and for its investigation of violence in both interwar Romania and the Balkans
. It is also connected with the end of Communist Yugoslavia
and the onset of the Yugoslav wars
: Lucian Pintilie once stated that he had been inspired by this outcome when filming on location, and continued to refer to it in later interviews.
According to Jäckel, An Unforgettable Summer has a prophetic role to play within the Balkan context, one she equates with that of Jean-Luc Godard
's La Chinoise
, which is credited by others with having offered a glimpse into the French revolutionary environment that was to be responsible for the May 1968 events. Writing shortly after the film's release, John Simon specifically linked the plot with the 1992-1995 civil war
in Bosnia and Herzegovina
, proposing that "it may even explain" what had sparked this conflict; likewise, American critic J. Hoberman
places the film's production in the context of the "rebalkanized
Balkans".
In 1999, Jäckel noted: "[Marie-Thérèse Von Debretsy's] despair at the absurdity of destiny, and her powerlessness to change the situation, seem more relevant today than in 1993, when the film was made." Concluding that Pintilie's message also displays criticism of "liberal incomprehension" for Balkan realities, she argues that the Western world
's intervention during situations of crisis, "after first denying and then ignoring the existence of evil", bears resemblance to what Von Debretsy is attempting. In James Berardinelli's view: "The basic impotence of the characters only emphasizes the real-world difficulties faced by peacemakers."
and post-1989 events
, the latter is an investigation into the legacy of nationalism and anti-liberalism in Romanian society. Jäckel writes: "Pintilie is convinced that nothing can change until fundamental questions are asked, and that it is only when a nation starts facing its past, that it can move into adulthood." She believes this focus on revisiting past events is also evident in other Romanian cinema
productions of the 1990s, in particular films by Radu Mihăileanu
. Caryn James argues that, through its references to the Hungarian Soviet Republic
and its impact in Romania, the film can serve as a guide to the start of communism, just as Balanţa is a depiction of its outcome. Through the means of dialogues in the film, the viewer is informed that communism has had an actual impact on Marie-Thérèse: her father allowed the Hungarian revolutionaries to split up his estate, but, for all his generosity, was killed by them.
Tronaru also points out that An Unforgettable Summer stays true to Pintilie's condemnation of Romanian administrative tradition, with officials displaying "an inveterate stupidity", while J. Hoberman, who emphasizes the Romanian administrators' brutality and describes them as "operetta
soldiers", praises the film for undermining nostalgia for "the Good All Days". In parallel, the remoteness of the Southern Dobrujan location and the clash of values have prompted Hoberman to compare the film with Fort Apache
, a 1948 western
by John Ford
.
Lucian Pintilie himself notes that Dumitriu's book, authored during the internationalist
stage of communism, and before nationalism made a comeback with the rule of Nicolae Ceauşescu
, is valid as a critique of interwar
realities. According to Doinel Tronaru, the book chapter on which the film was based was itself controversial, and seen by many as "indigestible". Tronaru writes: "the film was made during the bloody Yugoslav conflict, but Pintilie is telling us [Romanians] not to tune out believing we are somehow better, that, if need be, we could be just as bloodthirsty as our shunned neighbors."
Pintilie indicates that his interest was in showing the violent intrusion of an "oppressive mass" of Romanians into a world peopled by Bulgarian peasants, describing the latter as "natural cultivators of that land, with a special genius for vegetables—innocent ones, without any political or national consciousness." A second area of interest was the Bulgarian government's manipulation of Macedonians living in the region, resulting in "a lucrative bloody tension on the border" and "a political and historical crime that the Romanian and Bulgarian governments are building together." Elsewhere, he had indicated: "In An Unforgettable Summer the Bulgarian peasants have no consciousness of ethnic difference: they are executed simply because examples must be set." The Macedonian brigands are a mysterious presence throughout the film, and their actual ethnicity, unlike their loyalty to the Bulgarian state, is never specified. According to Simon, they are themselves multi-ethnic, while Pintilie states that they include resettled Aromanians
. This blurring of ethnic division lines is also present among Captain Dumitriu's hostages: one of them is shown to be a Turk
, and is unable to speak Bulgarian
.
Although the film develops on these themes of oppression, both the narrator and Pintilie look back on the age of Greater Romania
with a dose of nostalgia. Simon writes: "What was the most horrible summer in the life of a young mother, driving her to drink and wasting away, was for her small son the most unforgettably lovely season of his life." Variety argues: "The frantic crescendo of the final sequence has an eerie resonance, as the narrator's final remarks reframe all that has gone before in a different, deeply ironic light." Discussing this aspect, Pintilie stated: "Maybe I'm even a bit perverse to begin the film in a light and playful way: people fall into the trap of thinking it's not a serious film."
In a 1994 interview, Lucian Pintilie expanded on the issues central to the film by drawing a parallel with his own childhood in a multi-ethnic part of Bessarabia
. He noted that, before World War II
's Operation Barbarossa
, when Nazi German
troops began rounding up and executing members of various communities, the region did not experience "racial tension". Despite his fondness for the interwar period, the director added: "I believe that an artist should not be a hostage to his own political convictions. If the Romanians are shown as intolerant, at least once, it has to be discussed. Each person, in this ethnic madness, must clean his own doorstep."
in many parts of the Western world, Lucian Pintilie's production has attracted significant interest abroad, and was granted a special reception at the Telluride Film Festival
. John Simon describes the film as "witty, harrowing, wonderful", and, in one of his comparative essays on cinema traditions, lists it among the most notable European works of 1994 (alongside Yves Angelo
's Colonel Chabert
and Nanni Moretti
's Caro diario
). His colleague Hoberman added the film to a "10 Best" list for 1994. Berardinelli draws a parallel between An Unforgettable Summer and Before the Rain
, by Macedonian
director Milcho Manchevski, noting that, for all the difference in setting and approach, they deal with similar subjects. He writes: "If nothing else, these two pictures taken together underline the unhappy truth that, in the Balkans, little has changed over the past seventy years."
An Unforgettable Summer was the first major production to star Scott Thomas, and the last film to star George Constantin (who died soon after). It also featured the critically acclaimed presence of comedian Ioan Gyuri Pascu
. Tronaru praises both Bleonţ and Scott Thomas for their performance, while Berardinelli objects to their seeming aloofness, arguing that a connection between the audience and the actors in the main roles could prove "tenuous". In contrast with the latter commentator, Variety notes: "The actress gives a properly flighty dimension to the loving wife and mom whose flair for putting a joyous spin on things is forever impaired by the looming atrocity she feels powerless to halt." Caryn James writes: "An Unforgettable Summer would have been more trenchant if Petre's character had been more fully developed. But Marie-Therese is, deliberately, the apolitical soul of the film, shifting the focus from politics to the humanity that transcends border disputes and ethnic loyalties. Ms. Scott-Thomas makes the film work because she shows Marie-Therese to be something other than a shallow woman playing Lady Bountiful. She is sincere, rather helpless and, finally, shaken with disillusionment. Neither pure heroine nor villain, by the end she is unable to escape the murderous impact of politics." Variety also commends Răzvan Vasilescu
for his performance in the role of Colonel Turtureanu, "an opportunistic soldier who has no compunctions about anything the military life may require", and comments favorably on the soundtrack composed by Anton Şuteu and on Paul Bortnovschi's production design.
Discussing Captain Dumitriu's suicide attempt, John Simon writes: "It is visually stunning and emotionally shattering, but it may be a bit too theatrical. Still, with such writing, directing, and acting—most prominently from Kristin Scott-Thomas and Claudiu Bleonţ as the Dumitrius, but also from the rest—what is a small faux pas? This film resonates in the memory, insistently and inspiredly." Simon also discusses the cinematography
, arguing that Călin Ghibu's use of lighting manages to convey the "almost unearthly beauty at sunset", which helps viewers understand why Scott Thompson's character uses Mount Fuji
as her preferred metaphor for the place. Of this aspect, James notes: "Like its heroine, the film's serene and beautiful appearance masks a powerful conscience."
The overall positive reception offered by the critics did not materialize in significant box-office success or international awards: An Unforgettable Summer unsuccessfully completed for the Palme d'Or
during the 1994 Cannes Film Festival
. Of the film's implications and its reduced impact in Romania, Tronaru concludes: "The ravages of nationalism are the same regardless of the communities involved [...]. Of course Pintilie's uncomfortable message was not accepted in its essence, the film registering only the success of reverence [towards the director]." Tronaru also notes that the film's high standard of quality was a peak in Pintilie's career, and that it was no longer reached by the director until 2001, when he released După-amiaza unui torţionar.
Speaking in 1994, Pintilie indicated that he was considering a sequel
to the film, also based on Dumitriu's writings. Planned for 1996, it was to depict an aging and jealous Marie-Thérèse, who intervenes in her son's love life and chases away women who fancy him.
1994 in film
1994 was a significant year in film.The top grosser worldwide was The Lion King, which to date stands as the highest-grossing traditionally-animated film of all time...
drama
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
film directed and produced by Lucian Pintilie
Lucian Pintilie
-Filmography:* Duminică la ora şase * Reconstituirea * Salonul numărul 6 * De ce trag clopotele, Mitică? - see also the "Portrayals and tributes" section at Mitică* Balanţa * O vară de neuitat * Prea târziu...
. A Romania
Cinema of Romania
The cinema of Romania is the art of motion-picture making within the nation of Romania or by Romanian filmmakers abroad.As upon much of the world's early cinema, the ravages of time have left their mark upon Romanian film prints. Tens of titles have been destroyed or lost for good...
n-French
Cinema of France
The Cinema of France comprises the art of film and creative movies made within the nation of France or by French filmmakers abroad.France is the birthplace of cinema and was responsible for many of its early significant contributions. Several important cinematic movements, including the Nouvelle...
co-production based on a novel by Petru Dumitriu, it stars British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
actress Kristin Scott Thomas
Kristin Scott Thomas
Kristin A. Scott Thomas, OBE is an English actress who has also acquired French nationality. She gained international recognition in the 1990s for her roles in Bitter Moon, Four Weddings and a Funeral and The English Patient....
as the Hungarian
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
-born aristocrat Marie-Thérèse Von Debretsy. Her marriage with Romanian Land Forces
Romanian Land Forces
The Romanian Land Forces is the army of Romania, and the main component of the Romanian Armed Forces. In recent years, full professionalisation and a major equipment overhaul have transformed the nature of the force.The Romanian Land Forces were founded on...
captain Petre Dumitriu brings her to Southern Dobruja
Southern Dobruja
Southern Dobruja is an area of north-eastern Bulgaria comprising the administrative districts named for its two principal cities of Dobrich and Silistra...
(present-day northeastern Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
), where they settle in 1925. There, she witnesses first-hand the violent clashes between, on one hand, the Greater Romania
Greater Romania
The Greater Romania generally refers to the territory of Romania in the years between the First World War and the Second World War, the largest geographical extent of Romania up to that time and its largest peacetime extent ever ; more precisely, it refers to the territory of the Kingdom of...
n administration, and, on the other, komitadji
Komitadji
The term Komiti meaning "a rebel, member of a secret revolutionary society", refers to members of rebel bands operating in the Balkans during the final period of the Ottoman Empire, fighting against Turkish authorities in Macedonia...
brigands of Macedonian
Macedonia (region)
Macedonia is a geographical and historical region of the Balkan peninsula in southeastern Europe. Its boundaries have changed considerably over time, but nowadays the region is considered to include parts of five Balkan countries: Greece, the Republic of Macedonia, Bulgaria, Albania, Serbia, as...
origin and ethnic Bulgarian
Bulgarians
The Bulgarians are a South Slavic nation and ethnic group native to Bulgaria and neighbouring regions. Emigration has resulted in immigrant communities in a number of other countries.-History and ethnogenesis:...
locals. The film shows her failed attempt to rescue Bulgarians held hostage by the Romanian soldiers, and who are destined for execution. An Unforgettable Summer also stars Claudiu Bleonţ
Claudiu Bleont
Claudiu Bleonţ is a Romanian film and theatre actor. He is known in Romania not only by his acting ability, but also for his improvisational talent.-Life & career:...
as Captain Dumitriu and Marcel Iureş
Marcel Iures
Marcel Iureş is a Romanian stage and screen actor.Iureş was born 2 August 1951 in Băileşti, Romania and is one of Romania's most acclaimed stage and film actors. Iureş entered the Institutul de Arta Teatrala si Cinematografica in Bucharest in 1974 and graduated in 1978...
as Ipsilanti, a general whose unsuccessful attempt to seduce Von Debretsy and the resulting grudge he holds against the couple account for Dumitriu's reassignment.
Completed in the context of the Yugoslav wars
Yugoslav wars
The Yugoslav Wars were a series of wars, fought throughout the former Yugoslavia between 1991 and 1995. The wars were complex: characterized by bitter ethnic conflicts among the peoples of the former Yugoslavia, mostly between Serbs on the one side and Croats and Bosniaks on the other; but also...
, the film constitutes an investigation into the consequences of xenophobia
Xenophobia
Xenophobia is defined as "an unreasonable fear of foreigners or strangers or of that which is foreign or strange". It comes from the Greek words ξένος , meaning "stranger," "foreigner" and φόβος , meaning "fear."...
and state-sanctioned repression, as well as an indictment of a failure in reaching out. It is thus often described as a verdict on the history of Romania, as well as on problems facing the Balkans
Balkans
The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...
at large, and occasionally described as a warning that violence could also erupt in a purely Romanian context.
Released by MK2 Productions, An Unforgettable Summer was financed by the Council of Europe
Council of Europe
The Council of Europe is an international organisation promoting co-operation between all countries of Europe in the areas of legal standards, human rights, democratic development, the rule of law and cultural co-operation...
's Eurimages
Eurimages
Eurimages is the Council of Europe fund for the co-production, distribution, exhibition and digitisation of European cinematographic works. It aims to promote the European film industry by encouraging the production and distribution of films and fostering co-operation between professionals....
fund for continental cinema. In the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and elsewhere, it was made available on limited release
Limited release
Limited release is a term in the American motion picture industry for a motion picture that is playing in a select few theaters across the country ....
. Other actors credited in secondary roles include George Constantin as General Tchilibia, Răzvan Vasilescu
Răzvan Vasilescu
Răzvan Vasilescu is a Romanian actor. He has appeared in 40 films and television shows since 1979. He starred in The Oak, which was screened out of competition at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival.-Selected filmography:...
as Colonel Turtureanu, Olga Tudorache as Madame Vorvoreanu, Cornel Scripcaru, Carmen Ungureanu, Dorina Lazăr, Mihai Constantin and Ioan Gyuri Pascu
Ioan Gyuri Pascu
Ioan Gyuri Pascu is a Romanian pop music singer, producer, actor and comedian, also known for his participation in the comedy troupe Divertis and for his activity in Romanian cinema and television...
.
Plot
The film's plot, which develops as a flashback narrated by Dumitriu's young son, opens with what American film magazine VarietyVariety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
called "a mad gallop, with the camera in the saddle, giving viewers a crash course in regional rivalries circa 1925." In the opening scenes, Romanian authorities are shown to be frantically engaged in shutting down a brothel
Brothel
Brothels are business establishments where patrons can engage in sexual activities with prostitutes. Brothels are known under a variety of names, including bordello, cathouse, knocking shop, whorehouse, strumpet house, sporting house, house of ill repute, house of prostitution, and bawdy house...
, whose presence they believe would embarrass local high society at a time when a grand ball is set to take place. This scandalized prostitutes include the Hungarian Erzsi, who is also a communist
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
sympathizer, and who irritates the officials by shouting out insults and mooning
Mooning
Mooning is the act of displaying one's bare buttocks by removing clothing, e.g., by lowering the backside of one's trousers and underpants, usually bending over, whether also exposing the genitals or not...
them through a window. During the latter scene, John Simon notes, Land Forces officers are shown staring up "in mixed horror and admiration at the familiar globe whose owner they promptly identify." As she is beaten up by the soldiers, Erzsi continues to defy her aggressors by shouting up revolutionary slogans coined under the Hungarian Soviet Republic
Hungarian Soviet Republic
The Hungarian Soviet Republic or Soviet Republic of Hungary was a short-lived Communist state established in Hungary in the aftermath of World War I....
.
The film then centers on the gala, which is attended by the Dumitrius and offers the setting for Von Debretsy's rejection of General Ipsilanti's advances. The characters' backgrounds are explained through the gossip of Madame Vorvoreanu, a distant relative of Von Debretsy, who is attending the event. The spectators are thus told that Von Debretsy is the daughter of a Romanian boyar
Boyar
A boyar, or bolyar , was a member of the highest rank of the feudal Moscovian, Kievan Rus'ian, Bulgarian, Wallachian, and Moldavian aristocracies, second only to the ruling princes , from the 10th century through the 17th century....
ess and a member of the Hungarian aristocracy
Nobility and royalty of the Kingdom of Hungary
This article deals with titles of the nobility and royalty of the Kingdom of Hungary.-Earlier usage :Before the accession of the Habsburgs, the nobility was structured according to the offices held in the administration of the Kingdom...
, and that she is held in contempt by the local notabilities. In parallel, Ipsilanti himself is shown to be not just a military commander, but also as a prince.
Film historian Anne Jäckel describes the story as dealing with "the slow descent into Hell of two honest, liberal people." The two persons are the short and monocle
Monocle
A monocle is a type of corrective lens used to correct or enhance the vision in only one eye. It consists of a circular lens, generally with a wire ring around the circumference that can be attached to a string. The other end of the string is then connected to the wearer's clothing to avoid losing...
d Captain Dumitriu and his sophisticated wife. Confronted with the general's spiteful decision, they find themselves isolated to a garrison in a land frequently raided by Macedonian
Macedonia (region)
Macedonia is a geographical and historical region of the Balkan peninsula in southeastern Europe. Its boundaries have changed considerably over time, but nowadays the region is considered to include parts of five Balkan countries: Greece, the Republic of Macedonia, Bulgaria, Albania, Serbia, as...
komitadji
Komitadji
The term Komiti meaning "a rebel, member of a secret revolutionary society", refers to members of rebel bands operating in the Balkans during the final period of the Ottoman Empire, fighting against Turkish authorities in Macedonia...
, in rebellion against Romanian rule. Initially shocked by the cultural clash, Von Debretsy, a mother of three, attempts to adapt her aristocratic lifestyle to the new requirements, but manages to make herself stand out when she continues to seek a life of luxury. French critic Sylvie Rollet argues that this attempt to "tame the world" by erecting "frontiers" is a central aspect of An Unforgettable Summer.
While Petre Dumitriu is motivated by his pursuit of discipline, his wife preserves her sophistication, reading the works of Marcel Proust
Marcel Proust
Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust was a French novelist, critic, and essayist best known for his monumental À la recherche du temps perdu...
, playing the harpsichord
Harpsichord
A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when a key is pressed.In the narrow sense, "harpsichord" designates only the large wing-shaped instruments in which the strings are perpendicular to the keyboard...
, employing a nanny
Nanny
A nanny, childminder or child care provider, is an individual who provides care for one or more children in a family as a service...
to educate her children, and comparing the surrounding landscape with Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
's Mount Fuji
Mount Fuji
is the highest mountain in Japan at . An active stratovolcano that last erupted in 1707–08, Mount Fuji lies about south-west of Tokyo, and can be seen from there on a clear day. Mount Fuji's exceptionally symmetrical cone is a well-known symbol of Japan and it is frequently depicted in art and...
. Variety calls her "sensitive-yet-flamboyant in the mold of Zelda Fitzgerald
Zelda Fitzgerald
Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald , born Zelda Sayre in Montgomery, Alabama, was an American novelist and the wife of writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. She was an icon of the 1920s—dubbed by her husband "the first American Flapper"...
". To her husband's assurance that they were not going to spend long in Southern Dobruja, she replies: "I like it here." In pursuing this path, she only manages to widen the gap between her and most other characters. This rift is made apparent by a number of omen
Omen
An omen is a phenomenon that is believed to foretell the future, often signifying the advent of change...
s: unknown attackers through rocks into the Dumitrius' house, while the vegetables she planted in the garden prove unpalatable. Confronted with these signs, Von Debretsy still attempts to make the best of the situation; online
ONLINE
ONLINE is a magazine for information systems first published in 1977. The publisher Online, Inc. was founded the year before. In May 2002, Information Today, Inc. acquired the assets of Online Inc....
film critic James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli is an American online film critic.-Personal life:Berardinelli was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey and spent his early childhood in Morristown, New Jersey. At the age of nine years, he relocated to the township of Cherry Hill, New Jersey...
notes: "[She] does her best to make a happy home for her family, despite stray bullets that shatter mirrors." Bulgarian locals, taken as hostage
Hostage
A hostage is a person or entity which is held by a captor. The original definition meant that this was handed over by one of two belligerent parties to the other or seized as security for the carrying out of an agreement, or as a preventive measure against certain acts of war...
s by the military, are made to work on the garden. Their labor brings immediate improvement to the crop, and, upset by their condition, Marie-Thérèse decides to pay them out of her own pocket, serves them tea and eventually befriends them. In a scene that provided the original title for Petru Dumitriu's book, she invites Ipsilanti and other officers to dinner, and they are all shown to be enjoying the salad provided by Bulgarian labor. However, the episode also renews tensions between Ipsilanti and his Hungarian host, when she expresses her appreciation of her servants' work and attempts to intervene on their behalf.
As a result of one Macedonian incursion, during which border guards are killed, Dumitriu is ordered to round up and execute a number of his Bulgarian prisoners. Horrified by this random reprisal, Marie-Thérèse strives to have them pardoned and released, but her plea only serves to irritate her husband's superiors. Her husband alienates his superiors further when he asks for the execution order to be ratified through official channels, whereas they would prefer an extrajudicial killing. The resulting toll on Dumitriu's career means that they are forced to leave Southern Dobruja, shortly before which the captain's colleagues make public their resentment of the couple. The captain feels dishonored when an angry General Tchilibia draws a comparison between Von Debretsy and the prostitute Erzsi and stresses that, as Hungarians, both women are natural suspects in Romania. It is a result of this that Dumitriu decides to commit suicide, unable to decide whether to shoot himself in the mouth or in the temple, and ultimately falling of the stool (which his mare had chewed on) and weeping uncontrollably. This episode, Simon points out, was not present in the original text, and was invented by Pintilie to underline the degradation his character undergoes in order to survive. In what is one of the closing scenes, Marie-Thérèse is stoned by those Bulgarian women whose husbands await execution.
Production
Together with its predecessor Balanţa, which is sometimes seen as Pintilie's greatest success, An Unforgettable Summer is one of the director's main films of the 1990s. During the previous decade, his work had been censoredCensorship
thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...
by the communist regime
Communist Romania
Communist Romania was the period in Romanian history when that country was a Soviet-aligned communist state in the Eastern Bloc, with the dominant role of Romanian Communist Party enshrined in its successive constitutions...
, which came to an end during the Romanian Revolution of 1989
Romanian Revolution of 1989
The Romanian Revolution of 1989 was a series of riots and clashes in December 1989. These were part of the Revolutions of 1989 that occurred in several Warsaw Pact countries...
. The two films are thus among the first in which Pintilie was allowed to express himself freely. The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
chronicler Caryn James writes: "His return [with An Unforgettable Summer] has added a significant name to the list of world film makers."
The two films were both produced with assistance from Eurimages
Eurimages
Eurimages is the Council of Europe fund for the co-production, distribution, exhibition and digitisation of European cinematographic works. It aims to promote the European film industry by encouraging the production and distribution of films and fostering co-operation between professionals....
, and were donated production funds from French private ventures, as well as from the French state. The credited producers of the film also include the television stations La Sept
La Sept
La Sept was a French television broadcaster and production company created on 23 February 1986 to develop cultural and educational programming for transmission via the TDF 1 satellite...
and Canal Plus, the Romanian Ministry of Culture's Studio of Film Production and the French Ministry of Culture
Minister of Culture (France)
The Minister of Culture is, in the Government of France, the cabinet member in charge of national museums and monuments; promoting and protecting the arts in France and abroad; and managing the national archives and regional "maisons de culture"...
's Centre national de la cinématographie, the Romanian firm Filmex, as well as filmmakers Marin Karmitz
Marin Karmitz
Marin Karmitz is a French jewish businessman whose career has spanned the French film industry, including director, producer, film distributor, and operator of a chain of cinemas....
and Constantin Popescu.
The screenplay, written by Pintilie, was based on the Petru Dumitriu's novel Cronică de familie ("Family Chronicle"), and in particular on its chapter Salata ("The Salad"), which is often described as a stand-alone novella
Novella
A novella is a written, fictional, prose narrative usually longer than a novelette but shorter than a novel. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Nebula Awards for science fiction define the novella as having a word count between 17,500 and 40,000...
. Reportedly, the director wished to use Salata as the film's title, but the name was imposed on him during production. An Unforgettable Summer differs from the original story by adding an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
education to Marie-Thérèse Von Debretsy's background, in what American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
film critic John Simon
John Simon (critic)
John Ivan Simon is an American author and literary, theater, and film critic.-Personal life:Simon was born in Subotica, Bačka, County of Bačka, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, later, known as Yugoslavia . He is of Hungarian descent...
indicates is intended to explain the Oxford accent
Received Pronunciation
Received Pronunciation , also called the Queen's English, Oxford English or BBC English, is the accent of Standard English in England, with a relationship to regional accents similar to the relationship in other European languages between their standard varieties and their regional forms...
Scott Thomas uses in her Romanian-language lines, and to allow the actress to express herself in English during several scenes.
An Unforgettable Summer and Yugoslavia
Berardinelli describes the film as "simple and stark", while Romanian journalist and film critic Doinel Tronaru places stress on its "classical" feel. Variety contrasted its technique with that used in Balanţa, concluding that the latter was characterized by "rambunctious razzle-dazzle". James defines the former as a "complicated black comedyBlack comedy
A black comedy, or dark comedy, is a comic work that employs black humor or gallows humor. The definition of black humor is problematic; it has been argued that it corresponds to the earlier concept of gallows humor; and that, as humor has been defined since Freud as a comedic act that anesthetizes...
", arguing that the 1994 film is "simpler, often lyrical and far more accessible."
An Unforgettable Summer was especially noted for its depiction of oppression, nationalism
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
and xenophobia
Xenophobia
Xenophobia is defined as "an unreasonable fear of foreigners or strangers or of that which is foreign or strange". It comes from the Greek words ξένος , meaning "stranger," "foreigner" and φόβος , meaning "fear."...
, and for its investigation of violence in both interwar Romania and the Balkans
Balkans
The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...
. It is also connected with the end of Communist Yugoslavia
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...
and the onset of the Yugoslav wars
Yugoslav wars
The Yugoslav Wars were a series of wars, fought throughout the former Yugoslavia between 1991 and 1995. The wars were complex: characterized by bitter ethnic conflicts among the peoples of the former Yugoslavia, mostly between Serbs on the one side and Croats and Bosniaks on the other; but also...
: Lucian Pintilie once stated that he had been inspired by this outcome when filming on location, and continued to refer to it in later interviews.
According to Jäckel, An Unforgettable Summer has a prophetic role to play within the Balkan context, one she equates with that of Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard is a French-Swiss film director, screenwriter and film critic. He is often identified with the 1960s French film movement, French Nouvelle Vague, or "New Wave"....
's La Chinoise
La Chinoise
La Chinoise is a 1967 French political film directed by Jean-Luc Godard about young revolutionaries in Paris.-Plot summary:La Chinoise is a loose adaptation, if not parody, of Fyodor Dostoyevsky's 1872 novel, The Possessed...
, which is credited by others with having offered a glimpse into the French revolutionary environment that was to be responsible for the May 1968 events. Writing shortly after the film's release, John Simon specifically linked the plot with the 1992-1995 civil war
Bosnian War
The Bosnian War or the War in Bosnia and Herzegovina was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between April 1992 and December 1995. The war involved several sides...
in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
, proposing that "it may even explain" what had sparked this conflict; likewise, American critic J. Hoberman
J. Hoberman
James Lewis Hoberman , also known as J. Hoberman, is an American film critic. He is currently the senior film critic for The Village Voice, a post he has held since 1988.-Education:...
places the film's production in the context of the "rebalkanized
Balkanization
Balkanization, or Balkanisation, is a geopolitical term, originally used to describe the process of fragmentation or division of a region or state into smaller regions or states that are often hostile or non-cooperative with each other, and it is considered pejorative.The term refers to the...
Balkans".
In 1999, Jäckel noted: "[Marie-Thérèse Von Debretsy's] despair at the absurdity of destiny, and her powerlessness to change the situation, seem more relevant today than in 1993, when the film was made." Concluding that Pintilie's message also displays criticism of "liberal incomprehension" for Balkan realities, she argues that the Western world
Western world
The Western world, also known as the West and the Occident , is a term referring to the countries of Western Europe , the countries of the Americas, as well all countries of Northern and Central Europe, Australia and New Zealand...
's intervention during situations of crisis, "after first denying and then ignoring the existence of evil", bears resemblance to what Von Debretsy is attempting. In James Berardinelli's view: "The basic impotence of the characters only emphasizes the real-world difficulties faced by peacemakers."
Romanian historical setting
Like Balanţa, An Unforgettable Summer is also seen as a comment on Romanian history: while the former deals with Communist RomaniaCommunist Romania
Communist Romania was the period in Romanian history when that country was a Soviet-aligned communist state in the Eastern Bloc, with the dominant role of Romanian Communist Party enshrined in its successive constitutions...
and post-1989 events
History of Romania since 1989
- 1989 revolution :1989 marked the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe. A mid-December protest in Timişoara against the eviction of a Hungarian minister grew into a country-wide protest against the Ceauşescu régime, sweeping the dictator from power....
, the latter is an investigation into the legacy of nationalism and anti-liberalism in Romanian society. Jäckel writes: "Pintilie is convinced that nothing can change until fundamental questions are asked, and that it is only when a nation starts facing its past, that it can move into adulthood." She believes this focus on revisiting past events is also evident in other Romanian cinema
Cinema of Romania
The cinema of Romania is the art of motion-picture making within the nation of Romania or by Romanian filmmakers abroad.As upon much of the world's early cinema, the ravages of time have left their mark upon Romanian film prints. Tens of titles have been destroyed or lost for good...
productions of the 1990s, in particular films by Radu Mihăileanu
Radu Mihaileanu
Radu Mihăileanu is a Jewish Romanian-born French film director and screenwriter. He left Romania in 1980 and graduated the IDHEC cinematographic institute in Paris. In addition to his work in the cinema he published a book of poems in 1987 titled Une vague en mal de mer...
. Caryn James argues that, through its references to the Hungarian Soviet Republic
Hungarian Soviet Republic
The Hungarian Soviet Republic or Soviet Republic of Hungary was a short-lived Communist state established in Hungary in the aftermath of World War I....
and its impact in Romania, the film can serve as a guide to the start of communism, just as Balanţa is a depiction of its outcome. Through the means of dialogues in the film, the viewer is informed that communism has had an actual impact on Marie-Thérèse: her father allowed the Hungarian revolutionaries to split up his estate, but, for all his generosity, was killed by them.
Tronaru also points out that An Unforgettable Summer stays true to Pintilie's condemnation of Romanian administrative tradition, with officials displaying "an inveterate stupidity", while J. Hoberman, who emphasizes the Romanian administrators' brutality and describes them as "operetta
Operetta
Operetta is a genre of light opera, light in terms both of music and subject matter. It is also closely related, in English-language works, to forms of musical theatre.-Origins:...
soldiers", praises the film for undermining nostalgia for "the Good All Days". In parallel, the remoteness of the Southern Dobrujan location and the clash of values have prompted Hoberman to compare the film with Fort Apache
Fort Apache (film)
Fort Apache is a 1948 Western film directed by John Ford and starring John Wayne and Henry Fonda. The film was the first of the director's "cavalry trilogy" and was followed by She Wore a Yellow Ribbon and Rio Grande , both also starring Wayne...
, a 1948 western
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
by John Ford
John Ford
John Ford was an American film director. He was famous for both his westerns such as Stagecoach, The Searchers, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and adaptations of such classic 20th-century American novels as The Grapes of Wrath...
.
Lucian Pintilie himself notes that Dumitriu's book, authored during the internationalist
Proletarian internationalism
Proletarian internationalism, sometimes referred to as international socialism, is a Marxist social class concept based on the view that capitalism is now a global system, and therefore the working class must act as a global class if it is to defeat it...
stage of communism, and before nationalism made a comeback with the rule of Nicolae Ceauşescu
Nicolae Ceausescu
Nicolae Ceaușescu was a Romanian Communist politician. He was General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989, and as such was the country's second and last Communist leader...
, is valid as a critique of interwar
Interwar period
Interwar period can refer to any period between two wars. The Interbellum is understood to be the period between the end of the Great War or First World War and the beginning of the Second World War in Europe....
realities. According to Doinel Tronaru, the book chapter on which the film was based was itself controversial, and seen by many as "indigestible". Tronaru writes: "the film was made during the bloody Yugoslav conflict, but Pintilie is telling us [Romanians] not to tune out believing we are somehow better, that, if need be, we could be just as bloodthirsty as our shunned neighbors."
Pintilie indicates that his interest was in showing the violent intrusion of an "oppressive mass" of Romanians into a world peopled by Bulgarian peasants, describing the latter as "natural cultivators of that land, with a special genius for vegetables—innocent ones, without any political or national consciousness." A second area of interest was the Bulgarian government's manipulation of Macedonians living in the region, resulting in "a lucrative bloody tension on the border" and "a political and historical crime that the Romanian and Bulgarian governments are building together." Elsewhere, he had indicated: "In An Unforgettable Summer the Bulgarian peasants have no consciousness of ethnic difference: they are executed simply because examples must be set." The Macedonian brigands are a mysterious presence throughout the film, and their actual ethnicity, unlike their loyalty to the Bulgarian state, is never specified. According to Simon, they are themselves multi-ethnic, while Pintilie states that they include resettled Aromanians
Aromanians
Aromanians are a Latin people native throughout the southern Balkans, especially in northern Greece, Albania, the Republic of Macedonia, Bulgaria, and as an emigrant community in Serbia and Romania . An older term is Macedo-Romanians...
. This blurring of ethnic division lines is also present among Captain Dumitriu's hostages: one of them is shown to be a Turk
Turkish people
Turkish people, also known as the "Turks" , are an ethnic group primarily living in Turkey and in the former lands of the Ottoman Empire where Turkish minorities had been established in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Romania...
, and is unable to speak Bulgarian
Bulgarian language
Bulgarian is an Indo-European language, a member of the Slavic linguistic group.Bulgarian, along with the closely related Macedonian language, demonstrates several linguistic characteristics that set it apart from all other Slavic languages such as the elimination of case declension, the...
.
Although the film develops on these themes of oppression, both the narrator and Pintilie look back on the age of Greater Romania
Greater Romania
The Greater Romania generally refers to the territory of Romania in the years between the First World War and the Second World War, the largest geographical extent of Romania up to that time and its largest peacetime extent ever ; more precisely, it refers to the territory of the Kingdom of...
with a dose of nostalgia. Simon writes: "What was the most horrible summer in the life of a young mother, driving her to drink and wasting away, was for her small son the most unforgettably lovely season of his life." Variety argues: "The frantic crescendo of the final sequence has an eerie resonance, as the narrator's final remarks reframe all that has gone before in a different, deeply ironic light." Discussing this aspect, Pintilie stated: "Maybe I'm even a bit perverse to begin the film in a light and playful way: people fall into the trap of thinking it's not a serious film."
In a 1994 interview, Lucian Pintilie expanded on the issues central to the film by drawing a parallel with his own childhood in a multi-ethnic part of Bessarabia
Bessarabia
Bessarabia is a historical term for the geographic region in Eastern Europe bounded by the Dniester River on the east and the Prut River on the west....
. He noted that, before World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
's Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...
, when Nazi German
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
troops began rounding up and executing members of various communities, the region did not experience "racial tension". Despite his fondness for the interwar period, the director added: "I believe that an artist should not be a hostage to his own political convictions. If the Romanians are shown as intolerant, at least once, it has to be discussed. Each person, in this ethnic madness, must clean his own doorstep."
Impact and legacy
Although available only on limited releaseLimited release
Limited release is a term in the American motion picture industry for a motion picture that is playing in a select few theaters across the country ....
in many parts of the Western world, Lucian Pintilie's production has attracted significant interest abroad, and was granted a special reception at the Telluride Film Festival
Telluride Film Festival
The Telluride Film Festival was started in 1974 by Bill and Stella Pence, Tom Luddy and Jim Card in the town of Telluride, Colorado, United States. It is operated by the National Film Preserve....
. John Simon describes the film as "witty, harrowing, wonderful", and, in one of his comparative essays on cinema traditions, lists it among the most notable European works of 1994 (alongside Yves Angelo
Yves Angelo
Yves Angelo is a French cinematographer and film director. Angelo has won the César Award for Best Cinematography three times: in 1990 for Nocturne indien, in 1992 for Tous les matins du monde, and in 1994 for Germinal....
's Colonel Chabert
Le Colonel Chabert (1994 film)
Le Colonel Chabert is a 1994 film directed by Yves Angelo and starring Gérard Depardieu, Fanny Ardant, and Fabrice Luchini...
and Nanni Moretti
Nanni Moretti
Giovanni "Nanni" Moretti is an Italian film director, producer, screenwriter and actor.-Life and work:Moretti was born in Bruneck, South Tyrol , in 1953 to parents who were teachers...
's Caro diario
Caro diario
Caro diario is an Italian language, semi-autobiographical film in the style of a documentary directed by Nanni Moretti in 1993. Moretti also played the central character.-Plot:...
). His colleague Hoberman added the film to a "10 Best" list for 1994. Berardinelli draws a parallel between An Unforgettable Summer and Before the Rain
Before the Rain (film)
Before the Rain is a 1994 Macedonian film starring Katrin Cartlidge, Rade Šerbedžija, Grégoire Colin, and Labina Mitevska. It was directed and written by Milčo Mančevski. The music was created by the band Anastasia.-Plot:...
, by Macedonian
Republic of Macedonia
Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...
director Milcho Manchevski, noting that, for all the difference in setting and approach, they deal with similar subjects. He writes: "If nothing else, these two pictures taken together underline the unhappy truth that, in the Balkans, little has changed over the past seventy years."
An Unforgettable Summer was the first major production to star Scott Thomas, and the last film to star George Constantin (who died soon after). It also featured the critically acclaimed presence of comedian Ioan Gyuri Pascu
Ioan Gyuri Pascu
Ioan Gyuri Pascu is a Romanian pop music singer, producer, actor and comedian, also known for his participation in the comedy troupe Divertis and for his activity in Romanian cinema and television...
. Tronaru praises both Bleonţ and Scott Thomas for their performance, while Berardinelli objects to their seeming aloofness, arguing that a connection between the audience and the actors in the main roles could prove "tenuous". In contrast with the latter commentator, Variety notes: "The actress gives a properly flighty dimension to the loving wife and mom whose flair for putting a joyous spin on things is forever impaired by the looming atrocity she feels powerless to halt." Caryn James writes: "An Unforgettable Summer would have been more trenchant if Petre's character had been more fully developed. But Marie-Therese is, deliberately, the apolitical soul of the film, shifting the focus from politics to the humanity that transcends border disputes and ethnic loyalties. Ms. Scott-Thomas makes the film work because she shows Marie-Therese to be something other than a shallow woman playing Lady Bountiful. She is sincere, rather helpless and, finally, shaken with disillusionment. Neither pure heroine nor villain, by the end she is unable to escape the murderous impact of politics." Variety also commends Răzvan Vasilescu
Răzvan Vasilescu
Răzvan Vasilescu is a Romanian actor. He has appeared in 40 films and television shows since 1979. He starred in The Oak, which was screened out of competition at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival.-Selected filmography:...
for his performance in the role of Colonel Turtureanu, "an opportunistic soldier who has no compunctions about anything the military life may require", and comments favorably on the soundtrack composed by Anton Şuteu and on Paul Bortnovschi's production design.
Discussing Captain Dumitriu's suicide attempt, John Simon writes: "It is visually stunning and emotionally shattering, but it may be a bit too theatrical. Still, with such writing, directing, and acting—most prominently from Kristin Scott-Thomas and Claudiu Bleonţ as the Dumitrius, but also from the rest—what is a small faux pas? This film resonates in the memory, insistently and inspiredly." Simon also discusses the cinematography
Cinematography
Cinematography is the making of lighting and camera choices when recording photographic images for cinema. It is closely related to the art of still photography...
, arguing that Călin Ghibu's use of lighting manages to convey the "almost unearthly beauty at sunset", which helps viewers understand why Scott Thompson's character uses Mount Fuji
Mount Fuji
is the highest mountain in Japan at . An active stratovolcano that last erupted in 1707–08, Mount Fuji lies about south-west of Tokyo, and can be seen from there on a clear day. Mount Fuji's exceptionally symmetrical cone is a well-known symbol of Japan and it is frequently depicted in art and...
as her preferred metaphor for the place. Of this aspect, James notes: "Like its heroine, the film's serene and beautiful appearance masks a powerful conscience."
The overall positive reception offered by the critics did not materialize in significant box-office success or international awards: An Unforgettable Summer unsuccessfully completed for the Palme d'Or
Palme d'Or
The Palme d'Or is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival and is presented to the director of the best feature film of the official competition. It was introduced in 1955 by the organising committee. From 1939 to 1954, the highest prize was the Grand Prix du Festival International du...
during the 1994 Cannes Film Festival
1994 Cannes Film Festival
The 1994 Cannes Film Festival started on 12 May and ran until 23 May. The Palme d'Or went to the American film Pulp Fiction directed by Quentin Tarantino.-Official Selection:*Clint Eastwood *Catherine Deneuve...
. Of the film's implications and its reduced impact in Romania, Tronaru concludes: "The ravages of nationalism are the same regardless of the communities involved [...]. Of course Pintilie's uncomfortable message was not accepted in its essence, the film registering only the success of reverence [towards the director]." Tronaru also notes that the film's high standard of quality was a peak in Pintilie's career, and that it was no longer reached by the director until 2001, when he released După-amiaza unui torţionar.
Speaking in 1994, Pintilie indicated that he was considering a sequel
Sequel
A sequel is a narrative, documental, or other work of literature, film, theatre, or music that continues the story of or expands upon issues presented in some previous work...
to the film, also based on Dumitriu's writings. Planned for 1996, it was to depict an aging and jealous Marie-Thérèse, who intervenes in her son's love life and chases away women who fancy him.