Between Summer and Fall

Between Summer and Fall is a movie that suffers from me not seeing it earlier. Partially, this is because it’s yet another European coming of age film. I am also older than both protagonists in the film and can’t help thinking how foolish both of them are at times. Still, this is a beautifully shot film that kept my engagement throughout. But it’s not going down as an all-time classic with me.

Lena is a very intelligent 17 year old who speaks multiple languages. It’s important we establish she’s smart, because this movie is about her relationship with an adult. Specifically, her brother’s new girlfriend, Eva. While staying with the family, Eva develops a connection to Lena. This is partially because they do have things in common and partially because of Eva’s self sabotaging tendencies. The first two acts play out during the initial period of time where Lena and Eva first meet. The film concludes two years later, when Eva reconnects with Lena after a period of silence.

The film evokes Call Me By Your Name to me. This nostalgic, sun-drenched portrait about an intelligent 17 year old becoming involved with someone older. Both also feature said 17 year old having a supportive family and this relationship not ultimately being kept as a shameful secret. Between Summer and Fall seems aware that they have to justify having Eva fall for an underage character. This is an element of the relationship the film explores, rather than ignores. Though at the end of the day, the film is a romance. So the problems related to dating someone underage can probably be somehow fixed.

My main issue with the film is that I wasn’t wholly sold on this romance. And yet, given how the film plays out and ends, I think I was supposed to be. The film is at its best when it’s going deeper into exploring the realities of Eva and Lena’s connection. There is an intensity there, but there are also several issues. Both women have great monologues near the end of the film. Lena talks about how the events of that summer and Eva’s subsequent silence felt to her. Eva talks about her pattern of self-destruction and how Lena is both part of that and, Eva hopes, different in that regard. Moments like this show much awareness in writing this relationship. But then it ends with them together, looking out into an uncertain but optimistic future and I couldn’t get on board with that.

Still, as far as these coming-of-age films go, this one has above average character and dialogue. The second act dragged a bit, but I was more engaged in the film and its script than I am for most coming of age films. The film looks beautiful with all its shots of a beautiful young woman in dappled sunlight. More unusually for this subgenre, the script also clearly received a lot of time and attention. Dialogue scenes are above average in Between Summer and Fall compared to the often visual-first subgenre of coming-of-age films.

The concept of an adult dating a 17 year old is something that seems to get increasingly controversial every year. For many people, that plot summary is an automatic “no”, especially if it is framed as a romance. Since the film’s release in 2018, I think the discussion and public opinion about the film’s topic has moved past what Between Summer and Fall depicts. Personally I’m grading the film less on a moral level, and more ranking it among similarly themed movies. Within that framework, Between Summer and Fall is above average, but not an all-time great. I appreciate its dialogue and character work, but it doesn’t stand out enough from this crowded subgenre of similarly plotted and shot movies.

Overall rating: 6.1/10

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