Clara’s Summer

Clara’s Summer succeeds in writing realistic teenage character. However, they went too far. It becomes uncertain as to why a movie exists about these regular teens encountering mostly regular, short-term problems.

Clara’s Summer takes place at a French summer camp, though one with significantly less adult oversight than any summer camp I’ve ever been to. Lead character Clara and her best friend, Zoe both attend the camp. Zoe in particular is excited to find romance with a boy there. The girl’s close friendship leads to a kiss after which, Zoe confesses feelings for Clara. Unsure and shy, Clara rebuffs Zoe so Zoe doubles down in heterosexuality and starts getting hot and heavy with a boy. Meanwhile, Clara works through her own confusion and grows close to the object of her affection, a girl named Sonia. The girls’ potential new romances put a strain on their long-term friendship.

The best part of Clara’s Summer is the realism. The movie really does capture the true spirit of young teens; they try so hard and think that they’re adults when in reality, their impulsivity and lack of experience means they’re still very much kids. Also, they’re all horny. I do commend the movie for depicting relatable teens characters. The problem is that the movie is missing depth.

Despite being under 90 minutes, Clara’s Summer has a lot of filler. Almost as if the story they’ve chosen to tell isn’t entirely interesting enough to sustain a whole movie. Because the characters are so young, the relationships are pretty unimportant. Romances and friendships are made, broken, mended and transformed in very short amounts of time. While this is accurate to teenagers, it’s so common and essentially unimportant that it can feel dull to focus on.

The directing also takes a realism approach. The film is mostly shot with handheld, unobtrusive camera work and little visual aesthetic. Again, I commend the realism but it’s one more nail in the coffin of making this movie forgettable. Because the story and acting are reasonably strong and the depiction of teens realistic, this could have been a great coming of age film. The bland directing style lets it down. Shout out to the sound crew though, despite all the outdoor filming and presumably a lot of ADR work, the sound and dialogue is always crystal clear.

The acting is impressive from the young performers in the film. The physicality between any two characters tends to be well done. The casual, incredibly close physical intimacy of Clara and Zoe or any of the new romances that crop up where characters cling to each other to prove that yeah, they found someone who wants to kiss them. It’s well acted all around. The standout performance is from Soko as Zoe. It’s not surprising that she’s the only one in the cast I’ve heard of. She really does bring an extra something special to this film, a star quality that even the rest of her generally talented cast members lack.

Clara’s Summer feels realistic but unimportant. The coming out narrative doesn’t offer anything new nor does the overall depiction of teens offer much depth or introspection. This is a decent TV movie but not artistic or deep enough to overall be called good. I’ll probably forget this movie within a few weeks.

Overall rating: 5.3/10

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