Summer Friends 2021

Summer Friends 2021
L’amie de l’été (original title)
24m | Short, Drama | Release date: August 10, 2021 (United States)

Storyline:

Tom and Ellis, 15 years old, have been friends forever. They spend their summer fishing at sea. One day, they meet Lucie who came to their village on holiday. As days go by, they grow more intimate.

User review:

Not that it began that way when twenty-something Ousmane (Loic Djani) found himself enjoying the delights of the sun-drenched city of Nafplio. Noted as one of the most romantic and picturesque cities in Greece, famed for its historic architecture, including the majestic Fortress of Palamidi, Ousmane instead finds himself becoming increasingly fixated on the muscular physique of a stripped to the waist stranger (Lefteris Polychronis) exercising on a terrace, overlooking the sea. Only is the man of Ousmane’s rampant desire, gay or straight?

Complete with a voice-over styled narrative that comes full circle in the telling close-of-play and complete, as you would expect, with a series of picture postcard vistas of the lush Peloponnese peninsula, this tale of sexual longing is perhaps too drawn-out for some, given there’s not really much meat on the narrative bone here, even if Chauvin and to his credit opts to add more by way of Ousmane catching up with an old friend who he hasn’t seen in years, alongside taking ‘time out’ from his quest to relax in a local cruising area, down by the beach.

Well-played throughout, if at times found to have unwanted light streaks seeping into the camera, this nonetheless makes for an achingly realistic depiction of sexual fixation, although as to whether or not Ousmane succeeds in getting his hands on the man himself; well, that would be saying.

Director: Maxime Hermet
Writer: Maxime Hermet
Stars: Jean Aviat, Syrine Conesa, Tim Rousseau
Country of origin: France
Language: French
Also known as: Summer Friends