Catherine Breillat Returns with Provocative Film 'L'Été dernier'

Catherine Breillat's first film in a decade, 'L'Été dernier', premiered at Cannes 2023 and released on September 13. The film adapts the Danish 'Queen of Hearts' (2019) by May el-Toukhy, but Breillat subverts the original's predatory narrative. Starring Léa Drucker as Anne, a lawyer defending a raped teenager, the story follows her affair with her husband's teenage son (Samuel Kircher), leading to an incest accusation. Breillat focuses on close-ups of faces rather than explicit sex, emphasizing emotional complexity. The film challenges stereotypes about female desire and morality, with Drucker noting it 'shakes up preconceived ideas.' Producer Saïd Ben Saïd suggested the adaptation. Breillat's previous film was 2013's 'Abus de faiblesse'.