Philippe Garrel Pits Son versus Bellucci in ‘A Burning Hot Summer’

I guess Louis Garrel has a lot to be thankful for. Not only has his father paved the way for the actor (some might argue that Christophe Honoré has done a better job) but he is also hooking up his son for an onscreen tragi-romance with the curvaceous Monica Bellucci. While I can already hear the post Cannes press screening hissing sounds on this one, I think this might be an easier sell for the New Wave auteur who has a reputation for making difficult, often inaccessible films for even the most committed art-house patrons.

Rome and Paris will be the prominent backdrops for Philippe Garrel’s latest piece – a relationship drama co-written by the Garrel, Marc Chodolenko and Caroline Deruas, that recounts the torments of a painter whose actress wife has left him and the film will open with the suicide of the male protagonist in a car accident and look back in flashback mode at their stormy romantic relationship. Titled Un Été Brûlant (A Burning Hot Summer), the Wild Bunch project is a multi-country co-production that includes France, Italy and the Swiss.