LAST SUMMER Trailer: Catherine Breillat Returns With a Shocking New Erotic Drama

After an in-competition premiere at Cannes last year, the latest film from daring auteur Catherine Breillat is finally making its way to U.S. theaters. Last Summer caused quite a stir on the Croisette last year, something the 75-year-old director’s films excel at with flying colors (see Fat Girl and Romance). Based on the 2019 Danish film Queen of Hearts, it stars Léa Drucker as an attorney whose stable, yet uneventful family life in the French countryside is threatened when she does the unthinkable: beginning an affair with her troubled 17-year-old stepson (Samuel Kircher). The film was nominated earlier this year for 4 César Awards, including Best Director for Breillat, Best Actress for Drucker, and Most Promising Actor for Kircher. Sideshow and Janus Films have now released the U.S. ahead of its June theatrical release.

Here’s the official synopsis:

With her first film in a decade, the fearless 75-year-old French auteur Catherine Breillat (Fat Girl, The Last Mistress) proves she’s as provocative as ever with her Cannes-stirring film, which drives down the dark road of uncontrollable passion. A remarkably nuanced, radiant Léa Drucker plays Anne, an attorney who has plateaued in her marriage to Pierre (Olivier Rabourdin), a distracted businessman. His son, troubled seventeen-year-old, Theo (Samuel Kircher), from a previous marriage, has recently returned to Pierre’s ineffectual and despondent care. When Pierre leaves town for a business trip, Anne and Théo — confined under the same roof for the first time — find themselves in the throes of an unexpected and dangerously lustful affair, threatening the stability of the household.

Last Summer will debut stateside to coincide with the Film at Lincoln Center’s retrospective of Breillat’s complete filmography, titled “Carnal Knowledge: The Films of Catherine Breillat.” The program will run from June 21 through 27. Tickets are now on sale.

The film opens June 28 at the Angelika and Film at Lincoln Center in New York City and the Laemmle Nuart in Los Angeles. Check out the U.S. trailer below.

Liked it? Take a second to support Hammer to Nail on Patreon!