Netflix Review - Summer Hours

On reflection we like this film more and more. It is about letting go of the past, the cultural and social changes in France, and for that matter all of Europe. Will we be sorry we threw away humble belongings that meant something to our parents in a headlong rush towards freedom to move from place to place and embrace the new? Are we to be frozen in place in our homes and be "curators of our own belongings"? The top review on this site by "RJP" can't be improved on. I would just add that there is a lot of dialog in the beginning, very fast French and subtitles whipping by. I love hearing French spoken but this took some effort. I loved the honesty of the film, no bad guys, just difficult decisions from a family with different needs. I thought the daughter interesting as she was almost "American" now -- how the siblings felt about that. I loved the fact that the offspring were conflicted in their views about the artwork of the almost too much adored (by their mother) uncle. It was interesting that their suspicions about the relationship were true but none of them wanted to accept or think about it. It was an amusing touch that the family housekeeper walked away (after having been given a free choice of what she wanted) with what she felt was not a valuable vase and was, on the contrary, extremely valuable. I loved the bit at the end when the older sibling visited the Musee d'Orsay to see their mother's objects (that had been donated as mother wished) displayed in a very stark, but effective, setting that exposed the full beauty of the furniture - but it looked "caged". Here is a film that raises many important questions and is far from just being a French language movie to pigeonhole as such. APR10