Late August, Early September poster & wallpaper

Alex Descas, Arsinée Khanjian, Eric Elmosnino

The sublime Late August, Early September, a story of a quartet of Parisian adults (young and not so young) grappling with love, indecision, and crises of confidence, is not titled for a time ...( read more  read more... )of year but for a feeling, a tone, and a sense of passage. Self-conscious, shy writer Mathieu Amalric (My Sex Life...) is fast approaching 30 and furiously second guessing every step he makes. He's broken it off with delightfully gawky yet graceful Jeanne Balibar and is in the midst of an affair with the wild Virginie Ledoyen (The Beach), a sexy, young, sweet-and-sour girl with the temper of a diva. Francois Cluzet (Round Midnight), a cult author with a teenage girlfriend, is the old man of the bunch and an uncomfortable mentor to Amalric.

Shooting with a restless camera that bobs around searching for a better look, and fading out of scenes before they end, as if life continues on past our privileged peek, Olivier Assayas (Irma Vep) has an unusual and unique style. It's like he catches his characters off guard, capturing moments of hesitation and discomfort, when the social front can't quite hide their fears and frustrations. All the better to appreciate their little triumphs. Not much really "happens" in the drama, but the quirky Assayas beautifully captures a portrait in messy emotions, inarticulation, and contradiction with modesty and sympathy. --Sean Axmaker

Flixster Users

62% liked it

670 ratings

Unrated, 112 min.

Directed by: Olivier Assayas

Release Date: July 9, 1999

Invite friends to see

DVD Release Date: May 27, 2003

Stats: 33 reviews

Get movie widget Recommend it Add to Favorites
report incorrect info

Photos

None yet... Got one?

Your Rating


clear rating

Flixster Reviews (33)

  • binky013
    February 10, 2009
    binky013
    I see the word "sublime" used in reference to this movie. Sublime is not the word I'd choose here. If anything, I'd place this in the anti-sublime camp. If there is any kind of transcendence in this film -- outside of death, it comes at the very end, where Vera, the 16-year-ol...( read more)d ex-lover of the 41-year-old Adrien appears to finally find true happiness with a boyfriend in her own age range.

    To qualify as sublime, I think a work needs to be rising above the mundane, the quotidian, the commonplace. I associate it with some kind of happiness, with joy, with a space positively positioned above the fray of the everyday. Rogers and Astaire dancing above all, every time they dance, is a sublime activity, for instance, elevating them almost into the realm of surreal bliss, both for them and for the audience. Ironically, the only real joy that can be found in this story is the joy of Vera dating a boy her own age -- what might be considered commonplace in any "normal" context.

    This story reminds me of a pinball machine, with characters, none of them very thrilled with their lives, bouncing off of each other in a kind of random existential dance. In pinball, the downer is game over, the end of the game. Here, again almost ironically, the end of game is signaled by a pure expression of love at the close.

View All Late August, Early September Reviews

Critic Reviews

No recent reviews.

Comments

This board looks lonely. Be the first to talk about "Late August, Early September" !

Post A Comment | View All Comments

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

All Rotten Tomatoes content is used under license from Rotten Tomatoes. Rotten Tomatoes, Certified Fresh, and the Tomatometer are the trademarks of Incfusion Corporation, d/b/a Rotten Tomatoes, a subsidiary of IGN Entertainment, Inc.

Cast

More Like This

This list looks lonely.
Add a suggestion!

Facts

No facts approved yet. Be the first

Late August, Earl... : Watch Free on TV

Movie Quizzes

No quizzes for Late August, Early September. Want to create one?

Video Clips

No video clips yet. Want to upload one?

Meet Other Fans

Add Late August, Early September to favorites

Recent News

No recent headlines. Got one?

Recent Lists

Make a List |

View All Lists

Most Popular Skin

No skins yet. Interested in creating one?