Search: Directed by Olivier Assayas

This is bravura filmmaking.

There is much irony on the theme of generational gulfs, internet obsessions and the nature of creativity and culture. Unfortunately none of it rings true.

The performances are from the Be-Yourself-School-of-Non-Acting.

In Assayas's smashingly sad comedy of manners, shoes drop left and right.

It is like nibbling for nearly two hours in the kitchens of the best chefs. At the end we are exhausted and hungry.

Stewart valiantly tries to soldier through but cannot make her character spring to life.

Most real, and at once divine, are the scenes in nature.

Superficially Summer Hours is an examination of the emotional fallout from the death of a loved mother, but digging deeper reveals insightful comment on nostalgia, mortality, property and family.

Dano has chosen to use the same flat vocal expression throughout, a technique well suited to satire which might have worked if only the rest of the film had been a bit more lively.