I just watched François Ozon’s Summer of 85 and for the most part enjoyed it, except for two things.

The first was when Alexis Robin (Félix Lefebvre) and Kate (Philippine Velge) visited the body of David Gorman (Benjamin Voisin) at the morgue.

Here’s where the movie veered dangerously close to slapstick with a really odd tonal shift (and that’s not to say that that was Ozon’s intent but it was such a change in how the movie played out prior that I don’t know how else it could have been interpreted) that was so out of place that it threatened to undermine what came before.

Then there’s Alexis being investigated for David’s death.

This was initially confusing because Alexis blamed himself as well, though when the death was recounted it (after the fact) didn’t make literal sense because while an argument between Alexis and David may have set the event in motion that led to David’s death, that doesn’t mean that he had anything to do with it in terms of the event itself.

Now to be fair I’m entirely unfamiliar with the legal system in France though I still get the feeling that if a person dies in an vehicular accident that their partner didn’t directly contribute to, said partner can’t be charged, never mind having to go to court.

That being said, Madame Gorman (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi) blamed Alexis as well though I thought that was just grief over the death of her son, as opposed to literally believing that he dead killed him.

In any case, Summer of 85 is overall a well-shot and interesting glimpse into first love, as well as how powerful those emotions can be.