Someone's all bundled up*. No list of summer films is complete without Éric Rohmer.

“I even tried not to think. I was face-to-face alone with the sea, far from cruises and beaches, fulfilling a childhood dream put off year after year. I lost myself completely in the play of shadow and light, sinking into a lethargy heightened by the water. That state of passivity, of complete availability, promised to last much longer than the euphoria of one’s first summer dip into the ocean. I could easily see myself spending a whole month this summer this way.”

– Adrien

An art dealer and his writer friend plan to spend the summer together in a villa on the Côte d'Azur. A young woman, a collector of sorts, disrupts their retreat.

 

* the Bales 2025 Film Challenge for July is, for unknown reasons, mostly not date-related and follows some sort of vacation narrative.

A musician in a film role for O'Shea Jackson Sr. aka Ice Cube's birthday (1969).

“Janitor of lunacy Paralyze my infancy Petrify the empty cradle Bring hope to them and me

Janitor of tyranny Testify my vanity Mortalize my memory Deceive the devil's deed”

– Nico, Janitor of Lunacy (Desertshore, 1970)

Accompanied and inspired by Nico's Desertshore, the musician tracks the barren landscapes of Iceland, Egypt's Sinai, and Death Valley with her son Christian (Ari) in tow.