LATE AUGUST, EARLY SEPTEMBER

In a remarkably consistent body of work created over the past decade, Olivier Assayas has gently probed beneath the surface of relationships to uncover underlying anxieties, fears, and hesitations in his characters. His new film both tills the same ground and moves in new directions. Using the surgical precision we have come to expect, Assayas brings us into contact with a group of characters struggling with their private demons late one summer. The film centers around the writer Adrien and his friend Gabriel, two young men grappling with their relationship to each other and ultimately with the women in their lives. Adrien is a published writer, shy and uncompromising, much admired by Gabriel, who feels inadequate in the presence of his friend. Both have split from women with whom they have shared a substantial part of their lives, leaving a legacy of pain and remorse. Both are involved in new relationships. What brings them together is Adrien's illness. Assayas effortlessly situates his characters, catching their vacillations and shifting moods as they go about their daily lives groping for happiness and resolution. (In French with English subtitles) – Rotterdam International Film Festival