Olivier Assayas's luminous Summer Hours

NICKELODEON

Playing at the Nickelodeon this week, Olivier Assayas's luminous Summer Hours (L'heure d'été) has a distinctly stuffy and French premise - a family matriarch dies, and her children are left to decide what to do with her gorgeous estate, filled with expensive art and antiques - but a wealth of feeling and beautifully rendered symbolism. At its large, patiently beating heart, the film is about the death of France's identity in the face of globalization, a message that drifts into Assayas's beautifully lit scenes like a gentle breeze. Soak it in at 1 Temple St.; see our film listings for showtimes.

Filed under: FILM