Berlin is turning the heat up again, so we’re looking back to some classic films that match the temperature. For those afternoons when you can’t beat the heat (you just have to join it), our film editor Florence Scott-Anderton recommends five cult classics that bottle the feeling of summer at its most intoxicating: languid, restless, sexy and occasionally dangerous.
Morvern Callar (2002), D: Lynne Ramsay
Lynne Ramsay’s cult classic follows a young woman escaping to Spain after a life-altering event. Bathed in Mediterranean sunlight and carried by an impeccable soundtrack, the film drifts between euphoria and melancholy with dreamlike confidence.
Kids (1995), D: Larry Clark
Larry Clark’s controversial portrait of New York City youth remains one of the defining films of the 1990s. Following a group of teenagers through a sweltering summer day, Kids captures the freedom, recklessness and vulnerability of adolescence with an intensity that still feels startling 30 years later.
Swimming Pool (2003), D: François Ozon
François Ozon’s sun-drenched psychological mystery is the perfect film for the height of summer. Set around a secluded villa in Provence, what begins as a story of creative block slowly transforms into something far stranger and more seductive. A playful homage to Jacques Dera’s iconic La Piscine (1969), Ozon’s film shares its predecessor’s intoxicating blend of heat, desire and unease, while adding a distinctly mischievous twist.
Beau Travail (1999), D: Claire Denis
Claire Denis’ masterpiece unfolds beneath the scorching sun of Djibouti, where desire, jealousy and masculinity simmer beneath the rigid routines of the French Foreign Legion. Mesmerising, sensual and visually unforgettable, it’s one of the greatest films ever made about bodies in heat.
La Collectionneuse (1967), D: Éric Rohmer
Few filmmakers understood summer better than Éric Rohmer. Set in a villa on the French Riviera, this deceptively simple tale of romance and boredom captures the peculiar intensity of long, hot days when very little happens and everything feels possible.
