HKFFUK x ICA: A Summer’s Tale (Conte D’Été)
Filmmaker in Focus: Mary Stephen • Q&A
27 Sept 2026 (Sun) | 19:30 | Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA)
France | 1996 | Colour | 113’
In French with English subtitles
Dir.: Éric Rohmer
Cast: Amanda Langlet, Melvil Poupaud, Aurélia Nolin, Gwenaëlle Simon
Gaspard (Melvil Poupaud), a math graduate and musician, arrives in Dinard, a seaside town in Brittany, awaiting his girlfriend Lena (Aurélia Nolin) for the summer holiday. As the wait drags on indefinitely, he has romantic encounters with two charming women: Margot (Amanda Langlet), an aspiring ethnographer who works at a restaurant, and her friend Solène (Gwenaëlle Simon). Gaspard’s indecisiveness about who to pursue leaves his chances at love hanging in the balance.
A Tale of Summer is the third installment of Éric Rohmer’s Tales of the Four Seasons series and, according to the filmmaker himself, the most autobiographical of his work. Mary Stephen not only collaborated with Rohmer on the film as an editor, but also worked with him on the music under the pseudonym ‘Sébastien Erms’, creating the melodious sea shanty the protagonist wrote in the film.
Followed by an in-person Q&A with Mary Stephen.
Presented in collaboration with the ICA.
