Preview
A modern drama freely based on real events. One sweltering afternoon in the south of France, four lives intersect: those of Stéphane and Luigi, two cousins barely out of adolescence; Georges, a retired worker; Amélie, Luigi‘s girlfriend; and Anne, Amélie‘s mother. Four ordinary lives full of pain, humiliation, fear and fatigue converge in a series of tragic events.Jean-Jacques Jauffret presents a series of realistic vignettes – checking out groceries, waiting for the bus, playing soccer in the courtyard – which all take on greater meaning as the multiple plots thicken. The casting is impeccable, especially the fiery Amélie (Adèle Haenal, HOUSE OF TOLERANCE) whose grumpy desperation is explained during the course of the film.Heat Wave is an outstanding directorial debut from Jauffret, and one of the clear festival highlights in the Alliance Française French Film Festival 2012.