Endless Summer Syndrome Review: Shattered by Suspicion

In Kaveh Daneshmand’s Endless Summer Syndrome, doubt and suspicion take over a woman’s life after her husband is accused of inappropriate behaviour with one of their kids.

Later, at a dinner, when asked why she’s being so quiet, Delphine says, “when you have nothing to say, say nothing.” Her mind is now full of questions, her behaviour hyper observant; the film considers what giving voice to her doubts would do to the idyll the family have built in rural Corrèze. What does it mean to speak? She could never take back accusing her husband of inappropriate behaviour towards one of their two adopted children. Mother, father, son and daughter quote academia and philosophy at one another over lunch and by the pool, but Delphine suddenly faces an existential choice of living with uncertainty, or willingly walking past a point of no return. 

It is a clever conundrum to place upon a liberal and educated family. Delphine is a top lawyer, Antoine a writer, and son Aslan (Gem Deger) is off to university in New York in the next few days. He also keeps snails in his bedroom, one of which we are told – often, loudly – is highly poisonous. ‘Aslan’s snails’ is the new Chekhov’s gun. These almost comical asides feel tonally lost among what is otherwise a potentially devastating narrative of deception and secrecy. 

Endless Summer Syndrome works best before revelations hurry the plot along. After daughter Aida (Frédérika Milano) accidentally burns herself, Delphine walks in on Antoine rubbing lotion on her inner thigh. A once innocent moment of parental caregiving has warped into potential evidence. The camera creeps round corners as Delphine slowly stalks their home, as if always on the brink of revealing something salacious. 

The film is less effective in its third act, once committed to a resolution. Without a growing sense of dread, or the question of what Delphine will do next, Endless Summer Syndrome slows down to consider the first hour’s implications, but without much to say about them. The sizzling tension remains, but the filmmakers take a slightly absurd way out of what, until that point, is a tastefully considered rumination on the effects of an accusation on a family unit. 

The azure blue pool in the garden is a reminder of not all being well below the surface. Cédric Larvoire shoots the French outdoors like an Eden in which the family tan, eat, and relax. Lush greens and blue suggest all is well in paradise. But bedrooms are dark and dim hallways feel as if no one is home. What might appear to be an instantaneous unravelling of trust and intimacy from an anonymous source is set against the backdrop of visual clues that whispers are nothing new in this household. 

The cast of mostly newcomers – Sophie Colon, Frédérika Milano, Mathéo Capelli, and Gem Deger, who also has a co-writing credit – all capably bring the sensitive material to light and, along with Daneshmand helming his first feature, make up a refreshing new batch of talent. Colon in particular carries much of Endless Summer Syndrome’s responsibility in her face, always searching for clues and answers through micro-expressions. We see what she sees, as she strains her eyes for wrong-doing in every scene. 

Endless Summer Syndrome is a confident debut feature with a compelling question at its heart, which in turns asks so much of a woman’s personal and philosophical beliefs. Only when forced to answer those questions does it slightly falter, but the debuting actors and gorgeous cinematography see it through.

Endless Summer Syndrome (Le Syndrome de l’Eté Sans Fin) will be released on digital and in select theaters in North America on December 13, 2024.