AllMovie

One of François Ozon's last short films before his graduation to features, the impressionistic A Summer Dress shows the young director at the height of his teasing, suggestive powers. Ozon could make a trip to the grocery store suspenseful, and that's basically what he does here, adding drama and intrigue to what is essentially a humorous, minor-key tale of misplaced -- or rather, miscalculated -- lust. Summer Dress' sense of post-adolescent sexual politics is at once enigmatic and perfectly clear: Though he might like to think he's on a higher rung than his effeminate boyfriend, Frédéric finds that he's not, and, ironically, it takes a fling with an experienced woman to put him in his place. Designed with a painter's eye for color and composition, the film shows a strong affinity for such classic experimental works as Maya Deren's Meshes of the Afternoon or Kenneth Anger's Fireworks and yet it holds up as a bold and completely modern work of its own.