1996, the best year in movie history, pt. 4: Conte d’été (A summer’s tale)

If you can’t go on vacation yourself, the next-best thing might be to watch the movies of Éric Rohmer. A lot of them are about French people on vacation. Sometimes, the characters go to the mountains; more often, they go to the beach.

One of Rohmer’s best movies in this vein is Le rayon vert (1986), in which a young woman struggles to choose which holiday resort to go to. Of course, her choice has existential significance.

That movie’s English title is Summer. It mustn’t be confused with A Summer’s Tale (1996), which, in French, is Conte d’été. This second movie is the one I’ll review.

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Gaspard is a moody, tousle-headed youth. He has just completed his master’s degree and is about to join the workforce. But first, he’ll spend a few weeks with his guitar in the Breton beach town of Saint-Malo.

He arrives via the ferry and finds the room that he’s reserved for his stay. He falls into a routine. In the evenings, he composes folk songs about pirates’ daughters. But while the sun is out, he roams the beaches, peering out for Lena, his would-be girlfriend who’s agreed to meet him for a sojourn to the island of Ouessant (“Ushant” in English).

He neither sees nor hears from Lena. We gather that she wouldn’t be a reliable romantic partner. This impression is reinforced when she appears in the movie’s third act.

But then, how reliable is Gaspard? During this holiday, he involves himself with two other young women.

One of them, Solene, is the movie’s most straightforward character. She speaks and acts bluntly. A serial monogamist, she has no qualms about dumping a guy if he doesn’t live up to her standards. Having ended one relationship, she’s willing to begin a new one immediately.

(Only, she isn’t quite a monogamist, because she has two boyfriends at the same time.)

Gaspard’s other love interest, Margot, is another monogamist. Her boyfriend is away in the South Pacific – upon some other beach, the viewer surmises. Having a boyfriend doesn’t prevent Margot from taking up with Gaspard.

Day after day, Margot and Gaspard walk together along the coast and discuss matters of the heart. This is illicitly thrilling for them. They’ve agreed that since they’re romantically unavailable to each other, they can only be friends.

Of the three young women, Margot is on the screen the longest, and she’s the only one who cares about Gaspard for his own sake. This doesn’t mean that she forms the truest judgment of how Gaspard actually is. She vacillates between different interpretations of his character. (Solene, on the other hand, is brisk and scathing about Gaspard, and mostly correct.) What Margot sees in Gaspard is his potential.

It’s Margot whose life is in its summer. She isn’t so naïve or childish as a person in springtime, or as cynical as a person might become in autumn. She’s aware of numerous still-unrealized potentialities, and she’s drawn to what’s attractive in each. It’s ironic that Margot, the “unavailable” one, should be the most open to Gaspard (and to life).

Really, this is Margot’s movie. You can tell that Rohmer loves her. The actress, Amanda Langlet, also plays the titular character in one of Rohmer’s other great beach movies, Pauline à la plage (1983). As Pauline, Langlet is a child wise beyond her years, observing the foibles of her elders. As Margot, she’s grown up, still aware of those foibles, and now committing some of them because it’s hard for a person not to.

As for Gaspard: will he choose well? The movie gives a mixed verdict. During his holiday, he lacks the wisdom to make a good choice. By the end of it, though, there’s reason to think that someday he’ll do better.

In Group F, South Korea flogs Germany, two goals to zero

… KO’ing Die Mannschaft from the World Cup.

This is a happy day, except in Germany.

The one sad thing is that the Germans were KO’d while wearing their classic green “away” uniforms. I’d waited well over a decade for the Germans to bring back those uniforms. I hope that the color doesn’t fall out of favor with them again.

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The result developed as follows:

Sweden and Mexico weren’t scoring (their game was being played at the same time as Germany vs. South Korea).

Germany and South Korea weren’t scoring.

Up until that point, the Germans were on course to qualify for the second round at Sweden’s expense.

Then, the Swedes scored, leapfrogging the Germans and Mexicans in Group F and obliging the Germans to defeat South Korea.

Then, the Swedes scored again, for insurance, with a penalty kick.

Then, the Mexicans scored against themselves.

The Germans needed just one goal to go ahead of the Mexicans (they still would’ve trailed the Swedes).

The Koreans defended tenaciously.

The Germans became desperate.

The Koreans scored.

The Germans sent all their players, including their goalkeeper, Manuel Neuer, down the field to chase the victory they needed. The Koreans stole the ball from Neuer and launched it into the space he’d vacated. South Korea’s star forward, Son Heung-min, reached the ball first and tapped it in.

This lifted South Korea above Germany in Group F. Germany finished butt-naked last.

The Mexicans wept all over the field, grateful that the Koreans’ defeat of Germany had allowed them to qualify for the next round (in which they surely will be KO’d by Brazil).

The Germans tried hard not to weep, but some of them did.

The Swedes looked about the same as ever.

The Koreans celebrated as if they’d won the World Cup, even though Mexico’s failure to defeat Sweden ensured that they, too, were eliminated.

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At the beginning of the tournament, it was understood that Son Heung-min, who plays for Tottenham Hotspur, would have to leave that club to complete his military service – unless the Korean team performed especially well, in which case he would be granted an exemption.

Well, the Koreans are now disqualified. But they’ve performed a service to their country – and to the globe – by KO’ing the Germans.

I hope that the Korean government recognizes Son’s contribution and lets him off the hook.

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The Germans may have been KO’d, but the Argentinians raised themselves from the dead against Nigeria. Messi scored a wondergoal. Then, when the game had nearly expired, Argentina scored again to stave off elimination. (In the stands, Maradona celebrated both goals very strangely.)

When Argentina shows more grit than Germany, you know there’s something in the water.

Some frightening teams

Leave it to Alejandro Moreno, the worst commentator I’ve ever listened to, to defend Neymar for weeping out on the field … like a spoiled child … after scoring a tap-in against Costa Rica.

If the Brazilians win this World Cup – and, with all of their talent, they’re poised to do so – I hope they win with Neymar on the bench.

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The Colombians may have lost their first game, but yesterday they showed that they’re one of the planet’s scariest teams. They turned on the style in their rout of Poland.

The Colombians also have enough talent to win this World Cup.

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The Uruguayans have enough talent and more than enough grit. They won’t fear anyone. They’re used to grinding out results, which bodes well for their fate in the later rounds.

They ground out results against Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Then, this morning, they decided not only to clinch the first place in Group A, but to emphasize how dangerous they are. And so they casually routed the host nation.

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Another frightening team is Germany – not for having played well, but for having come back from the dead against the Swedes.

Before Toni Kroos scored his last-minute goal, the citizens of all the other countries had been licking their chops. The Mexicans, especially: their team would’ve qualified for the next round if Sweden had held Germany to a draw.

Instead, Group F remains unsettled. Germany, Mexico, and Sweden all will be excellently positioned if they win their respective upcoming games. Theoretically, even the Koreans could advance.

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Also frightening – but still unproven – are the Croatians, the Belgians, and the English, all of whom have easily qualified for the knockout stage. They all looked quite good against their group opponents, but I wonder how they’d fare against Colombia or Germany, or even Mexico.

Some links pertaining to the World Cup

It’s the summer’s solstice, but you wouldn’t know it from South Bend’s dark skies and pouring rain.

In Russia, the World Cup has continued its string of bizarre matches.

Colombia was upset after suffering an early red card against Japan.

Poland was upset by Senegal, who scored a wacky second goal.

Spain defeated Iran with another wacky goal.

Argentina was badly upset by Croatia.

I could discuss many more games, in minute detail. But I’ll leave it at this: general weirdness is this World Cup’s main theme.

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The trappings have been more wonderful than the games themselves. The crowds, in national dress, have lent their usual pageantry. The stadiums also have been lovely to behold – even on TV; even the one in Yekaterinburg, which has seats built on high stilts outside the stadium proper. (Yekaterinburg, I learned today, is east of the Urals, which makes this World Cup the second one held in Asia.)

And here is Telemundo’s rousing musical theme for the tournament. It’s played during every commercial break. It builds gradually. At the end, it introduces vocals, sounding very Russian.

A sputtering start

Who will seize control in this World Cup? So far, none of the “powers” has seemed capable. Germany has lost to Mexico; Portugal and Spain have drawn against each other (these teams have shown perhaps the best potential); Argentina and Brazil have drawn against Iceland and Switzerland, respectively. Only France has won – against Australia – but hardly in a convincing fashion.

Russia, the host nation, scored five times against the dismal Saudis without playing especially well. I expect the Russians to qualify for the next round, and then to get knocked out.

Only Uruguay – not a “power,” but still a team to be reckoned with – defeated its opponent, Egypt, in its usual manner. It eked out a 1–0 victory in added time, with a goal by a central defender. Uruguay will be very comfortable in games like those that have occurred so far.

Belgium, England, Colombia, and Poland have yet to play any games. It’s too early to say how they will do.

June’s poem

… is from the movie Animal House.

And that’s about all the time I have for poetry. It’s the World Cup season.

A prank; a vote; a forthcoming event; a new tutee; Zlatan

We’re well into June. The high schools have had their graduations.

At the school where I used to work, the seniors did an especially good prank. They put LimeBikes everywhere inside the building.

It was effective because whenever a janitor would try to remove a bike from the school, the bike would play a recorded message, threatening to call the police.

Eventually, though, the bikes were brought out into the parking lot.

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Today, FIFA’s members voted to select the hosts of the 2026 World Cup.

They chose Canada, Mexico, and the United States.

Morocco was the losing candidate.

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David will arrive in South Bend tomorrow night. He plans to watch the first week or so of this year’s World Cup with his family.

The first game, Russia vs. Saudi Arabia, will be played tomorrow morning.

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At IUSB, my newest tutee is a middle-aged woman from Mexico. We held our first session today. Afterward, we tried to schedule our next appointment.

“Let me view my calendar,” I said, and I brought out the schedule of World Cup games.

My tutee immediately understood.

“Such-and-such hour is no good,” she said. “Two of Mexico’s group opponents play at that time.”

We agreed to meet at 10:00am, the hour of inactivity between the 8:00am–10:00am game and the 11:00am–1:00pm game.

She told me that two years ago, during the Euros, she’d been in the stadium when Zlatan played his last official match for his national team.

“I don’t have much regard for Zlatan,” she said. “I think Sweden has more success without him.”

I told her I thought Sweden’s success was beside the point.

“Well, my husband likes Zlatan,” she said. “I suppose you like Zlatan?”

“Zlatan is incredible. You should read his book.”

Apart from our disagreement about Zlatan, we had an excellent tutorial. I think she’ll be a very good student to work with.

More on Bethel’s name change

In the United States, inflating a school’s status is an old trick: “As one citizen exulted in the 1870s: ‘There are two universities in England, four in France, ten in Prussia, and thirty-seven in Ohio.’”

This quotation is from p. 135 of Class: A Guide through the American Status System (1983) by Paul Fussell.

(The full historical discussion covers pp. 134–138. Most of it can be accessed through the Google Books link just given.)

Like Bethel, many, many other schools have “upgraded” their names. This is precisely what makes “upgrading” so tacky.

Even so, “upgrading” succeeds in luring in students.

Fussell calls it “the great swindle.” He thinks it’s worse than tacky: it’s morally reprehensible.

Well, in Bethel’s case, is it a swindle?

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I’ll grant that putting “University” into Bethel’s name isn’t a swindle if it reflects ordinary dictionary definitions. This is one way Bethel could be exonerated, morally.

Merriam-Webster says:

A college is “an independent institution of higher learning offering a course of general studies [i.e., instruction] leading to a bachelor’s degree – a liberal arts college” (def. 3c).

A university is “an institution of higher learning providing facilities for teaching AND RESEARCH and authorized to grant academic degrees; specifically : one made up of an undergraduate division which confers bachelor’s degrees and a graduate division which comprises a graduate school and professional schools each of which may confer master’s degrees and doctorates” (def. 1; capitalization added for emphasis).

According to these definitions, Bethel gets halfway between the two types of school. Like the definitional university, Bethel confers undergraduate and graduate degrees. Unlike it, and like the definitional college, Bethel is overwhelmingly teaching-focused.

Yes, some people do perform some research at Bethel. But Bethel doesn’t have facilities, employees, etc. “for teaching and research.” It has them for “a course of general studies,” full stop. We who are acquainted with Bethel all know this.

(Research by Bethel’s faculty, or which occurs in Bethel’s graduate programs, isn’t greatly facilitated by other resources than those provided for general instruction.)

So putting “University” into Bethel’s name doesn’t quite reflect the dictionary definitions. (Quite is hardly a good thing here. It makes deception easier to pull off.)

So the dictionary doesn’t let Bethel off the hook.

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There’s one other linguistic phenomenon that might let Bethel off the hook. Some names have descriptive content. And, sometimes, the content of such a name isn’t meant to be informative (though the name’s falling under a certain type is meant to be informative). Therefore, even if the name is designed to have false descriptive content, it might not be deceptive.

For example, in The Outsiders, there’s a character named “Sodapop.” Nobody is meant to think that he is a soda pop, or that he has soda pop-like qualities, or even that he’s in any way associated with soda pop. Sodapop’s name does tell us something about him – it suggests what his parents are like (in Ecuador, it would suggest that they’re from the Manabí province) – but the descriptive content of that name tells us nothing about him.

But this isn’t what’s happening at Bethel. Putting “University” into Bethel’s name is meant to do more than to suggest what sort of people Bethel’s leaders are (though it would do that, too). It’s meant to deliberately engender certain beliefs about what kind of school Bethel is through the new name’s descriptive content. Since these beliefs would be false, this would amount to deceiving, and hence to swindling.

If a company calls itself “Premium Cable” but offers premium cable just one day a month, isn’t that swindling? Isn’t it deceptive?

(If the company admits in its fine print, “Except for one day a month, we only offer basic cable,” it may avoid committing an illegal swindle. But it still commits an immoral one.)

Bethel … University?

I never cease to be amazed by my alma mater. The board’s latest hare-brained scheme is to change the school’s name from “Bethel College” to “Bethel” (something or other) “University.”

Apparently, the decision has been made, and all that remains is to choose a specific combination of the words “Bethel,” “University,” “Indiana,” “Christian,” and “International.”

As a former student, I was invited to fill out a survey to express my preference. Here is a small part of the survey.

We invite you to submit a name of your choice that is not already on the list. … We ask that it contains [sic] the words “Bethel” and “University.”

[My answer:] “Bethel College” or “Bethel College Indiana.”

Please provide a brief rationale for your name selection.

A case can be made for changing Bethel’s name to distinguish it from other Bethels. The word “Christian” is redundant, as “Bethel” already has a clearly Christian connotation. “Indiana” is accurate and informative.

Calling Bethel a university is utterly pretentious. I have attended two universities in addition to Bethel. Bethel is not in their league in terms of the quality or breadth of its teaching. Nor does Bethel have the research focus associated with paradigmatic universities.

Shame on the board for approving this change.

I couldn’t bring myself to take the word “International” seriously enough to mention it in my response.

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I drafted this entry a couple of days ago but decided not to post it. I wanted to make sure I wasn’t posting just out of anger.

Today, I was told that Bethel is planning to market itself to students in other countries who would take courses online. This explains why the board wants to add “International” to the school’s name, even though there’s very little about Bethel that’s international or even inter-regional.

It also explains why “University” would be added to the name: outside the U.S., that word, much more than “College,” is associated with tertiary education.

This is worse than I’d imagined. There’s a horrific potential for exploitation. Lots of domestic online schooling is exploitative. Online schooling across borders would be even harder for authorities to regulate, making exploitation a greater danger.

Of course, other schools already are doing this sort of thing. But that’s no reason why a Christian school, a school from a denomination that purports to care about Christians abroad and calls itself the Missionary Church, should involve itself in a business practice that fleeces students from other countries.

I’m sure that Bethel’s authorities would retort that what they’re planning to do is all above-board.

But then why wasn’t this announced to the alumni as a reason for changing the school’s name?

The nighthawk

Last night, I had one eye on philosophy and one on Karin and the kitties and one on the NBA Finals. I watched Stephen Curry drain his nine three-pointers (a Finals record). I am for Curry and his Warriors when they play against the Cavs; and, it seems, so are the referees. Perhaps, when the series moves to Cleveland, the calls will go the other way.

The game finished before 11:00pm. I finished writing around 2:15am. Karin and Ziva had gone to sleep. Jasper was begging for attention, and he’d torn open a bag of Doritos.

I wonder how long I’ll keep going to bed so late. Apparently, when they’re tired enough, writers lose their inhibitions and become more able to add words to the page. It certainly has proved true with me in the last month or so. This has been one of the most productive periods of my career. For years, I used to reserve the night hours for entertainment, thinking I’d be too tired to get anything done, but that was exactly the wrong way of going about it. (I should’ve known better since I write so many of my blog posts late at night.)