French director Olivier Assayas has a rich and diverse body of work; one that does not get the attention of western theatrical or DVD distributors (outside of his two English language films). From the clever take on the French film industry (both past and present) with Irma Vep to corporate espionage thriller Demonlover to rock and roll drama with Désordre. While I'm still waiting on a chance to see his hit-man love affair film Boarding Gate (which played in the Cannes midnight section last year), Assayas' next film, L'Heure d'été (aka Summer Hours or Summertime) is set to debut in competition at Cannes this year after just recently pulling screenings out of the European Film Market to prevent disqualification.

To celebrate the 75th birthday of Helene Berthier, her three children meet with their families in their childhood home in the Parisian suburbs. The old woman is delighted by the safeguard of the inheritance of her uncle, the celebrated painter Paul Berthier. After the death of the matriarch, it is time for his children to decide succession.

While the trailer is nothing special, unless can understand French as the thing is mostly talky, it looks like the film is a straight up family drama starring Juliette Binoche and Charles Berling. Assayas seems to be keeping this film confined to France this time, compared to most of his filmography that general has a very jet-set global (and multilingual) bent to it. This may not be much, but Olivier Assayas deserves more recognition on this side of the pond. More on this as details come along. Note that the trailer is embedded after the jump.