It’s been more than a decade since we’ve seen anything from the French director Catherine Breillat. Her 2013 film, Abuse of Weakness, was a semi-autobiographical project in which Isabelle Huppert played a woman who has suffered a cerebral haemorrhage (as Breillat did in 2004) and is preyed upon by a conman (as Breillat was, during her recovery). Her return, at the age of 75, is in the form of this intriguing if not wholly immersing remake of a 2019 Danish film, Queen of Hearts.

Samuel Kircher and Léa Drucker in Catherine Breillat’s Last Summer

Last Summer stars Léa Drucker as Anne, a glamorous lawyer specialising in child abuse cases who is drawn into a potentially catastrophic affair with her 17-year-old stepson, Théo (Samuel Kircher), the moody problem child from her businessman husband Pierre’s first marriage.

Théo has come to live with Anne and Pierre (Olivier Rabourdin) after yet another scrape with the police. Having worked with teenagers for most of her professional career, Anne feels that she’s got his number. Théo’s ‘f-you’ insouciance and hostility to all things adult is no issue for...