An Unforgettable Summer (1994)

Set in 1925 Bulgaria, where a fierce rivalry between Romanians and Macedonians escalates in shocking violence, An Unforgettable Summer (1994) examines the last gasps of humanity in a bleak and unrelentingly brutal land. Lucian Pintilie’s film stars Kristin Scott Thomas as Marie-Therese Von, the elegant wife of a Romanian army officer. When Von rebuffs a romantic pass by one of her husband’s superiors, the family is forcibly reassigned to a brutal frontier post, where pillaging and murder are daily occurrences. Pintilie takes painstaking measures to relate the horror of his heroine’s plight, but he also steps back to allow Thomas to indulge in some exhibitionism. Allowing the heat to get to her, the robust actress peels off her garb and indulges in a very public bath.