At first sight, Summer Hours, the new film from French director Olivier Assayas, conforms to all the stereotypes of that country’s cinematic tradition. There is an extended family that gets together in a rambling countryside villa. They argue a lot but they love each other. There is a beautiful woman, played by Juliette Binoche, who has a fragile love life. There is more than a hint of Chekhov in the sense of inertia that dominates the family’s arid discussions but there is also a lush sensuality in the sun-dappled rural scenes, and in the beautifully appointed interiors, replete with lovely art objects from a different, more stately time.

So far, so French. But appearances are deceptive. Assayas does not fit comfortably into the mould of his more parochial compatriots. His last film was a Hong-Kong-based erotic thriller, Boarding Gate, that took in international drug deals, violent murder and easy sex. Its wider theme was the sense of alienation that was the consequence of living in the modern, globalised world.