Five Days One Summer

Five Days One Summer is a 1982 American romantic drama film directed and produced by Fred Zinnemann from a screenplay by Michael Austin, based on the 1929 short story Maiden, Maiden by Kay Boyle. Set primarily in the Alps, the story focuses on Douglas Meredith (Sean Connery) and his lover Kate (Betsy Brantley) as they embark on a mountain climbing trip, which unravels their relationship due to Kate's feelings for their mountain guide (Lambert Wilson) as well as a dark secret that looms over the couple. Five Days One Summer served as Zinnermann's final film before his death. The film was a commercial and critical failure. Plot In 1932, Douglas Meredith, a middle-aged Scottish doctor, is on a mountain climbing trip in the Alps with a young woman, Kate, whom he introduces as his wife. Despite being side-eyed by their hotel's guests and staff due to their large age difference, Douglas and Kate are deeply in love, with their romance in full display. They are introduced to Johann Biari, a native of the area who becomes their mountain guide. Flashbacks reveal that Kate is actually Douglas' niece and they are in a secret incestuous relationship. Kate had been in love with her uncle since she was a little girl, and was despondent when he had to leave to set up his practice in India when she was just a child. Years later, the adult Kate works at her family-owned shipbuilding factory which she stands to inherit from her late father, Douglas' brother, alongside Douglas. As the family reunites to discuss matters about the factory, Kate happily reunites with her uncle, who had returned from India, but she is dismayed when she meets Douglas' new wife, Sarah. Douglas and Kate rekindle their close relationship, with Kate pursuing her uncle and Douglas admiring his niece's beauty now that she has grown up. When Sarah and Kate's mother leave for a trip to the market, the two succumb to their feelings for each other and begin a romantic and sexual affair. Douglas plans for both of them to have a vacation to the Alps in the guise of family bonding so that they could pursue their relationship without their family noticing, despite Sarah's suspicions of the two.