What makes “Summer Hours” more convivial than other films in which there are differences over estates is that the two brothers and their sister are not at each other’s throats. They have their own agendas, but they also have a familial bond. Their mother has nurtured pride in the valuable collection of 19th century art that belonged to their uncle (about whom we learn more with respect to him and the mother). She has wanted the collection be preserved intact. The film follows the aftermath of her death, and the issues that develop, including whether to sell the family country house.

Juliette Binoche plays Adrienne, a daughter who has achieved stature as a designer in New York, Charles Berling is Frédéric, who is an economist and a professor at a Paris university, and Jérémie Renier is a businessman who is about to make a long-term life for himself in China. Each can use money to be made by selling off the collection.

There are some wonderful touches in the film involving respect for art in contrast to the way it can be taken for granted, as in a scene in which a cherished piece of furniture has become part of an exhibition at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris and is passed over with not much interest by a group viewing it on a guided tour. On the other hand a housekeeper cherishes a piece from the collection merely because she loves it and wants it as a souvenir of her employer without any sense of its value.