My Summer of Love

Genre: psychological drama
Director: Pawel Pawlikowski
Release: 2004
Studio: Apocalypse et al. - Focus Features
Rating: R
MBiS score: 7.9/10


Aching for Friendship and Freedom


MY SUMMER OF LOVE takes place in the English countryside where young Mona (Natalie Press) is fighting adolescent boredom. Since her mother died, Mona lives with her brother Phil (Paddy Considine) but has been drifting away from him recently. Is it because of his stern principles and keen interest in religion? Or hasn’t he noticed that she is growing up? Whatever the reason, one thing is certain: when a fetching newcomer named Tamsin (Emily Blunt) invites Mona to her home nearby, our pitiable protagonist accepts wholeheartedly. And why wouldn’t she? Tamsin is everything she’s not – strong-willed, cultured and open to radical ideas. Opposites do attract, you know… and Mona needs to shed her former life and begin a new one.

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Overall, MY SUMMER OF LOVE is a quiet, ably directed and visually appealing film, drenched in an atmosphere of austerity, melancholy and simmering rebellion. Because they both endure familial hardship, Mona and Tamsin will easily forge an alliance against the world of adults, a world too insensitive and intransigent toward its progeny. These girls want things to change because the present is no future for them.

Such is the mindset of youth, a normal psychological state we have all espoused in adolescence, and Pawel Pawlikowski’s film depicts it with disarming accuracy, aided by excellent performances by our two young actresses and a well-constructed story-line that develops very naturally. The pacing here is slow but tempered and increasingly impatient, like those hot and hazy days of August when you felt useless as a teenager and almost wished school was on again. But don’t be fooled by this review! The film offers more than girl talk and lazy afternoons lying on the grass. It also delivers a few surprises but I won't reveal them just now. Believe me... you'll thank me for it.

MY SUMMER OF LOVE is a startling, finely wrought little movie that must be earned and savoured. Do see it!


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