Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.


Despite what you may have read elsewhere, ‘My Summer of Love’ (UK, 2004) is not really a film about class, religion or lesbianism. All these are peripheral to the real matter at hand, which is the struggle to fill the void, that yearning that aches for love within the human heart.

The film had me hooked right from the start.

Imagine, if you will, the life thus far of working class teenaged Yorkshire lass Mona as your own. You’ve lost your mother to cancer, you don’t know who your father is, your ex-jailbird brother is fanatically obsessed with his newfound religion, and your moped (bought for a tenner from some gypsies) doesn’t even have an engine. You’re lying on the grass just now, taking in the sun, your moped next to you. Along comes a stranger, a girl wearing a red top and a red scarf on her head and looking rather regal on a white steed. Curiosity strikes at once.

To Mona, this stranger might well be an apparition – she’s nothing like anyone she’s met before. She inquires after your welfare and asks your name. She introduces herself simply as Tamsin. She says she’s just been suspended from boarding school for being ‘a bad influence on people.’ At the stone entrance gates leading to an ivy-covered manse reeking of old, inherited wealth, she invites you in, but you decline. She then says,

‘Well, drop by if you’re bored…...You’re invited…I’m here all summer, you know.’

You come home to find your brother Phil pouring bottles of liquor down the drain. Having found religion while in prison, Phil is deadset on ‘cleansing the valley of evil’ and turning the pub passed down by the death of your mother into a meeting place for his born-again Christian friends. But Phil’s new religion seems like a joke, and just a tad disturbing.

And then Ricky, your married lover, suddenly dumps you.

As Mona, you’d be ripe for some kind of escape right now, and that open invitation from that rich girl on the horse seems awfully enticing. What could one possibly lose by making her acquaintance? Indeed, could anything be worse than your situation at present?

Well, in the space of a single summer, Tamsin the stranger will get to know Mona and Phil, only to profoundly upend their lives. It will be a heaven – and a hell, too – of a summer that Mona, Tamsin and Phil will not forget.

And, chances are, dear reader, neither will you.

The Helen Cross novel on which the film is based was stripped of all extraneous matter by director Pawel Pawlikowsky and co-writer Michael Wynne. Phil’s character was added to the story of Mona and Tamsin, now set in a place that would evoke anonymity, isolation and timelessness. A place that would hold few of the distractingly ubiquitious accoutrements of modern life – television sets, iPods, video games and cell phones.

The deceptively simple plot can be summed up thus: poor girl meets rich girl and become fast friends, then lovers, and later poor girl’s brother is also drawn into rich girl’s world. Things come to a head, then crash, with betrayals, shattered illusions, broken hearts and dreams littering the scene. ‘My Summer of Love’ is a richly layered, enthralling film that will unsettle you, even in its sunniest and quietest moments. Lured by the enigmatic atmosphere, you’re slowly pulled into a vortex of psychological mystery and suspense. In that fuzzy realm that hovers between reality and dreams, each character’s true nature and intentions will be slowly revealed. Even if one could foresee a few bits coming from a mile away, in the end, it's still distressing to watch them actually unfold before your eyes.

‘My Summer of Love’ could be construed as a cautionary tale about necessary delusions and cruel deceptions, but director Pawlikowski, a Polish-born Briton, approaches the story of Mona, Tamsin and Phil with a decidedly European sensibility. Gifted with a wisdom and perspicacity about human nature, he shapes his characters and their stories with such empathy and grace that you’ll come away caring a lot about Mona, wondering about Tamsin, and feeling sorry for Phil.

Contrary to certain assertions, ‘My Summer of Love’ isn’t really about the British class system. Any careful observer will note that Mr Pawlikowsli has little use for the obvious. He takes the socio-cultural chasm that clearly separates Mona and Tamsin simply as a given. He avoids the overtly political tone favoured by the likes of Ken Loach (‘Land and Freedom’). He doesn’t deny its existence, either; we note their class difference early on, in that brief exchange over Mona’s name. (Although Tamsin’s towering over Mona in the scene might blatantly suggest her upper class status, it’s wholly unintentional; the actress’ equestrian skills were simply incorporated into the character.) Class archetypes don’t interest him so much as the universal human frailties, especially, of each person.

Questions of identity underlie the film’s conflicts. Phil remains on a quest for ‘the real me’, insisting to Mona that this new, evangelical Phil is it. ‘The old Phil never made me happy,’, he tells her. When Tamsin takes a similar tack much later and declares to Mona, ‘You know me!’ not once, but twice, does Tamsin herself know who the real Tamsin is?

Mona, the most open and genuine of the three, will come the closest to our hearts. We will experience her highs and lows as if they were our own. That core of steel will manifest itself now and again, but her soft heart shines past a rough, tough exterior. Having known much hardship and harshness in her young life, she sees few options open to her in this small Yorkshire town. When she and Tamsin ponder their future, Mona’s merits no more than a cynical shrug from her. She tells Tamsin,

‘I’m going to be a lawyer…I’m gonna get a job in an abattoir…work really hard…get a boyfriend who’s like, a bastard… churn out all these kids, right…with mental problems. And then I’m gonna wait for the menopause…or cancer.’

When she shows the sexually inexperienced Tamsin how her lover ‘shags’ (f*cks) her, it strikes us as funny because of Ricky’s pathetically perfunctory act of sex. But there’s also a heartbreaking sadness here, in the apparent lack of love and affection in the affair.

It isn’t hard to see why Mona is drawn to this new, exciting, carefree world that Tamsin has opened up to her – a world in which the likes of Nietzsche dwell, where one communes with dead spirits, listens to the marvellous Édith Piaf, and plays wicked tricks on those who’ve wronged one. Most of all, it’s a world unknown to Mona, one where she feels happy and madly, deliriously in love with someone who actually lavishes attention on her. Truly, it’s a heady summer of love for her.

As for Tamsin, protected and privileged since birth, she can barely comprehend the sheer desolation of Mona’s life. She listens to Mona’s tales with a simple curiosity – that is, when she isn’t holding forth on schoolgirlish ideas about Nietzsche, or telling hilarious, invented tales about Édith Piaf in between sips of wine and brandy. She, too, has her share of unhappy family stories that she tells to Mona – of her adulterous father, and her disconsolate grief over her sister’s death.

The girls find in the other something that she herself lacks in this intense, symbiotic relationship that grows so fervent and self-contained that the outside world is shut away. Tamsin may have wealth and a family, but no one seems to really connect with anyone else, while Mona feels increasingly alienated from her brother and her cheerless prospects. And for a while, this life with one another feels just like heaven. That is, until things take a strange and menacing turn, before collapsing in a disastrous dénouement.

‘My Summer of Love’ isn’t really about lesbians, either. Scenes of two girls kissing and making love do not a lesbian film make. The film is less about a girl-meets-girl romance than about the powerful attraction of opposites. The later physical intimacy flows gradually and naturally from that close, girlish friendship. And when it happens, it feels unforced and authentic. The film isn’t coy about it, but handles the erotically charged scenes with a poignant delicacy and tenderness. (Interestingly, in interviews, actress Emily Blunt [Tamsin] has noted the US media’s odd preoccupation with the film’s supposed sapphic overtones, which the Britons, on the other hand, hardly bothered with.)

As for the film’s take on religion, it’s Phil’s relationship to religion – not the faith itself, nor the faithful – that Mr Pawlikowski takes to task. Phil’s born-again Christianism exists to highlight his constant battle with his inner demon, a feral, untameable creature cursed with a raging and unfulfilled passion.

Lensed by Ryszard Lenczewski, ‘My Summer of Love’ has gently stunning images that convey moods beautifully. Of note are the long shot of Phil’s giant cross on the hill in the distance mirrored by a tall smokestack billowing smoke in the foreground; colourful flags held aloft by Phil’s flock on the hill that are whipped into a fluttering frenzy by the strong breezes; the girls in high spirits taking a ride down the Yorkshire moors on Mona’s moped. Especially striking is a simple telephoto shot of tall heather into which Mona and Tamsin disappear with their cigarettes. Puffs of smoke rise from the grass and quickly vanish – symbolic, perhaps, of the blissfulness – and ephemerality – of this love.

Rarely have songs been so integral to a film. The diverse soundtrack draws from old and new, from modern alternative to ethnic pop, and from classical works. In the ride to the suburbs, the South Asian pop tune that plays inside the cab adds a happy, gleeful feeling to the sequence. The gorgeously haunting music by British duo Goldfrapp provides an eerie soundscape for the ballroom scene with the blue haze and washed-out lights. Here the girls, now stoned out of their minds, dance with careless abandon. The romantic passion of Édith Piaf and the buoyancy of Brazilian music also capture Tamsin’s bohemian world so marvellously. Excerpts of Borodin and Mozart can also be heard, as well as the lovely Saint-Saëns cello piece, ‘The Swan’ (endearingly, imperfectly played for the film by Emily Blunt herself).

The entire cast give exceptional performances, especially the two central leads. Both unknowns with no experience of a feature film, they easily command the screen with an appealing naturalness and a singular chemistry of opposites. Pawel Pawlikowski deserves praise for coaxing such affecting and nuanced portrayals from his actors. The cadences, rhythms and pauses in their dialogue sound spontaneous and natural.

As Mona and Tamsin, Natalie Press and Emily Blunt showcase a study in contrasts. They also possess a rare onscreen alchemy that makes it easy to buy into the intensity of their liaison. Clearly, those eight months spent searching for the perfect pair were well worth it.

With her striking pallor, freckles and strawberry blonde hair, Ms Press could be a young Tilda Swinton. She tends to look askance, and her shoulders droop slightly. She renders Mona’s open nature with a touching blend of strength and vulnerability. (Ms Press also happens to have done Mona’s drawings herself, on camera.)

As Tamsin, Emily Blunt presents a radical departure from Mona. Most recently seen stealing all her scenes in ‘The Devil Wears Prada’, Ms Blunt gives a mesmerizing portrayal of the spoiled and seductive rich girl. She captures that languid, blasé air of the moneyed class. She also keeps you constantly guessing with a steady gaze that hints at some dark, subterranean mystery behind a lively, hypnotic yet opaque pair of eyes.

Their excellent portrayals notwithstanding, some have found the girls to be too self-possessed to pass for sixteen, a plausible argument, perhaps (both actors were in their early twenties) – or do European teens really behave more like adults than their giggling, twittering counterparts in the US?

Rounding out the main cast is veteran character actor Paddy Considine, who plays Phil. Far from being a caricature, Phil comes across as a person genuinely hopeful about finding refuge from his turmoil in religion, and who truly wishes to help his sister. When all is said and done, one can only weep for the character so desperate to reform his violent self.

The film’s ending will leave the viewer no less devastated than some characters. You’ll have grown so fond of these two souls, Mona and Tamsin, been places with them, that in the final climactic sequence, you hope that they don’t let the worst in their natures get the better of them. That Mr Pawlikowski chooses to end things on a hopeful, bittersweet note reveals him to be an unsentimental artist with plenty of heart.

On its surface, ‘My Summer of Love’ resembles the French twins’ seduction of the American lad in Bernardo Bertolucci’s ‘The Dreamers’, but the two films part ways after that. Besides all that has been stated above, this film also has some beguiling silences that are palpable, barely suppressing the tension and energy always simmering just beneath the surface. Only one other work has stirred similarly mystical, intoxicating feelings within this viewer : ‘The Double Life of Veronique’ by Krzysztof Kieslowski. I wonder if the Polish backgrounds of both directors might have something to do with this.

Why the film showed such a lacklustre performance at the US cinemas continues to baffle me. That it failed to play in my small town comes as no surprise, but it had already won a raft of awards in the UK and was met with near-unanimous praise over here. For some reason, the Oscars even managed to ignore its existence altogether. Here’s the thing: ‘My Summer of Love’ might just be one of the finest films in 2005 that you never saw. Go see it now. Five stars.

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Note:
This lengthy piece is more than a regular consumer film review – in fact, some 2000 words more! It’s really an appreciation of the film rather than a review (which was the less satisfactory article previously posted by this author). Medals should be handed out to those who plod through it to the end!

The Region 1 version (US-Canada) DVD offers slim extras: a commentary by the not-so-voluble Pawel Pawlikowski, an advert for the soundtrack, and a trailer.



Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age