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MY SUMMER OF LOVE (2005) (***)

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Based on a novel by Helen Cross, the film takes the core conflict of the book, mainly just focusing on the teen romance story. It's more interested in capturing the rush and danger of teenage love than presenting a grander issue. This character study follows these particular characters over one unforgettable summer.

Mona (Natalie Press, TV's BLEAK HOUSE) is a working class teen whose mother has died and her father was never been in the picture. She has inherited the family pub with her brother Phil (Paddy Considine, IN AMERICA), who has just recently been released from prison where he found Jesus. Mona thinks he's crazy when he pours all the booze down the drain and turns the bar into a Christian community center. With her married boyfriend discarding her and her brother transforming into someone she doesn't even know, Mona is lost in the world until she meets Tamsin (Emily Blunt, THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA).

Tamsin is a rich girl who is spending the summer on her family's large country estate. Her father and mother are barely there and she sobs when she tells Mona about her sister dying of anorexia. Though they are from completely different worlds, Mona finds a kindred spirit in the lost tale of Tamsin's life. Their close bond eventually turns to romance and the two girls become inseparable. During the course of the summer, Mona will learn some harsh life lessons.

There is a bittersweet tone to the entire film, which is made even sadder in the end. The title hints at a less than perfect conclusion, but it's not what one would expect and it leaves the viewer a bit unsteady about what it all means. As I mentioned previously, there doesn't seem to be an overriding message outside of maybe the pessimistic view that no one is as they seem. Over this summer, Mona has learned about the best and worst parts of life.

Pawel Pawlikowski directs the material with a patient hand until he rushes things a bit in the end. At under an hour and a half, I believe some character changes, especially with Phil, could have been less abrupt, making the character feel more dimensional and realistic. However, he earns his provocative ending by making us believe that these characters could do what they ultimately do. The ending isn't so much a melodrama; it's the characters that are melodramatic. Along with cinematographer Ryszard Lenczewski, Pawlikowski creates visuals that capture the wispy nature of idyllic summers as a teen when all that matters is that you're having fun and are in love.

Press and Blunt are wonderful as the two girls in love. Are they lesbians? Not in the black or white sense, I'd say. Press' Mona is drunk with the hope that Tamsin brings into her life. Blunt's Tamsin may be a lesbian, but part of it is acting out and bucking conventions.

MY SUMMER OF LOVE is an intoxicating concoction that sends us back in time to our carefree youth when new love was like a drug. The ending though is like a hangover after one's first night of partying all night; it doesn't make us feel good and we wonder whether what happened was real or just a bad dream. Some may not like the taste of that, but those who like to watch life for all its shades will be reminded that in life the events that make us grow are often very painful.

Rick DeMott's picture

Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks