My
Summer of Love is a provocative tale of passion and a brutal expose on the art
of manipulating people for one’s own amusement or personal gain. There are
surprises to be found in this interesting story of a summer romance, but don’t
worry - I won’t give them away. I will say that My Summer of Love offers
up the touching, heartfelt passion of Peter Jackson’s excellent Heavenly
Creatures and fuses it with the malicious attitude of Neil LaBute's scorching
In the Company of Men.
My
Summer of Love takes place in the Yorkshire countryside and features Nathalie
Press as Mona, a lonely and confused, but spirited Irish girl. Not only is she
unlucky in love, but she can’t seem to connect with her older brother Phil
(Paddy Considine), a once hard drinking, abusive man who’s recently found
God. Mona’s life quickly begins to change however, when she meets beautiful
young Tamsin, (played by Emily Blunt) a wealthy intellectual on holiday from a
hectic life of schooling. The two instantly become inseparable, and quickly find
solace in each other, a bond that raises a couple of eyebrows, none more so than
Phil's.
With her
homely, Sissy Spacek sort of features, Press is absolutely outstanding as a young
woman who feels she has no one to turn to. She has a quick wit, a rawness, and
a kind of energy that had me completely transfixed. As the smarmy and intelligent
Tamsin, the lovely Emily Blunt proves to be the perfect counterpart. These
two talented actresses play off of one another beautifully, and despite their
characters’ obvious differences, it is that profound sense of loneliness
that really brings them together Rounding out the first rate cast is In America’s
Paddy Considine, a man struggling with issues of his own. Considine is perfectly
subtle, and able to switch emotions on a dime.
My
Summer of Love was directed by Paul Pavlikovsky and although it features subject
matter which many might find taboo (I’m certainly not one of those people),
it is exquisitely fashioned. This isn’t a film about lesbian sex. It isn't
even necessarily a movie about two people finding each other. At it’s heart,
My Summer of Love is really a story about an individual finally saying they’ve
had enough, after being emotionally tortured one too many times.
My
Summer of Love is brilliantly executed and very well written. The final scene
in the picture, in which an undiscovered truth is revealed, is extremely well
played, particularly by Press who turns a moment of total humiliation into one
of personal triumph, and not in a way I was quite prepared for. This is a terrific
movie.
