Youthful summer loves call into mind almost invariably the feeling of seemingly endless days of bliss and romance. -An entire season when you are rescued from the mundane grey of the days that aren't of The Summer. And it wouldn't be all too unnecessarily optimistic to think that
My Summer of Love would be one of those refreshing and fluffy teenage romance films given the film's title but, unfortunately, that perception would be wrong.
Now being teenaged, bored, and finding your own hometown too small for your tastes might be the worst lot for a young girl. Enter the suffering youth: Mona (
Natalie Press) who, aside from the previously described ailments, also has a lecherous married boyfriend who's broken it off with her.. badly and an older brother (Phil, played by the always excellent
Paddy Considine) who's seen the light since coming back from the clinker. Phil has turned the family pub into a meeting place for him and his Christian friends, earning the ire of unconverted, unconvinced Mona.
As a means of escape, Mona has bought an engine-less moped which she rolls around with (slower than one would like, but still getting somewhere). It's like being a dog tethered to a pole, there's a certain amount of freedom but only just so much. --Run any more and you'll end up choking yourself. Not being able to go as far as you think she'd want, Mona putters around on her bike until her Prince Charming/saviour comes along. And he does.
Well,
she does.
Literally atop a white steed with the breeze flowing through her hair, the beautiful, enigmatic Tamsin (
Emily Blunt, who will appear later on as the flu-suffering assistant to
Meryl Streep's character in
The Devil Wears Prada) rides into the scene and befriends Mona. Tamsin, like Mona, is bored and orphaned. Well, not truly orphaned but she might as well be, having a mother overseas. a philandering father and a dead sister. Unlike Mona who seems to be a
chav-ette, Tamsin is wealthy, well-read and properly educated. Despite the obvious class differences, Tamsin seems to take a shine to Mona as much as Mona does with her (perhaps the fact that they're the only ones around who are of the same age) and upon an invitation to Tamsin's family's estate, here begins the Summer of Love.
My Summer of Love is about love and that age when we believe that love can, to borrow a phrase from a
Joe Cocker song, "
lift us up where we belong" as both girls will seem to rescue each other from their ordeals.
But as I've said, it's not a romantic film and you probably won't leave it with the same glow one has after one of those sweet
Freddie Prinze fluffers but, maybe through this film you'll remember how intense those first loves are and feel touched. (Or touched in the head, your call.)
Now technically speaking,
My Summer of Love is a beautifully photographed film. Sweeping shots of the countryside, the little town and forests give you a true sense of where exactly it is that Tamsin and Mona are marooned, so to speak. And where that is has a gentle beauty and serenity that, given extended periods of exposure, would probably drive me insane. I could hardly fault any of the girls for feeling trapped.
Even the contrast between the girls' lives is detailed wonderfully through their appearance and their houses. Mona, as I've said, channels the stereotypical chav with her tacky make-up and the poor state of her clothes. Tamsin on the other hand, is classier and dressed as would fit a child of wealthy parents. Mona lives in a closed-down pub with her brother and it's full of empty glasses and old bottles of alcohol that are going into boxes. Phil, who's been converted, is transitioning the house-pub into a Christian meeting place. And Tamsin's house is not a house, but a mansion. Big and rich but dark and empty.
I have to admit, the whole reason I enjoyed the film is the concept and the photography. I love how the visuals (and overall ATMOSPHERE, I can't say this enough) strengthened the storytelling. While this film might not make my top 20 films list, it was an interesting watch and its failing might only be because I'm a sucker for cartoons and musicals and it's neither.
Oh, warning for (slight) relevant teenage lesbian scenes.
