New Releases: My Summer of Love

To call My Summer of Love just a lesbian coming-of-age flick is to do this intricate movie a grave disservice. Not that I have anything against lesbian coming-of-age flicks, mind you but My Summer of Love is ever so much more than just that. Proletariat Mona (Nathalie Press) and upper-class Tamsin (Emily Blunt), on a break from boarding school, meet each other during a hot summer in the Yorkshire countryside.

The young women bond over grief and loss - Mona's mother has died of cancer, and she's lost her beloved older brother, Phil, to the fervor of born-again Christianity. Phil (Paddy Considine, In America), who found Jesus while in prison on vague charges related to burglery and assault, has now turned their mother's pub, The Swan, into a "spiritual center" for their village and spends spare time praying to Jesus to save his sister's soul.

In the midst of this turmoil, Mona gets unceremoniously dumped by her older, married lover. Tamsin confides in Mona her grief for her beloved sister Sadie, who died of anorexia, and the emptiness of a life rich in material wealth, but lacking in love or attention from her self-involved parents.

Mona and Tam find each other and quickly fall into a affair, cloistered in Tamsin's estate, at which there never seem to be any authority figures to put limits on behavior. Mona is entranced by Tamsin's lifestyle and is happy to play the submissive to Tamsin's heady dominance. Tamsin offers not only a summer affair, but a perceived escape from the hollowness of Mona's life and her brother's newfound religion, which Mona openly mocks.

Phil decides to build a giant crucifix to erect on the hill overlooking the village, to remind the villagers of the presence of God. God, it seems, told Phil that the devil is in the village. The depth and subtlety of Considine's acting keeps Phil from being a mere parody of Christianity. Phil is a layered and complex character, earnestly clinging to his newfound faith like a drowning man to a liferaft, using religion as a shield to save him from the inner turmoil he has never addressed. The tenuous nature of Phil's faith is revealed slowly, as shards of a violent nature slip out from beneath his peaceful veneer.

Mona is drawn more and more into Tamsin's web, until Tamsin, toying with Phil, unleashes the violent tendencies he's held in check with the religion he uses like a shield. Phil locks Mona in her room to keep her from running off with Tamsin. He's struggling painfully with his own demons - trying so hard to hold onto his faith that he's imprisoned his own sister to save her soul. Mona finally breaks free and heads off to a life with Tamsin, only to find that dream turned on its head - everything she believed about Tamsin was illusion, and when Mona realizes how she's been manipulated, tragedy nearly results.

The tale ends on a a hopeful, if vague and open-ended note. We leave Phil reflecting on what he's done, and where to go from there, as Mona heads up an open road to an uncertain and unknown future, head held high.This was just an excellently done movie. I found myself contemplating it long after we left the theater. Mona may be poor and uneducated, she may be manipulated in love, first by her married lover and then by Tam - but at the end she still walks away with her head held high and is stronger, in her way, than any of them.

Director Pawel Pawlikowski (Last Resort) elicits subtle and fine performances from his young actresses, and Considine's performance is powerful and moving. The finely tuned storyline is thought-provoking and intelligent, and the character arcs are strong and well-developed. My Summer of Love has all the elements of a well-crafted narrative film. People who come to see it because they want a good coming of age story won't be disappointed, but neither will discerning filmgoers looking for a well-made, thoughtful film that rises well above the pack.

Look to see more from both Press and Blunt. Press has small parts in several upcoming projects, and I expect she'll be getting some juicier roles after her turn in this film. Blunt has some interesting looking roles upcoming as well, including Irresistible (listed as being in post-prod), with Susan Sarandon and Sam Neill, and The Snow Goose and Who Killed Norma Barnes upcoming.