My Summer of Love
Encyclopedia
My Summer of Love is a 2004 British drama film
directed by Pawel Pawlikowski
and co-written by Pawel Pawlikowski and Michael Wynne. Based on the novel of the same name
by Helen Cross
, the film explores the relationship between two young women from different classes and backgrounds. Working class
Mona (Natalie Press
), whose once-hotheaded brother (Paddy Considine
) became a born again Christian
in prison, meets upper middle class
Tamsin (Emily Blunt
) who suffers from a lack of love in her family. Filmed in West Yorkshire
, the film went on to win a BAFTA.
), a manipulative rich girl suffering from parental neglect, rides into a field on horseback and chances upon Mona (Natalie Press
), a simple working-class girl, while the latter is resting in the grass. Opposites attract as the girls come from vastly different backgrounds and meet under very different circumstances - the former is from an upper-middle-class family and is under suspension from boarding school
for being a bad influence, while the latter, bored with her mundane life, comes from a dysfunctional family
, her recently-released prisoner brother, Phil (Paddy Considine
), being her only living family member. The new acquaintances set off together, one on horseback and the other on an engineless scooter.
When Mona arrives home, she finds her brother, in the pub that was once run by their mother, removing all the alcohol. He has undergone an extreme religious transformation during his stint in prison and this is part of his preparation for a rally for Christian converts. Mona meets her lover that night, whereupon they have sex in his car, right before he breaks up with her. A disgusted Mona is then left alone in the car park. The next day, Mona arrives at Tamsin's in order to escape from the rally organised by her brother. The girls begin to bond as they spend the day drinking and smoking while talking about the problems they face in their lives. Their sharing brings to light several of Tamsin's family secrets, such as the fact that Tamsin's sister, Sadie, died due to anorexia
.
The next day, Tamsin takes Mona to the place where her father is cheating on her mother with his secretary. They smash a window of his car and run away, after which Mona agrees to spend the night in Tamsin's house, as Tamsin's parents are not at home. The next day begins with Tamsin purchasing an engine for Mona's scooter, after which they drive to a small river to swim. The girls share their first kiss while in the water, bikini-clad. The two go back to Tasmin's house and Mona tries on dresses, and later dances in one of them out in the yard as Tamsin plays a song on her cello. Mona falls to the ground at the end of the song, and Tamsin kisses her passionately, resulting in the two girls having sex for the first time, later that night, in Tamsin's bed.
The next day, Phil finds the girls sunbathing, Tamsin topless. She does not cover herself and merely gazes at him as he invites the girls to his rally, in which he wants to erect a large cross on the hill next to their village. The girls go and join the born-again Christians on their way up the hill. Tamsin behaves as if immediately attracted to Phil during the course of the rally.
Mona and Tamsin explore Sadie's room and find a bag of magic mushrooms hidden inside a dollhouse. They take the drug together.
Later that day, feeling the effects of the mushrooms, Mona and Tamsin go to a dancehall where they behave intimately, disturbing the mostly older patrons and prompting the bouncer to kick them out. They then go back to the river where they first kissed and declare their eternal love to each other, solemnly swearing that they would kill each other if one should leave the other.
In the morning, Tamsin wakes by the river cold and shivering, and the girls leave to breakfast at Tamsin's house. Phil then arrives at Tamsin's house searching for Mona, whereupon Tamsin pretends to seduce him. He reacts and attempts to kiss her, but she laughs him off insultingly, sparking his fury and violence, as he grabs Tamsin by the neck in a fit of anger. He proceeds to lock Mona in her room, forbidding her to see Tamsin, where Mona draws a picture of Tamsin on the wall. Mona fakes suicide and Phil comes in to rescue her, whereupon Mona mocks Phil's belief in the devil and he beats her. Something in Phil snaps and he reverts to his violent behavior, kicking the born-again Christians out of the former pub, while Mona leaves the pub determined to start a new life with Tamsin.
However, she arrives at Tamsin's and discovers that Tamsin is to return to boarding school
. Mona also belatedly uncovers Tamsin's deception - Tamsin's sister, Sadie, is in fact alive, and did not die of an eating disorder; this was just a lie fed to Mona as part of Tamsin's idea of summer fun. Mona, feeling disgusted and dejected by the fact that she's been used as summer theatrics, leaves for the girls' special spot at the river.
Tamsin finds her there and tells Mona that it should have been clear from the start that their relationship was doomed. In explaining why she lied about Sadie's "death", Tamsin tells Mona, "I'm a fantasist, for God's sake." They then slip into the water fully clothed again, re-enacting the earlier kissing scene. Mona uses this opportunity to fulfil her earlier oath, attempting to drown Tamsin, but ultimately leaving her alive, going off, instead, on her own.
, and felt her to be the ideal Tamsin. The chemistry between Press and Blunt was perfect right from the start and they first did a tryout with the "Piaf-dancing scene", which worked out perfectly. Emily Blunt is a competent cellist
, and is listed in the credits as the performer of "The Swan" by Camille Saint-Saëns
. Pawlikowski already knew Paddy Considine from their earlier collaboration Last Resort
and cast him as Phil.
The film was shot during the span of five weeks after some intensive location-scouting by Pawlikowski. The script
only contained 35 pages and was far from being complete. The whole script was a kind of work in progress: a lot of scenes and dialogue were improvised while shooting, with a lot of participation by the actors. The scene in which Mona draws a portrait of Tamsin on the wall of her room was entirely improvised - during Pawlikowski's travelling together with Press, he discovered that she used to do a lot of drawing while she was thinking, so he decided to integrate it into the movie and made a scene out of it. The whole shoot was done on location in Todmorden
during the hottest summer Yorkshire had seen in 50 years.
The score
of the film was written by Goldfrapp
and the movie theme is a variation of the Goldfrapp song "Lovely Head
", which was the first song of their 2000 album Felt Mountain
.
The performances of the leading actors have been acclaimed, with trophies from the Evening Standard British Film Awards
and the London Critics Circle Film Awards. Also, Pawlikowski's unconventional style of directing has been rewarded with a BAFTA for Best British Film and the Michael Powell
award for Best British Film at the Edinburgh Film Festival (where the film had its world premiere in 2004), along with many nominations across the British Independent Film Awards
and the European Film Awards.
The novel with the same title My Summer of Love by Helen Cross only served as a blueprint
for the film: Whereas the novel pays a lot of attention to the social background of England
in the 1980s, Pawlikowski reduced the book to its essentials and focused on the relationship between the girls. Most of the characters in the novel were left out in the film and the character Phil was invented and added by Pawlikowski, who had previously directed a documentary on born-again Christians in Yorkshire. In many interviews Pawlikowski said that he was not interested in portraying typical teenage life in England, but he wanted to give the movie a certain "timeless feeling".
on 20 May 2005, being eventually given a limited released across the US on 17 June 2005.
Worldwide, it grossed an additional $1,766,061, for a lifetime gross of $2,766,976.
. It currently holds a 'Fresh' rating of 92% based on 86 reviews at Rotten Tomatoes
. According to the site's consensus, "My Summer of Love is a moody, bittersweet love story featuring outstanding performances from the leads."
Roger Ebert
of Chicago Sun-Times
, who gave it 3/4 stars, described it as 'a movie that is more about being an age, than coming-of-age', while A.O. Scott of The New York Times
termed it 'a triumph of mood and implication', and James Berardinelli
of ReelViews, called it a 'gem' lost in the 'hype' of Hollywood blockbusters.
Not all criticism was positive, however, with Ty Burr
of The Boston Globe
, calling it 'a conceit on a number of levels', and described it as 'confused between an 'artistic' lesbian movie and Heavenly Creatures
', which he described as 'superior', while Steve Schneider of Orlando Weekly
called it 'slight and predictable at its core'; whereas, the unfavorable comparison to Heavenly Creatures was echoed by Robin Clifford of Reeling Reviews.
, the Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film at the 2005 BAFTAs, the Best New British Feature award at the 2004 Edinburgh Film Festival, the European Film Award at the 2005 European Film Awards, the ALFS award at the 2005 London Critics Circle Film Awards, and the 2005 Directors Guild Of Great Britain Awards. Out of these it won the Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film at the BAFTAs, the Directors Guild Of Great Britain Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in British Film, the Best New British Feature at the Edinburgh Film Festival, and the ALFS award at the London Critics Circle Film Awards.
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
directed by Pawel Pawlikowski
Pawel Pawlikowski
Paweł Pawlikowski is a Polish-born, Oxford-based, BAFTA Award-winning filmmaker and academic. He garnered much acclaim for his BAFTA Award-winning Last Resort which he wrote and directed in 2000 and My Summer of Love, loosely based on Helen Cross' novel, which also won a BAFTA and a string of...
and co-written by Pawel Pawlikowski and Michael Wynne. Based on the novel of the same name
My Summer of Love (novel)
My Summer Of Love is a novel by Helen Cross, first published in Great Britain in 2001, winning a Betty Trask Award in the subsequent year.Set in the fictional Yorkshire market town of Whitehorse, and the surrounding area, it tells the story of the intense relationship that develops between Tamsin...
by Helen Cross
Helen Cross
Helen Cross is an English author. She was raised in East Yorkshire and educated at the University of East Anglia.Cross's first novel, My Summer of Love, was published in 2001 and was the winner of a Betty Trask Award in 2002. It was made into an acclaimed film directed by Paweł Pawlikowski and...
, the film explores the relationship between two young women from different classes and backgrounds. Working class
Working class
Working class is a term used in the social sciences and in ordinary conversation to describe those employed in lower tier jobs , often extending to those in unemployment or otherwise possessing below-average incomes...
Mona (Natalie Press
Natalie Press
Natalie Press is an English actress, perhaps best known for her award-winning performance in the 2004 film My Summer of Love and a number of short and feature length independent films, including Wasp, which won the 2005 Academy Award for Live Action Short Film.-Personal life:Press is from North...
), whose once-hotheaded brother (Paddy Considine
Paddy Considine
Patrick George "Paddy" Considine is an English actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, musician and frequent collaborator with Shane Meadows. Best known to audiences for his portrayals of dark, troubled, morally or mentally ambiguous characters...
) became a born again Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
in prison, meets upper middle class
Upper middle class
The upper middle class is a sociological concept referring to the social group constituted by higher-status members of the middle class. This is in contrast to the term "lower middle class", which is used for the group at the opposite end of the middle class stratum, and to the broader term "middle...
Tamsin (Emily Blunt
Emily Blunt
Emily Olivia Leah Blunt is an English actress best known for her roles in The Devil Wears Prada , The Young Victoria , and The Adjustment Bureau . She has been nominated for two Golden Globe Awards, two London Film Critics' Circle Awards, and one BAFTA Award...
) who suffers from a lack of love in her family. Filmed in West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....
, the film went on to win a BAFTA.
Plot
In Yorkshire, two girls meet for the first time when Tamsin (Emily BluntEmily Blunt
Emily Olivia Leah Blunt is an English actress best known for her roles in The Devil Wears Prada , The Young Victoria , and The Adjustment Bureau . She has been nominated for two Golden Globe Awards, two London Film Critics' Circle Awards, and one BAFTA Award...
), a manipulative rich girl suffering from parental neglect, rides into a field on horseback and chances upon Mona (Natalie Press
Natalie Press
Natalie Press is an English actress, perhaps best known for her award-winning performance in the 2004 film My Summer of Love and a number of short and feature length independent films, including Wasp, which won the 2005 Academy Award for Live Action Short Film.-Personal life:Press is from North...
), a simple working-class girl, while the latter is resting in the grass. Opposites attract as the girls come from vastly different backgrounds and meet under very different circumstances - the former is from an upper-middle-class family and is under suspension from boarding school
Boarding school
A boarding school is a school where some or all pupils study and live during the school year with their fellow students and possibly teachers and/or administrators. The word 'boarding' is used in the sense of "bed and board," i.e., lodging and meals...
for being a bad influence, while the latter, bored with her mundane life, comes from a dysfunctional family
Dysfunctional family
A dysfunctional family is a family in which conflict, misbehavior, and often abuse on the part of individual members occur continually and regularly, leading other members to accommodate such actions. Children sometimes grow up in such families with the understanding that such an arrangement is...
, her recently-released prisoner brother, Phil (Paddy Considine
Paddy Considine
Patrick George "Paddy" Considine is an English actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, musician and frequent collaborator with Shane Meadows. Best known to audiences for his portrayals of dark, troubled, morally or mentally ambiguous characters...
), being her only living family member. The new acquaintances set off together, one on horseback and the other on an engineless scooter.
When Mona arrives home, she finds her brother, in the pub that was once run by their mother, removing all the alcohol. He has undergone an extreme religious transformation during his stint in prison and this is part of his preparation for a rally for Christian converts. Mona meets her lover that night, whereupon they have sex in his car, right before he breaks up with her. A disgusted Mona is then left alone in the car park. The next day, Mona arrives at Tamsin's in order to escape from the rally organised by her brother. The girls begin to bond as they spend the day drinking and smoking while talking about the problems they face in their lives. Their sharing brings to light several of Tamsin's family secrets, such as the fact that Tamsin's sister, Sadie, died due to anorexia
Anorexia nervosa
Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by refusal to maintain a healthy body weight and an obsessive fear of gaining weight. Although commonly called "anorexia", that term on its own denotes any symptomatic loss of appetite and is not strictly accurate...
.
The next day, Tamsin takes Mona to the place where her father is cheating on her mother with his secretary. They smash a window of his car and run away, after which Mona agrees to spend the night in Tamsin's house, as Tamsin's parents are not at home. The next day begins with Tamsin purchasing an engine for Mona's scooter, after which they drive to a small river to swim. The girls share their first kiss while in the water, bikini-clad. The two go back to Tasmin's house and Mona tries on dresses, and later dances in one of them out in the yard as Tamsin plays a song on her cello. Mona falls to the ground at the end of the song, and Tamsin kisses her passionately, resulting in the two girls having sex for the first time, later that night, in Tamsin's bed.
The next day, Phil finds the girls sunbathing, Tamsin topless. She does not cover herself and merely gazes at him as he invites the girls to his rally, in which he wants to erect a large cross on the hill next to their village. The girls go and join the born-again Christians on their way up the hill. Tamsin behaves as if immediately attracted to Phil during the course of the rally.
Mona and Tamsin explore Sadie's room and find a bag of magic mushrooms hidden inside a dollhouse. They take the drug together.
Later that day, feeling the effects of the mushrooms, Mona and Tamsin go to a dancehall where they behave intimately, disturbing the mostly older patrons and prompting the bouncer to kick them out. They then go back to the river where they first kissed and declare their eternal love to each other, solemnly swearing that they would kill each other if one should leave the other.
In the morning, Tamsin wakes by the river cold and shivering, and the girls leave to breakfast at Tamsin's house. Phil then arrives at Tamsin's house searching for Mona, whereupon Tamsin pretends to seduce him. He reacts and attempts to kiss her, but she laughs him off insultingly, sparking his fury and violence, as he grabs Tamsin by the neck in a fit of anger. He proceeds to lock Mona in her room, forbidding her to see Tamsin, where Mona draws a picture of Tamsin on the wall. Mona fakes suicide and Phil comes in to rescue her, whereupon Mona mocks Phil's belief in the devil and he beats her. Something in Phil snaps and he reverts to his violent behavior, kicking the born-again Christians out of the former pub, while Mona leaves the pub determined to start a new life with Tamsin.
However, she arrives at Tamsin's and discovers that Tamsin is to return to boarding school
Boarding school
A boarding school is a school where some or all pupils study and live during the school year with their fellow students and possibly teachers and/or administrators. The word 'boarding' is used in the sense of "bed and board," i.e., lodging and meals...
. Mona also belatedly uncovers Tamsin's deception - Tamsin's sister, Sadie, is in fact alive, and did not die of an eating disorder; this was just a lie fed to Mona as part of Tamsin's idea of summer fun. Mona, feeling disgusted and dejected by the fact that she's been used as summer theatrics, leaves for the girls' special spot at the river.
Tamsin finds her there and tells Mona that it should have been clear from the start that their relationship was doomed. In explaining why she lied about Sadie's "death", Tamsin tells Mona, "I'm a fantasist, for God's sake." They then slip into the water fully clothed again, re-enacting the earlier kissing scene. Mona uses this opportunity to fulfil her earlier oath, attempting to drown Tamsin, but ultimately leaving her alive, going off, instead, on her own.
Cast
- Natalie PressNatalie PressNatalie Press is an English actress, perhaps best known for her award-winning performance in the 2004 film My Summer of Love and a number of short and feature length independent films, including Wasp, which won the 2005 Academy Award for Live Action Short Film.-Personal life:Press is from North...
as Mona - Emily BluntEmily BluntEmily Olivia Leah Blunt is an English actress best known for her roles in The Devil Wears Prada , The Young Victoria , and The Adjustment Bureau . She has been nominated for two Golden Globe Awards, two London Film Critics' Circle Awards, and one BAFTA Award...
as Tamsin - Paddy ConsidinePaddy ConsidinePatrick George "Paddy" Considine is an English actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, musician and frequent collaborator with Shane Meadows. Best known to audiences for his portrayals of dark, troubled, morally or mentally ambiguous characters...
as Phil - Dean AndrewsDean AndrewsDean Andrews is a British actor.He is most famous for his role as DS Ray Carling in the BBC Television drama Life on Mars...
as Ricky - Michelle Byrne as Ricky's wife
- Paul-Anthony Barber as Tamsin's father
- Lynette Edwards as Tamsin's mother
- Kathryn Sumner as Sadie
Production
Casting the two lead actresses for the film proved difficult for Pawlikowski, and the overall casting procedure took about eight months. Pawlikowski searched in schools, universities, theatre groups and public castings. He discovered Nathalie Press first, but he still had to find her counterpart and so held some workshops together with Press and Considine. During this process, he finally found Emily BluntEmily Blunt
Emily Olivia Leah Blunt is an English actress best known for her roles in The Devil Wears Prada , The Young Victoria , and The Adjustment Bureau . She has been nominated for two Golden Globe Awards, two London Film Critics' Circle Awards, and one BAFTA Award...
, and felt her to be the ideal Tamsin. The chemistry between Press and Blunt was perfect right from the start and they first did a tryout with the "Piaf-dancing scene", which worked out perfectly. Emily Blunt is a competent cellist
Cello
The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
, and is listed in the credits as the performer of "The Swan" by Camille Saint-Saëns
Camille Saint-Saëns
Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns was a French Late-Romantic composer, organist, conductor, and pianist. He is known especially for The Carnival of the Animals, Danse macabre, Samson and Delilah, Piano Concerto No. 2, Cello Concerto No. 1, Havanaise, Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, and his Symphony...
. Pawlikowski already knew Paddy Considine from their earlier collaboration Last Resort
Last Resort (2000 film)
Last Resort is a film by Pawel Pawlikowski, released in 2000 and starring Dina Korzun, Artyom Strelnikov and Paddy Considine.A young Russian woman and her son arrive in London, expecting to be met by her fiancé. When he does not arrive, they claim asylum, and are confined to a small seaside town...
and cast him as Phil.
The film was shot during the span of five weeks after some intensive location-scouting by Pawlikowski. The script
Screenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
only contained 35 pages and was far from being complete. The whole script was a kind of work in progress: a lot of scenes and dialogue were improvised while shooting, with a lot of participation by the actors. The scene in which Mona draws a portrait of Tamsin on the wall of her room was entirely improvised - during Pawlikowski's travelling together with Press, he discovered that she used to do a lot of drawing while she was thinking, so he decided to integrate it into the movie and made a scene out of it. The whole shoot was done on location in Todmorden
Todmorden
Todmorden is a market town and civil parish, located 17 miles from Manchester, within the Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale, in West Yorkshire, England. It forms part of the Upper Calder Valley and has a total population of 14,941....
during the hottest summer Yorkshire had seen in 50 years.
The score
Film score
A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film, forming part of the film's soundtrack, which also usually includes dialogue and sound effects...
of the film was written by Goldfrapp
Goldfrapp
Goldfrapp are an English electronic music duo, formed in 1999 in London, England, that consists of Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory ....
and the movie theme is a variation of the Goldfrapp song "Lovely Head
Lovely Head
"Lovely Head" is an electronic song performed by British group Goldfrapp. The song was written and produced by Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory for the duo's debut album Felt Mountain . It was released as the album's first single in May 2000 but did not chart...
", which was the first song of their 2000 album Felt Mountain
Felt Mountain
Felt Mountain is the debut album by English electronic duo Goldfrapp. It was released in the United Kingdom on 11 September 2000 by Mute Records...
.
The performances of the leading actors have been acclaimed, with trophies from the Evening Standard British Film Awards
Evening Standard British Film Awards
The Evening Standard British Film Awards were established in 1973 by the British London area evening newspaper Evening Standard. The Standard Awards is the only ceremony "dedicated to British and Irish talent," judged by a panel of "top UK critics." Each ceremony honours films from the previous...
and the London Critics Circle Film Awards. Also, Pawlikowski's unconventional style of directing has been rewarded with a BAFTA for Best British Film and the Michael Powell
Michael Powell (director)
Michael Latham Powell was a renowned English film director, celebrated for his partnership with Emeric Pressburger...
award for Best British Film at the Edinburgh Film Festival (where the film had its world premiere in 2004), along with many nominations across the British Independent Film Awards
British Independent Film Awards
The Moët British Independent Film Awards is an annual award ceremony celebrating achievement in independently funded British film and cinema. Nominations and jury are announced at the beginning of November with the award ceremony taking place in late November or early December.-History:The British...
and the European Film Awards.
The novel with the same title My Summer of Love by Helen Cross only served as a blueprint
Blueprint
A blueprint is a type of paper-based reproduction usually of a technical drawing, documenting an architecture or an engineering design. More generally, the term "blueprint" has come to be used to refer to any detailed plan....
for the film: Whereas the novel pays a lot of attention to the social background of England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
in the 1980s, Pawlikowski reduced the book to its essentials and focused on the relationship between the girls. Most of the characters in the novel were left out in the film and the character Phil was invented and added by Pawlikowski, who had previously directed a documentary on born-again Christians in Yorkshire. In many interviews Pawlikowski said that he was not interested in portraying typical teenage life in England, but he wanted to give the movie a certain "timeless feeling".
Release
My Summer of Love was first screened at the Edinburgh Film Festival, being released across the UK on 5 November 2004. In the US, the film was initially screened at the Seattle International Film FestivalSeattle International Film Festival
The Seattle International Film Festival , held annually in Seattle, Washington since 1976, is among the top film festivals in North America. Audiences have grown steadily; the 2006 festival had 160,000 attendees...
on 20 May 2005, being eventually given a limited released across the US on 17 June 2005.
Box office
In the US, the film grossed $90,000 on its opening weekend, in 17 theaters; and went on to be released across 63 theaters, grossing a total $1,000,915 in the 8 weeks of its release.Worldwide, it grossed an additional $1,766,061, for a lifetime gross of $2,766,976.
Critical reception
The film was met with almost universal acclaim, as indicated by a weighted average score of 82 out of 100 from MetacriticMetacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
. It currently holds a 'Fresh' rating of 92% based on 86 reviews at Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
. According to the site's consensus, "My Summer of Love is a moody, bittersweet love story featuring outstanding performances from the leads."
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
of Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
, who gave it 3/4 stars, described it as 'a movie that is more about being an age, than coming-of-age', while A.O. Scott of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
termed it 'a triumph of mood and implication', and James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli is an American online film critic.-Personal life:Berardinelli was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey and spent his early childhood in Morristown, New Jersey. At the age of nine years, he relocated to the township of Cherry Hill, New Jersey...
of ReelViews, called it a 'gem' lost in the 'hype' of Hollywood blockbusters.
Not all criticism was positive, however, with Ty Burr
Ty Burr
Ty Burr has been a film critic for the Boston Globe since 2002 where he reviews films alongside Wesley Morris.Born in 1957, he studied film at Dartmouth College and New York University and has written three books: The Hundred Greatest Movies of All Time, The Hundred Greatest Stars of All Time and...
of The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe is an American daily newspaper based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Boston Globe has been owned by The New York Times Company since 1993...
, calling it 'a conceit on a number of levels', and described it as 'confused between an 'artistic' lesbian movie and Heavenly Creatures
Heavenly Creatures
Heavenly Creatures is a 1994 film directed by Peter Jackson, from a screenplay he co-wrote with his wife Fran Walsh, about the notorious 1954 Parker-Hulme murder case in Christchurch, New Zealand. Filmed on location in Christchurch, it features Melanie Lynskey and Kate Winslet in their screen debuts...
', which he described as 'superior', while Steve Schneider of Orlando Weekly
Orlando Weekly
The Orlando Weekly is an alternative newsweekly distributed in the Greater Orlando area of Florida. It features local news, views, arts, entertainment, local music coverage, an events calendar and classifieds...
called it 'slight and predictable at its core'; whereas, the unfavorable comparison to Heavenly Creatures was echoed by Robin Clifford of Reeling Reviews.
Awards and nominations
My Summer of Love was nominated for the British Independent Film Award at the 2004 British Independent Film AwardsBritish Independent Film Awards
The Moët British Independent Film Awards is an annual award ceremony celebrating achievement in independently funded British film and cinema. Nominations and jury are announced at the beginning of November with the award ceremony taking place in late November or early December.-History:The British...
, the Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film at the 2005 BAFTAs, the Best New British Feature award at the 2004 Edinburgh Film Festival, the European Film Award at the 2005 European Film Awards, the ALFS award at the 2005 London Critics Circle Film Awards, and the 2005 Directors Guild Of Great Britain Awards. Out of these it won the Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film at the BAFTAs, the Directors Guild Of Great Britain Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in British Film, the Best New British Feature at the Edinburgh Film Festival, and the ALFS award at the London Critics Circle Film Awards.
See also
- List of lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender-related films by storyline
- New Queer CinemaNew Queer CinemaNew Queer Cinema is a term first coined by the academic B. Ruby Rich in Sight & Sound magazine in 1992 to define and describe a movement in queer-themed independent filmmaking in the early 1990s...