My Summer of Love Review
Any attempt to describe My Summer of Love -- as, say, "a class-conscious lesbian drama" or "the tale of two beautiful teenaged girls discovering themselves...and each other" -- threatens to reduce writer/director Pawel_Pawlikowski's singular achievement to a dour stereotype or a titillating come-on. Make no mistake, this film matches its touching romance with acid wit and its careful social anthropology with gorgeously sun-dappled imagery. The result is a picture so perfectly balanced that it carries the joy, and the weight, of real life. The authentic performances earned international attention for stars Natalie_Press, with her sly intelligence and wide-open face, and Emily_Blunt, with her regal self-possession and flashes of vulnerability. As adolescent loners untied by a common contempt for what's expected of them, the actresses inhabit their carefully drawn characters completely. Factor in Ryszard_Lenczewski's gorgeous cinematography, electro-pop duo Goldfrapp's evocative score, and Pawlikowski's discerning adaptation of Helen_Cross' novel, and you have a pastoral romance that's both lyrical and unsentimental. Who knows why sapphic teens inspire so many filmmakers to such great heights, but My Summer of Love joins Heavenly_Creatures and Show_Me_Love in the art-house canon. Brian J. Dillard, Rovi
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