My Summer of Love

My Summer of Love is set in the summer in the Yorkshire countryside. The friendly orphan teenage girl Mona runs the local village pub with her brother Phil, a former criminal who has turned into a fanatical born-again Christian. Under the influence of Phil, the pub is increasingly a place for prayer, Bible study and preaching. Mona becomes alienated from her distant brother and meets Tamsin, a lightheaded, slim girl of her own age who lives in an elegant country mansion. The contrast between both girls could hardly be greater: Mona has a provincial accent, a working-class background and is rough around the edges; Tamsin is dreamy, refined, erudite and upper class. But both of them are bored to death and soon become good friends; in fact, they almost fall in love with each other. But how powerful is their love? In the hands of a lesser director, this could have become a melodrama. But Pawlikowski avoids melodramatic clichés in a convincing way, first and foremost by making plenty of room for the acting qualities of the rising stars Emily Blunt, Natalie Press and the better-known Paddy Considine (also to be seen in Dead Man’s Shoes). The elegant manner in which he places the characters in the summer landscape, and his sharp insight into their psyche turn this into one of the best British feature films of the past year. (EH)