My Summer of Love

MYSUMMEROFLOVE

Critics Review

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt Life Insurance
Superbly acted, movingly written, and directed with a tough-minded lyricism rarely found in today's films. A summer movie to love.

100Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
Pawlikowski has made a romance that becomes a horror movie in which love, more than anything around it, is a delusionary fever to fear.

100Premiere Staff (Not credited)
This is as wonderfully realized an observation of female affinity as 1999’s great "The Dreamlife of Angels."

100San Francisco Chronicle Ruthe Stein
Instantly captivating.

91Seattle Post-Intelligencer Paula Nechak
Pawlikowski has made a gorgeously ambiguous film -- based upon a novel by Helen Cross -- that is blessedly hard to tag; in fact, it's a compilation of genres and moods -- comedy, romance and diabolical thriller -- and that is its core strength and freshness.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones
So fraught with unresolved issues of class, sexuality, and spiritual need, and so carefully observed by Pawlikowski, that it opens out like the movie's West Yorkshire countryside.

The New York Times Dana Stevens
The film is a triumph of mood and implication.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan refurbished laptops
Two teen girls forge an explosive connection in a compelling Pawel Pawlikowski film.

Newsweek David Ansen
Press and Blunt are major discoveries: in this sly and wonderfully atmospheric gem, they conjure up the role-playing raptures of youth with perfect poetic pitch.

Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir
Its stars, Emily Blunt and Natalie Press, are film newcomers who give startling performances. The photography is often breathtakingly original.

Variety Derek Elley
Direction, performances and lensing blend into an immensely satisfying, if almost uncategorizable, whole in Pawel Pawlikowski's My Summer of Love.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter
Nuanced, exquisite and predictable.

Dallas Observer Melissa Levine
The result is a mood movie that sweeps you into its infatuation and holds you there.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
An exquisite exploration into the realms of seduction, obsession, deception and disillusionment.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Jennie Punter
My Summer of Love may sound like the title of a hot teen flick, but it is a truly refreshing grown-up big-screen film, a rare gem in this summer of duds.

Portland Oregonian Marc Mohan
My Summer of Love, with its lush, sunlit landscapes, may occupy the opposite end of the visual spectrum, but it reinforces the sense that this director knows his way around the range of human emotion as well.

Pawlikowski's off-balance compositions and affection for odd close-ups suggest the influence of Wong Kar-Wai, but the film's low-key observational spirit owes as much to Mike Leigh.

Washington Post Desson Thomson
Remains highly watchable throughout, for its atmosphere and the actors.

The Hollywood Reporter Ray Bennett
Some of the metaphors are a bit too literal but the director largely succeeds with his story and the surprises are convincing. Best of all the film has a terrific sense of humor and the young actresses exploit it delightfully.

New York Post V.A. Musetto
Far from earthshaking, but it's fun while it lasts.

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman
Travels so deeply into the confusions of female adolescence that you'd never know this deceptively languid British film was directed by a Polish-born man.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
This isn't a coming-of-age movie so much as a movie about being of an age.

Chicago Tribune Ellen Fox
It's all very mesmerizing, for them and us.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
The movie is enchanting yet strangely menacing, and it becomes clear that Pawlikowski is no mere love fool.

The New Republic Stanley Kauffmann
The film is emotionally and visually sustained, so it is pleasant.

Village Voice Michael Atkinson
Slowly evolves into an oddly affecting mood piece.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
A bittersweet rite-of-passage story driven by the subtle performances of newcomers Nathalie Press and Emily Blunt.

67Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten
When compared with most of what passes for honest teen drama these days, My Summer of Love is a real reprieve.

63Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
Pawlikowski's heart may be with Mona, but his art is closer to Tamsin. He luxuriates in his sensibility without delivering a movie that pays off in originality or insight.

63Boston Globe Ty Burr
At its most interesting, the movie offers us the sight of people desperately embracing faith in the hopes it will pull them through.

63USA Today Claudia Puig
An intriguing, if meandering, escape from the summer blockbusters.

The average user rating for this movie is 6.8 (out of 10) based on 34 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

snewgoblin gave it a10:
Perfect acting, good story and anti-Christian theme make My Summer Of Love one of the best movies I've ever seen. The only weakness is that the last 20 minutes are too predictable. But it's still a fantastic movie.

Paul S. gave it a10:
The best film I've seen this year. It is stunningly beautiful. England's countryside draws you in. You won't be able to take your eyes off the principal actresses; they're brilliant. This is an art film that delivers...I hope Hollywood is paying attention.

Jordan S. gave it a0:
If the teenage lesbian cliches aren't enough to send you screaming from the theater ("sensitive" redhead with background of abuse meets raven-haired "sophisticated" temptress; sparks fly!), the truly contemptible class and wealth cliches will make you want to take a hatchet to Pawlikowski's head (the rich girl is always the bored, cynical, lying predator and the poor girl is always the woeful, basically well-meaning naif). And I haven't even begun to complain about the chock-full-o'-religious-fundamentalism cliches. No, this isn't the worst film ever made. But it has to be amongst the most pretentiously dishonest films I've seen. It's also one of the most ham-fisted scripts I've come across. Natalie Press made an impression. Paddy Considine- bleh. I'm sick of him, too. Oh, and... had the camera shook one more time to suggest emotional distress, a tsunami would have hit England.

shannon gave it a10:
If you think that this movie equates homosexuality with insanity, you've missed the whole point. And I think the anti-Christian theme was fresh and daring. Plus, the movie is quietly hilarious. Best movie I've seen in a long tiome.

Marc K. gave it a2:
I'll also agree with "Mark's" comments below. Forget the fact that the critics raved about this movie. It's not even average...it's awful.

Dan C. gave it a9:
Extremely well acted. Our sympathies lie with Mona, and even grow at the end, despite the revelation of her darker side. A very fine, emotionally genuine film.

Tomas S. gave it a9:
Beautiful, haunting and evocative. The camera, the cinematography, the environment - everything is utterly captivating. You won't always sympathise with the girls, with language courses but apparently that isn't even the director's intention. It's a compelling and riveting story about love and disillusionment.