My Summer of Love (2005)

"A love fantasy with sparkling performances by newcomers Nathalie Press and Emily Blunt.  HollywoodReporter.com
"You won't forget these girls any time soon.  Los Angeles Daily News
"My Summer of Love had me at hello.  Ruthe Stein, San Francisco Chronicle
"Thrilling andideliciously charged.  Vanity Fair

Editor's Note Acclaimed director Pawel Pawlikowski's MY SUMMER OF LOVE is a dreamy, poetic ode to adolescent infatuation and the dangerous feelings it ignites. Mona (Natalie Press) lives upstairs from a pub in a small Yorkshire town with her brother Phil (Paddy Considine), an ex-convict turned religious freak. When she befriends the beautiful Tamsin (Emily Blunt), her formerly bland days are suddenly filled with purpose. Though they are from different social classes, Mona and Tamsin still make an immediate connection. The teenagers wander around the lush countryside and lounge in Tamsin's enormous mansion. Soon, they find that they share a deep attraction with one another, sparking a romance that is as unexpected as it is electrifying. Of course, Phil disapproves of Mona's actions, yet that isn't the only force that is conspiring to keep them apart. Pawlikowski's (LAST RESORT) adaptation of Helen Cross's novel is a gem of a film, an intimate drama that captures the burst of first love with remarkable clarity. Featuring assured performances from newcomers Press and Blunt, and gorgeous photography by Ryszard Lenczewski, MY SUMMER OF LOVE confirms Pawlikowski's status as one of world cinema's most engaging auteurs.

	Dean Andrews
	Emily Blunt
	Nathalie Press
	Paddy Considine
	Chris Auty, et. al. - Executive Producer
	Chris Collins, et. al. - Producer
	David Charap - Editor
	Helen Cross - Based On Novel By
	John Stevenson - Production Designer
	Pawel Pawlikowski - Director
	Pawel Pawlikowski, et. al. - Writer
	Ryszard Lenczewski, et. al. - Cinematographer
	Wil Gregory, et. al. - Original Music By

Premiere
"Beautifully acted...and filled with astonishingly enacted and acutely observed instances of the kind of magic that happens when two people get lost in each other..." 07/01/2005 p.46

Entertainment Weekly
"An austerely heightened tale of sensual anxiety, MY SUMMER OF LOVE is shot in a gorgeous, saturated style..." 06/24/2005 p.144

New York Times
"[Ms. Press] has some of the changeling quality that the young Sissy Spacek brought to BADLANDS and CARRIE." 06/17/2005 p.E15

Uncut
"[A]ppropriately beguiling..." 07/01/2005 p.137

Los Angeles Times
"[E]xceptional....A most provocative love story." 06/17/2005 p.E6

USA Today
"[I]ntriguing..." 06/17/2005 p.9E

James Berardinelli's ReelViews 8 of 10
My Summer of Love reserves the irony of its title for viewers who see the entire film. Yes, this is about the events of a summer, but it's up to the individual to decide whether what we're seeing on screen is love, a crush, co-dependency, or something altogether different. To a certain extent, this is a coming-of-age story. It's about a girl encountering a lot of things one would not normally expect her to experience in the kind of dead-end rut of existence she has fallen into. This summer unlocks impulses buried deep within her, some of which she acts upon and some of which she avoids - if only barely. - James Berardinelli

Chicago Sun-Times 7 of 10
I'm not sure if the movie has a point. I'm not sure it needs one. I learn from Variety that the screenplay is inspired by a novel by Helen Cross that also involves a miner's strike and some murders. All of that is missing here, and what's left is a lazy summer of sweaty uncertain romance; this isn't a coming-of-age movie so much as a movie about being of an age. At the end, when Tamsin tries to explain herself to Mona, we understand how completely different these two teenage girls are; how one deals in irony and deception, and with the other what you see is what you get, whether you want it or not. - Roger Ebert