Movie Review for My Summer of Love

Summary: A tale of romance, obsession and deception which charts the emotional and physical hothouse effects that bloom one summer for two young women. Mona, behind a spiky exterior, hides an untapped intelligence and a yearning for something beyond the emptiness of her daily life. Tamsin is well-educated, spoiled and cynical. As they are complete opposites, each is wary of the other's differences when they first meet--but this coolness soon melts into mutual fascination, amusement and attraction. Adding further volatility is Mona's older brother Phil, who has renounced his criminal past for religious fervor-- which he tries to impose upon his sister. Mona, however, is experiencing her own rapture. "We must never be parted," Tamsin intones to Mona--but can Mona completely trust her?

                         Reviews of My Summer of Love
By Carlo Cavagna of AboutFilm.com (7/0)
            Despite the predictable collision course between Tasmin and Phil, this is a remarkable film.

By Neil Smith of BBC (7/0)
            A startling rite-of-passage drama from Polish-born writer-helmer Pawel Pawlikowski.

By Ty Burr of Boston Globe (7/0)
            ...wilts under hazy direction.

By Roger Ebert of Chicago Sun-Times (7/0)
            I'm not sure if the movie has a point. I'm not sure it needs one.

By Jonathan Moy of CinemaBlend.com (7/0)
            For those seeking just another cinematic girls only “bump ‘n’ grind” along the lines of Wild Thin...

By Edward Douglas of ComingSoon.net (7/0)
             Apparently, lesbians are hot these days...

                         Reviews of My Summer of Love
By Mary F. Pols of Contra Costa Times (7/0)
            That's what makes this such a strong coming-of-age story; we feel Mona evolving, but until the la...

By George Wu of culturevulture.net (7/0)
            Pavlikovsky ends up falsifying everything his style was working so effectively to create, and onl...

By Philip Wuntch of Dallas Morning News (7/0)
            Exquisitely acted, directed and photographed.

By Owen Gleiberman of E! Online (7/0)
            ...a startling coming-of-age drama...

By Eric D. Snider of EricDSnider.com (7/0)
            It is, in short, a very good coming-of-age story of love and obsession, but not a remarkable one.

By David Thomas of filmcritic.com (7/0)
            conveys the desperation of a man whose redemption seems to be slipping away

                         Reviews of My Summer of Love
By Kent Turner of Film-Forward.com (7/0)
            What begins as a boozy and desultory love affair winds down to a powerful and suspenseful finish.

By Brian Orndorf of FilmJerk.com (7/0)
            Summer is a prime showcase for Emily Blunt and Nathalie Press, two actresses given a shot at the ...

By Ella Taylor of L.A. Weekly (7/0)
            To call this movie a lesbian love story, or a coming-of-age movie, would be unforgivably reductiv...

By Kenneth Turan of Los Angeles Times (7/0)
            [Pawlikowski has] created a most provocative love story, about two people who will never forget e...

By Frank Swietek of One Guy's Opinion (7/0)
            Intoxicating, even hypnotic...The steamy relationship between Mona and Tasmin has an almost tacti...

By Steve Schneider of Orlando Weekly (7/0)
            Slight and predictable at its core.

                         Reviews of My Summer of Love
By Dennis Schwartz of Ozus' World Movie Reviews (7/0)
            Engaging arthouse coming-of-age drama.

By Jeanne Aufmuth of Palo Alto Weekly (7/0)
            Pawel Pawlikowski has crafted a moody and disturbing love story of manipulation and betrayal with...

By Cynthia Fuchs of PopMatters (7/0)
            Their romance seems alternately fluid and jaunty, as they explore one another and their own feeli...

By James Kendrick of Q Network Film Desk (7/0)
            any time the film deals with religion, it slips from introspection into near caricature

By Mark Pfeiffer of Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema (7/0)
            Coupled with...picturesque cinematography, Press and Blunt's natural performances communicate a p...

By Kim Morgan of Reel.com (7/0)
            A coming-of-age tale that eschews the typical trappings of that genre by making the friendship/lo...

                         Reviews of My Summer of Love
By Ruthe Stein of San Francisco Chronicle (7/0)
            Based on a novel of the same title, My Summer of Love is about so much more than teen passion...

By Paula Nechak of Seattle Post-Intelligencer (7/0)
            Pawlikowski has made a gorgeously ambiguous film.

By Rob Blackwelder of SPLICEDWire (7/0)
            The inexperienced young actresses give such unaffected performances that the film develops a voye...

By Andrew Wright of The Stranger (Seattle, WA) (7/0)
            Achieves a nervy, wonderfully het up fervor.

By Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone of TheMovieChicks.com (7/0)
            You get multi-dimensional characters that are usually absent from summer movies.

By Maitland McDonagh of TV Guide's Movie Guide (7/0)
            Brilliantly evokes the sleepy, slightly unreal atmosphere of teenage summers that seem to stretch...

                         Reviews of My Summer of Love
By Desson Thomson of Washington Post (7/0)
            For all its melodramatic excesses, My Summer remains highly watchable throughout.

By A. O. Scott of New York Times (3/5) Login Required (Login Required)
            Pawel Pawlikowski's lovely film tells a modest story. But it is a triumph of mood and implication...

By A. O. Scott of New York Times (3/5) Login Required (Login Required)
            Pawel Pawlikowski's lovely film tells a modest story. But it is a triumph of mood and implication...

By Susan Green of Boxoffice Magazine (3/4) No reference
            [Pawlikowski] coaxes brilliant performances from all three actors and keeps the audience nicely o...

By Ellen Fox of Chicago Tribune (3/4) No reference
            ...mesmerizing...

By Robert W. Butler of Kansas City Star (3/4) No reference
            Pawlikowski does such a great job of establishing a sense of youthful carelessness that we're suc...

                         Reviews of My Summer of Love
By Rene Rodriguez of Miami Herald (3/4) No reference
            A portrait of adolescence at its most innocent -- and most resilient.

By Jeff Strickler of Minneapolis Star Tribune (3/4) No reference
            Not surprisingly for a project that relied so heavily on the actors' input, the characters are co...

By James Rocchi of Netflix (3/4) No reference
            Thoughtful, carefully crafted drama about youth and summer love in a small town is a great acting...

By Elizabeth Weitzman of New York Daily News (3/4) No reference
            Pawel Pawlikowski is helped by his young leads, who make a memorable impact in this unsettling ro...

By V.A. Musetto of New York Post (3/4) No reference
            ...far from earthshaking, but it's fun while it lasts.

By Stephen Whitty of Newark Star-Ledger (3/4) No reference
            No friendship is ever quite as consuming as one between two adolescent girls, and My Summer of Lo...

                         Reviews of My Summer of Love
By Gene Seymour of Newsday (3/4) No reference
            Its title may promise sweet, gauzy wistfulness. But there's a gritty astringency to director Pawe...

By James Berardinelli of ReelViews (3/4) No reference
            My Summer of Love is one of those promising little gems that comes along and gets lost in the...

Movie Distributors
Focus Features

Production Companies
Take Partnerships
Apocalypse
ContentFilm

Movie Studios