My Summer of Love (2004)
82%RT Audience Score: 69%
Awards & Nominations: Won 1 BAFTA Award
9 wins & 20 nominations total
My Summer of Love is a moody, bittersweet love story featuring outstanding performances from the leads
My Summer of Love is like a summer fling that you’ll never forget. With its fast-paced editing and superb cinematography, it captures the essence of youth and obsession. The film is a perfect blend of atmosphere and place, and the role-playing raptures of youth are portrayed with perfect poetic pitch. It’s a rare, cogent, and powerful film that will leave you with a wicked grin on your face. So, if you’re looking for a movie that’s spare, simple, and ingenious, then My Summer of Love is the perfect choice for you.
Production Company(ies)
AOI Promotion Fuji Television, Network GAGA.
Distributor
Focus Features
Release Type
Theatrical, Theatrical (Limited)
Filming Location(s)
The Royd, Todmorden, West Yorkshire, England, UK
MPAA / Certificate
Rated R for sexuality, language and some drug use
Year of Release
2005
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Dolby Digital
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Aspect ratio:1.85 : 1
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Runtime:1h 23m
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Language(s):English
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Country of origin:United Kingdom
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Jun 17, 2005 Original
Release Date (Streaming): Oct 4, 2005
Genre(s)
Drama/LGBTQ+
Keyword(s)
starring Natalie Press, Emily Blunt, Paddy Considine, Dean Andrews, Michelle Byrne, Paul Antony-Barber, directed by Paul Pavlikovsky, written by Paul Pavlikovsky, Helen Cross, Drama, LGBTQ+, box office performance, budget, reviewed by Kristin M Jones, Sheila Johnston, David Ansen, Roger Moore, Andrew Sarris, Marjorie Baumgarten, Howard Feinstein, Tim Brayton, Paul Dale, PJ Nabarro, R-rated, Focus Features, Chris Collins, Tanya Seghatchian, Dolby SRD, Dolby SR, Flat (1.85:1), upper-class, working-class, dysfunctional family lives, born-again Christian, adulterous father, secrets, dangerous waters, moody, bittersweet love story, outstanding performances, fast editing, handheld camerawork, atmosphere, place, role-playing raptures of youth, cinematography, obsession, unexpectedness, slimmed-down story, teenage girls, middle-to-lower-class, upper-class, coming-of-age drama, rich/poor relationship, point, compulsive liar, gay interest drama, sweet lesbian love affair, companionship, love, inherit conflict, lackadaisical, jump-zoomed, child, button
Worldwide gross: $2,766,976
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $4,216,825
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,220
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 459,850
US/Canada gross: $1,000,915
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $1,525,378
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,099
US/Canada opening weekend: $90,022
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $137,192
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,819
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): £1,700,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): NA
Production budget ranking: NA
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
ROI to date (est.): NA
ROI ranking: NA
Emily Blunt – Tamsin
Paddy Considine – Phil
Dean Andrews – Ricky
Michelle Byrne – Ricky’s Wife
Paul Antony-Barber – Tamsin’s Father
Director(s)
Paul Pavlikovsky
Writer(s)
Paul Pavlikovsky, Helen Cross
Producer(s)
Chris Collins, Tanya Seghatchian
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
Won 1 BAFTA Award
9 wins & 20 nominations total
Academy Awards
All Critics (93) | Top Critics (40) | Fresh (84) | Rotten (9)
Ryszard Lenczewski’s superb cinematography effectively captures the rhythm of the girls’ volatile interactions and growing obsession. His handheld camerawork has a quicksilver alertness.
March 20, 2018
Kristin M. Jones
Film Comment Magazine
TOP CRITIC
With its fast editing and handheld camerawork, the film zips along lightly. Like a classic O Henry short story, it has a sting in the tail. But it’s above all about conjuring a sense of atmosphere and place.
January 10, 2018
Sheila Johnston
London Evening Standard
TOP CRITIC
In this sly and wonderfully atmospheric gem, Press and Blunt conjure up the role-playing raptures of youth with perfect poetic pitch.
November 1, 2007
David Ansen
Newsweek
TOP CRITIC
A perfectly diverting, perfectly forgettable summer fling.
July 15, 2005 | Rating: 3/5
Roger Moore
Orlando Sentinel
TOP CRITIC
Turns out to be a triumph of unexpectedness in its slimmed-down story of two teenage girls, one middle-to-lower-class, and the other upper-class.
July 7, 2005
Andrew Sarris
Observer
TOP CRITIC
When compared with most of what passes for honest teen drama these days, My Summer of Love is a real reprieve.
July 5, 2005 | Rating: 3/5
Marjorie Baumgarten
Austin Chronicle
TOP CRITIC
Anyone smitten with the obsessive love at the center of Peter Jackson’s Heavenly Creatures will go bananas over My Summer of Love.
April 20, 2022
Howard Feinstein
The Advocate
A spare, simple movie, but its simplicity is a great strength.
April 15, 2020 | Rating: 3.5/5
Tim Brayton
Alternate Ending
This is a rare, cogent, powerful, intelligent little film from a major cinematic talent.
April 22, 2019 | Rating: 4/5
Paul Dale
The List
For what Pawlikowski has ultimately crafted is an ingenious, fresh variant on the quintessentially British theme of class.
December 15, 2018 | Rating: 4/5
PJ Nabarro
One Room With A View
The film reaches a point of high drama, for sure, but when Edith Piaf’s voice rises over the final minutes, the gothic climax curls into a wicked grin.
June 5, 2008 | Rating: 4/5
Robert Davis
Paste Magazine
…there’s little doubt that the film is occasionally just a little too uneventful for its own good.
March 19, 2008 | Rating: 2.5/4
David Nusair
Reel Film Reviews…
Plot
A tale of obsession and deception, and the struggle for love and faith in a world where both seem impossible. The film 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. 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 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?
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
There is no goofy or funny or odd comment about the film in the Fresh Kernels summary.
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