Movies
Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
Best / Worst of the Decade
Wide Releases
Now In Theaters
49
2012
41
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel
84
Avatar![]()
69
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
53
Blind Side
53
Book of Eli, The
55
Christmas Carol, A
57
Daybreakers
43
Dear John
27
Did You Hear About the Morgans?
55
Edge of Darkness
45
Extraordinary Measures
83
Fantastic Mr. Fox![]()
42
From Paris with Love
65
Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, The
74
Invictus
57
It's Complicated
34
Law Abiding Citizen
33
Leap Year
33
Legion
42
Lovely Bones, The
54
Men Who Stare At Goats, The
34
Ninja Assassin
19
Old Dogs
xx
Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief
39
Planet 51
79
Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire
73
Princess & the Frog, The
64
Road, The
57
Sherlock Holmes
27
Spy Next Door, The
36
Tooth Fairy
44
Twilight Saga: New Moon, The
83
Up in the Air![]()
43
Valentine's Day
25
When in Rome
71
Where the Wild Things Are
xx
WolfMan, The
63
Youth in Revolt
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Limited Releases
Now In Theaters
46
44 Inch Chest
83
Ajami![]()
73
Amreeka
xx
Barefoot to Timbuktu
19
Bitch Slap
24
Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, The
76
Broken Embraces
64
Cloud 9
65
Coco Before Chanel
84
Cove, The![]()
84
Crazy Heart![]()
21
Crazy on the Outside
48
Creation
xx
Daddy Long Legs
81
Damned United, The![]()
68
Departures
62
District 13: Ultimatum
85
Education, An![]()
71
Eyes Wide Open
24
Falling Awake
81
Fish Tank![]()
56
For My Father
xx
From Mexico with Love
43
Frozen
68
Girl on the Train, The
52
Killing Kasztner
74
Last Station, The
43
Little Traitor, The
51
Loss of a Teardrop Diamond, The
73
Me and Orson Welles
76
Messenger, The
57
Missing Person, The
67
Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, The
xx
My Name is Khan
49
Nine
63
North Face
59
October Country
67
Off and Running
52
Paranoids, The
49
Pop Star on Ice
49
Private Lives of Pippa Lee, The
xx
Promised Lands (Re-release)
69
Red Riding Trilogy, The
29
Saint John of Las Vegas
69
September Issue, The
36
Serious Moonlight
63
Shinjuku Incident, The
77
Single Man, A
xx
Still Bill
76
Terribly Happy
74
That Evening Sun
19
To Save a Life
68
Town Called Panic, A
59
Until the Light Takes Us
57
Videocracy
65
Waiting for Armageddon
82
White Ribbon![]()
43
Women in Trouble
xx
Word is Out
64
Young Victoria, The
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
My Summer of Love

Universal acclaim
Based on 31 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 34 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Drama | Foreign
Written by:
Pawel Pawlikowski
Michael Wynne
Helen Cross (novel)
Directed by: Pawel Pawlikowski
Release Date:
Theatrical: June 17, 2005
DVD: October 4, 2005
Running Time: 86 minutes, Color
Origin: UK
Summary
RATING: R for sexuality, language and some drug use
Starring Nathalie Press, Emily Blunt, Paddy Considine, Dean Andrews, Paul Antony-Barber, Lynette Edwards, and Kathryn Sumner
This film vibrantly charts the emotional and physical hothouse effects that bloon one summer for two young women. (Focus Features)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Last Resort
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
Superbly acted, movingly written, and directed with a tough-minded lyricism rarely found in today's films. A summer movie to love.
Read Full Review >Entertainment 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.
Read Full Review >Premiere Staff (Not credited)
This is as wonderfully realized an observation of female affinity as 1999’s great "The Dreamlife of Angels."
Read Full Review >Seattle 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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
Two teen girls forge an explosive connection in a compelling Pawel Pawlikowski film.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >Variety Derek Elley
Direction, performances and lensing blend into an immensely satisfying, if almost uncategorizable, whole in Pawel Pawlikowski's My Summer of Love.
Read Full Review >Dallas Observer Melissa Levine
The result is a mood movie that sweeps you into its infatuation and holds you there.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
An exquisite exploration into the realms of seduction, obsession, deception and disillusionment.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps
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.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Desson Thomson
Remains highly watchable throughout, for its atmosphere and the actors.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
This isn't a coming-of-age movie so much as a movie about being of an age.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
The movie is enchanting yet strangely menacing, and it becomes clear that Pawlikowski is no mere love fool.
Read Full Review >The New Republic Stanley Kauffmann
The film is emotionally and visually sustained, so it is pleasant.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Michael Atkinson
Slowly evolves into an oddly affecting mood piece.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
A bittersweet rite-of-passage story driven by the subtle performances of newcomers Nathalie Press and Emily Blunt.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten
When compared with most of what passes for honest teen drama these days, My Summer of Love is a real reprieve.
Read Full Review >Baltimore 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.
Read Full Review >Boston 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.
Read Full Review >USA Today Claudia Puig
An intriguing, if meandering, escape from the summer blockbusters.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
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, but apparently that isn't even the director's intention. It's a compelling and riveting story about love and disillusionment.
