SUMMERLAND
****
Director: Jessica Swale
Screenplay: Jessica Swale
Principal cast:
Gemma Arterton
Gugu Mbatha-Raw
Lucas Bond
Penelope Wilton
Tom Courtenay
Amanda Root
Country: UK
Classification: PG
Runtime: 99 mins.
Australian release date: 7 January 2021.
Writing in The Guardian last year, Mark Kermode described Jessica Swale’s Summerland as “a lovely, hopeful and rather magical movie”, and it is exactly those things. It’s also in the zeitgeist because films about lesbian love affairs where nobody gets punished for their same-sex love seem to be à la mode right now; for example, the recent Ellie & Abbie (& Ellie’s Dead Aunt) and the forthcoming Ammonite. Near the white cliffs of southern England during World War II, just a stone’s throw across the channel from where war was raging, life in the countryside carried on pretty much as usual except for the arrival of unaccompanied children, who were billeted to local people as a precaution to escape the devastating bombings in London. These children were housed with families who volunteered to ‘do their bit’ for the war effort but, in Summerland, one small boy arrives unexpectedly at the home of a reclusive, crotchety author, Alice Lamb.
The film begins in Kent in 1975, where the elderly Alice (Penelope Wilton) is disturbed by a knock at the door. As she answers it, we are transported back to wartime, and the now young Alice (Gemma Arterton) greets Mrs. Lawrence (Amanda Root), who’s in charge of billeting, and a boy, Frank (Lucas Bond), an evacuee from London. Alice is a solitary woman and the last thing she wants is the responsibility of taking care of a child, so she determines to get rid of her unwanted charge in a week. She is doing research for her thesis on natural phenomena like Fata Morgana mirages and their influence on myths and legends and she doesn’t appreciate having her work disturbed. Frank is, however, a polite kid and broadening his young mind appeals to Alice and soon a bond grows between the two. Her no-nonsense approach to teaching him is completely… well, frank. One of her lessons is that, “Life is not kind. Anguish is inevitable. What matters is how you deal with it.” On another occasion, she asks the boy if he believes in God and, when he answers in a vaguely affirmative manner, she responds, “Well don’t!” Alice also tells him about her one true love (played by Gugu Mbathu-Raw) and is relieved when he tells her that he doesn’t find loving another woman strange. When the week is up, she realises that sending him to yet another home will be too disruptive for the lad, so she relents and decides that he can stay. Sometime later, when Frank absconds after receiving some tragic news, the unlikely pair are reunited and discover that they have more in common than Alice had thought.
Director Jessica Swale, who also wrote the screenplay, is a playwright and this is her debut feature film. Her script alternates between the 1970s, 1940s and the 1920s and cleverly reveals a story that is captivating and emotional and has a truly dramatic twist at the end. Although a little pedestrian at first, Summerland ultimately delights as we observe Arterton’s character transition from being a recluse who has closed herself off from human company to someone who is able to open up through the love of a child. She’s very good and, although the film is mainly hers, excellent performances by Tom Courtenay, Mbatha-Raw, Wilton and especially young Lucas Bond support her in bringing to life a story about compassion and warmth. Summerland is also a visual treat, having been shot in Brighton and Seaford in East Sussex and in Kent, along some of the most beautiful coastline of the British Isles. Yes, it’s a little treacly on occasion, but who doesn’t need something sweet in these tough times.
Screenplay: Jessica Swale
Principal cast:
Gemma Arterton
Gugu Mbatha-Raw
Lucas Bond
Penelope Wilton
Tom Courtenay
Amanda Root
Country: UK
Classification: PG
Runtime: 99 mins.
Australian release date: 7 January 2021.
Writing in The Guardian last year, Mark Kermode described Jessica Swale’s Summerland as “a lovely, hopeful and rather magical movie”, and it is exactly those things. It’s also in the zeitgeist because films about lesbian love affairs where nobody gets punished for their same-sex love seem to be à la mode right now; for example, the recent Ellie & Abbie (& Ellie’s Dead Aunt) and the forthcoming Ammonite. Near the white cliffs of southern England during World War II, just a stone’s throw across the channel from where war was raging, life in the countryside carried on pretty much as usual except for the arrival of unaccompanied children, who were billeted to local people as a precaution to escape the devastating bombings in London. These children were housed with families who volunteered to ‘do their bit’ for the war effort but, in Summerland, one small boy arrives unexpectedly at the home of a reclusive, crotchety author, Alice Lamb.
The film begins in Kent in 1975, where the elderly Alice (Penelope Wilton) is disturbed by a knock at the door. As she answers it, we are transported back to wartime, and the now young Alice (Gemma Arterton) greets Mrs. Lawrence (Amanda Root), who’s in charge of billeting, and a boy, Frank (Lucas Bond), an evacuee from London. Alice is a solitary woman and the last thing she wants is the responsibility of taking care of a child, so she determines to get rid of her unwanted charge in a week. She is doing research for her thesis on natural phenomena like Fata Morgana mirages and their influence on myths and legends and she doesn’t appreciate having her work disturbed. Frank is, however, a polite kid and broadening his young mind appeals to Alice and soon a bond grows between the two. Her no-nonsense approach to teaching him is completely… well, frank. One of her lessons is that, “Life is not kind. Anguish is inevitable. What matters is how you deal with it.” On another occasion, she asks the boy if he believes in God and, when he answers in a vaguely affirmative manner, she responds, “Well don’t!” Alice also tells him about her one true love (played by Gugu Mbathu-Raw) and is relieved when he tells her that he doesn’t find loving another woman strange. When the week is up, she realises that sending him to yet another home will be too disruptive for the lad, so she relents and decides that he can stay. Sometime later, when Frank absconds after receiving some tragic news, the unlikely pair are reunited and discover that they have more in common than Alice had thought.
Director Jessica Swale, who also wrote the screenplay, is a playwright and this is her debut feature film. Her script alternates between the 1970s, 1940s and the 1920s and cleverly reveals a story that is captivating and emotional and has a truly dramatic twist at the end. Although a little pedestrian at first, Summerland ultimately delights as we observe Arterton’s character transition from being a recluse who has closed herself off from human company to someone who is able to open up through the love of a child. She’s very good and, although the film is mainly hers, excellent performances by Tom Courtenay, Mbatha-Raw, Wilton and especially young Lucas Bond support her in bringing to life a story about compassion and warmth. Summerland is also a visual treat, having been shot in Brighton and Seaford in East Sussex and in Kent, along some of the most beautiful coastline of the British Isles. Yes, it’s a little treacly on occasion, but who doesn’t need something sweet in these tough times.