A refreshing, original tale of loss and hope in WWII England.
The lack of originality that has all but consumed the word of big-budget moviemaking in recent years seems to have made its way into the indie world. It feels like films which can rightly claim to be self-contained, original works are becoming more and more the exception rather than the standard with boutique studios opting for titles based on, or inspired by, established properties that are recognizable by the arthouse crowd. Even indies like Shirley rely on a famous element that’s familiar to a very specific audience, which it then uses in order to create its own unique story within it. Don’t misunderstand me, Shirley is one of the year’s best and a film that I will definitely be remembering come awards season (whatever that will look like this year). Still, its success represents a freedom in indie filmmaking that isn’t seen too often anymore. Thank God for writer/director Jessica Swale and her feature debut, Summerland, which reminds us about the power of original, well-written characters and the worlds that can be created around them.
As WWII rages on, a reclusive writer named Alice (Gemma Arterton) is perfectly content living alone in her cottage in a small English seaside village. The townspeople avoid her due to her perpetually angry nature, while the children mock and taunt her. A knock on the door one day leads to news that Alice has been put in charge of a young boy named Frank (Lucas Bond), an evacuee from London whose parents are part of the war effort. Reluctantly, Alice takes him in and the two form a bond which will change them forever.
The aspect of Summerland which works in its favor the most is undoubtedly the relationship between the two main characters. Cinema is littered with cute kid/grumpy adult storylines which are usually played for laughs above anything real or genuine. Although Summerland’s end result isn’t different with regards to the relationship that develops between Alice and Frank, the journey of becoming what it ends up being is. With the bulk of the film consisting of scenes between the two strangers, it’s hard to say who is more uncomfortable when the pair first meets. But the way Swale lets her two main characters gradually get to know each other feels so natural and organic with each successive scene, that it deepens the film and rescues it from many of the cliches which could’ve stifled it. A lot of this is because of the character of Alice. She doesn’t soften at the same quick speed like other similarly-written characters do, making her more authentic. As far as Frank is concerned, he’s still trying to adjust to a new way of life and make sense of what’s happening around him. Because of this, his natural resilience as a child makes its way into Alice’s psyche and allows her to experience a kind of joy and letting down of guards and defenses, which she hadn’t given herself permission to do in quite some time.
If there was one wish I had for Summerland, it would be that its maker could have sought out more room with which to explore the relationship between Alice and her former lover Vera (Gugu Mbatha-Raw.) Seen through flashbacks, it’s clear how much the two women mean to each other and how embracing they are of the love they share. There’s nothing false to be found when exploring who these two women are and how they both transform one another. It’s only that it’s glimpses are fleeting and become only more and more so as the film progresses, that when Summerland does address Alice’s lost love in the present day, the impact (while still strong) feel somewhat less than it could have been. Still, it’s hard to quibble about a film that takes careful effort to paint such an honest portrait of homosexuality in 1940s England. Most of the town’s citizens avoid Alice altogether, while the children endlessly compare her to a witch. Some of this is due to her naturally prickly nature, but the treatment is also a rebuke about the kind of woman Alice is and the past which has defined her. The way Swale looks at Alice’s relationship with her sexuality through her demeanor is also rather interesting. There’s a level of self-loathing that’s picked up regarding her past and the notion, in Alice’s own mind perhaps, that she’s lost the only happiness because she felt she didn’t deserve it. Watching her and Vera and the blissful natural rhythm they share, it’s easy to share in her mourning.
Arterton has never been this good. The actress has always turned in quality work, as much as her sometimes-limited parts have allowed her to. In fact, one would have to go back nearly a full decade to 2010’s Tamara Drewe to find the actress’s last turn that was genuinely worthy of her. Alice is the kind of role many of her admirers have been waiting for her to get and watching as the actress accepts the many challenges of her character with the kind of abandon of a truly inspired screen performer is one of Summerland’s true pleasures. Mbatha-Raw should have more screen time than she’s allowed, but remains a radiant presence in every scene she’s in, while Tom Courtenay as the local school principal takes his character far beyond his stereotype and manages to give him real soul in the process. Penelope Wilton only bookends the film as the older Alice, but does so in her usual winning fashion, while newcomer Bond makes Frank the perfect foil for his seasoned co-star and gives a performance so subtle and grounded, it avoids many typical child performance tropes.
I wish I could let Summerland get away scot free, but I can’t. The film isn’t without its problems; well, mainly one. It seems that for every painful experience that Alice and Frank have had to endure, both before meeting each other and since, Swale’s film seems compelled to wrap things up for both of them a little too sweetly, with her characters virtually skipping off into the sunset. It isn’t that I mind seeing this for our beloved Frank and Alice. Yet there’s something of a disconnect compared to the poignancy of what came before. Maybe the writer/director felt that she had put her protagonists and the audience watching them through enough to have them go through anymore; and that’s fair enough. Summerland has more twists and revelations than one would expect from a small, intimate story such as this. Yet each one is rooted in a loving sensibility that feels true to the characters and the world they find themselves in. The result doesn’t make for a perfect film, but certainly a moving one.