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Summerland

Summerland is a romantic drama from Jessica Swale set on the English coast during World War 2. Gemma Arterton plays a cantankerous young writer, who investigates myths and superstitions. A young lad is billeted to stay at her cottage during the blitz (unbeknownst to her) and herein begins the drama. The central phenomenon in the film is a commonly occurring sighting known as the Fata Morgana, a kind of mirage where people have claimed to have seen castles, cities, all sorts of junk, usually from a coastline. Arterton's character, Alice, is looking into these mirages when Frank, un-irritatingly played by Lucas Bond, comes to stay. The title refers to the pagan idea of the afterlife - The Summerland. Alice's scientific, logical approach to life chafes slightly against Frank's childish beliefs but the film doesn't make any grand statements. Rather it seems to suggest that seeing things (or believing things) is a personal choice and this needn't interfere with other strands of life.

One of these other 'strands' is developed through flashbacks to Alice's relationship with Vera, played by Gugu Mbatha-Raw. War era, interracial, lesbian love isn't really a well-mined trope for this kind of film, so it was refreshing to watch, especially in the hands of Arterton and Mbatha-Raw. The narrative pay-off in the 40s (and the 70s, where the film actually starts) is a bit of a stretch but it did provoke some audible gasps in the Raine Square cinema crowd.

There are nice touches throughout the film, from the performances of the leads, as well as Tom Courtenay (actually running in one scene - the fecker's 83!) to Laurie Rose's cinematography of the famous Dover coastline. It has a nicely rustic, English countryside charm, perfect for the opening of the British Film Festival.

Summerland starts at The Luna Leederville, Palace Raine Square, Luna on SX and The Windsor from Nov 11th. Check out the British Film Festival site for details.

See also:

A very different, though still bucolic, role for Gemma Arterton, try Stephen Frears's Tamara Drewe (2010) and re: mystery castles, you can't go past Hayao Miyazaki's Laputa: Castle in the Sky (1986).

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