Florence Carter-Wood, an aspiring artist, joins her brother Joey at Lamorna Cove, in the far west of Cornwall, home to a group of bohemian artists. There she meets the charismatic, womanising painter AJ Munnings and his close, but far more reliable and steady, friend Gilbert Evans, the local land agent - and is attracted to both.
This is the starting point for a moving love-triangle story set in the early 1900s against a backdrop of raging seas and quaint Cornish villages. Summer in February is beautifully shot in and around Lamorna Cove using the actual places where these artists lived and worked; the costumes are lovely, the scenery wild and dramatic and every scene beautifully lit but it's much more than a quaint period drama - an intense exploration of tangled relationships.
There's great acting from the whole cast, especially the leads - Emily Browning, Dominic Cooper and Dan Stevens - but it was Cooper's performance as AJ that really stood out for me. Although I've seen him elsewhere, I mainly think of him as Sky from Mamma Mia so the depth and breadth of his acting surprised me. Proves you shouldn't judge a man on how well he can sing dressed in swimming trunks!
A great film on lots of levels. Whether you love Cornwall, period drama, romance, 'true' stories or all of them it ticks so many boxes. I saw this courtesy of free tickets on Sunday. Monday morning another ticket offer arrived - and I nearly went to see it again! If anyone offers tickets for next week, I'll be there like a shot!
5/5 - a must see film.
