This is the second feature film of former television documentarist, Pawel Pawlikowski. My Summer of Love recently completed the festival circuit from Edinburgh to Toronto to London receiving critical acclaim.

The film is set in the Yorkshire countryside and tells the tale of two young girls from polar opposite backgrounds. Mona (Nathalie Press) is a lost and lonely teenager living with her brother, Phil who has returned from prison as a Born-Again Christian. His devotion to Jesus Christ becomes more and more questionable as the film progresses. They live in their deceased mother's pub that has been transformed into a place of prayer for Phil and his friends.

Closeby, Tasmin (Emily Blunt) lives in a large stately home with huge grounds and tennis courts. Her parents are rarely there and she has discovered her father is having an affair with his secretary.

Their first meeting emphasises Mona's worldly innocence and Tasmin's educated worldliness. Mona walks into Tasmin's drawing room dressed in a belly-top and scruffy jeans to meet a sophisticated girl (Tasmin) playing Saint Saens' Swan on the cello. The pair drink wine all day and end up falling asleep on the tennis court. When Mona wakes up she discovers Tasmin has gone and finds her sitting unhappily in the kitchen eating dinner with her parents.

Both girls are lonely and come from dysfunctional families and a tender love affair between them develops.The relationship between the two girls deepens and at the beginning they seem to compliment each other. Later we discover that sometimes love can't fill the gap of two opposing worlds. Both of the characters survive the intense relationship and become stronger.

This is a light-hearted mix of drama and comedy , drawing excellently on how intense young love can be. Both Nathalie Press as Mona, and Emily Blunt as Tasmin provide a sterling performance.

My Summer of Love opens at the IFI on November 5th and runs until November 25th.
Cert:18's