Best movie of this year hands down!

Please don't spend money on this.

Let's be realistic.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

My Summer of Love brings the subject of girl-girl romance in a straight forward manner, no fanfare, no fireworks, just a series of event that leads those young women to love.In the same way, drama comes around, but every time you expect the scenario to turn right, it turns left (except for one particular instance near the end). It's nice to see that originality is not dead.You get to love to hate the brother, and you keep on hating him more and more until the end. The end itself leaves you torn between impotence, anger, and sadness. The characters being as they are, who can you blame? Life is not pretty, romances end, and so does that film.It's an easy movie to watch, and its simplicity makes it a good choice. Do not expect big deployments, but the story will captivate you.

As vividly, as well as fatally, as opposites attract in real life, so My Summer Of Love presents us with a choice of wildly colourful opposites to be drawn to: Tamsen, a bored, privileged, pathological liar out for kicks, ultimately at the devastating expense of her new lover Mona, herself newly spurned by a local much-too-old schlub. One can identify with Mona's plight, that of an orphaned teen on a motor-less bike in a bleak working class hub of town, with absolutely no prospects. Or one can identify with Tamsen, left alone in her family's enormous home for an entire summer, only capable of experiencing passion from behind a facade of elaborate lies. You just know after Tamsen's shattering deception of Mona that neither will ever be the same again. You are left to wonder how embittered Mona will now grow, having now been so cruelly lead on by by members of both sexes, the latter whom she grows to love deeply. You are equally left to wonder how Mona's reaction to Tamsen's summer-long deceits might penetrate the latter.Ultimately one might be equally drawn to facets of both characters, as they collectively represent the harder coming-into-awareness lessons we all learn: sooner or later we're all spurned, sooner or later we all protect our vulnerability behind lies, sooner or later love fades no matter how elaborate or widespread the pursuit. The hardest lesson, as starkly depicted in My Summer Of Love's final moments, is how love is perhaps more an experience unique to the individual than something shared. Tamsen seems to have instinctively known this all along, cynically protecting herself through her building and inhabiting a fantasy world; Mona turns out to be her plaything, a plaything who believes her beloved Tamsen, literally on a white horse, is nothing less than her savior and ticket out of bleak working-class nowheres-ville. Tamsen is master of the set-up, Mona truly loves. Her allegiance to Tamsen is a currency equal parts genuine, desperate, hopeless. When the smoke clears and Tamsen is left to return to school and Mona to her dead-end town, who has had the greater love, rich shielded Tamsen, or poor vulnerable Mona?

In some ways, it is very fitting that a story filled with very British themes on social class and teenage romance was adapted the Polish-born Paweł Pawlikowski, whose very European, artistic touch turns it into something of a work of art. I found myself drawn in particular to the focus on the beauty of the Yorkshire countryside and - something that Pawlikowski incorporates very well into his movie. There were segments of the movie which sees the two girls alone with each other in this beautiful landscape, effectively becoming equals to each other despite their vastly different backgrounds, and creating a certain bliss to the atmosphere that few other movies do so well. Pawlikowski's timings for these scenes couldn't be better - at the end for instance, when Tamsin's entire web of deceit has been revealed, she and Mona's last confrontation is in this very setting. Of further note, the characters themselves are admirable. Their relationship, which follows Mona's breakup with her boyfriend, her brother's finding God, and Tamsin's suspension from school, is unique. Mona was vulnerable, and Tamsin needed someone to amuse her. Then they formed a relationship. And while Mona went into that relationship with her heart, Tamsin went in with her head, and there you get the ending that viewers now know and remember. In some ways, though, the ending did leave me a little dejected, to see Mona walking away from her attempt to kill Tamsin with so much confidence, even though she now no longer has her love, and has run away from her brother.

"My Summer of Love" is essentially a film about – true to the film's title – a summer romance shared between two girls from vastly different backgrounds. While the two characters are female, this film doesn't deal with issues of sexuality, coming out, homophobia, etc. – it's merely a romance between two young people connecting, period. (Therefore those that are cautious about watching a film dealing with homosexuality shouldn't be weary, as this film can appeal to those of all genders despite sexual preference, and not exclusively lesbians.)As you can guess by my rating, I immensely enjoyed My Summer of Love. The atmosphere, music, and cinematography are dreamy, lush, and capture the mood quite perfectly – reminding me of something from a Sofia Coppola film (who I think is a director who certainly knows how to capture beauty on screen). Nathalie Press and Emily Blunt give fantastic performances as the two leads and also share equally undeniably great chemistry. Of course the story is excellent, and the ending – without revealing any spoilers – is satisfying (though this is arguable) but surely leaves you thinking, which in my opinion, is what a great film does – leaves the audience something to think about and discuss.Although I thought the pacing to be very good, I understand that some might find it "slow". Regardless, the story and characters are timeless, so I feel that despite the generation you come from, you'll certainly feel nostalgic and will have no trouble relating to this films' young characters. 10 stars. Great film.