The Beautiful Summer

by Eva Fraser

Set in Turin, Italy, complete with stunning shots of architecture and natural landscapes, The Beautiful Summer, written and directed by Laura Luchetti, gives a sun-stained window into a love story between two women: Ginia (Yile Yara Vianello) and Amelia (Deva Cassell). It takes place in 1938 when Mussolini’s fascist regime grew more powerful and restrictive by the day. Ginia, a seamstress at an atelier in the city, and Amelia, a figure model for painters, have a chance meeting that sparks a relationship of infatuation, jealousy, companionship, desperation, and love. 

There are several things that this film does well, but the lack of connection and follow-through creates a problem. 

One aspect that The Beautiful Summer gets right is its portrayal of emotion as something that can change with every passing moment. The film doesn’t shy away from the nuances of the progression of a relationship, especially one that is not socially acceptable in the time period. Cinematographer Diego Romero captures all of these moments beautifully and leans into the natural landscape to create symbolism and little vignettes that deepen the story. 

This film is consistently underlined with desire, although ambiguous and confusing, with men acting as conduits for the electricity between Ginia and Amelia. Sometimes, cryptic messaging can be beneficial and enticing for the audience, but The Beautiful Summer overuses this device, weakening the plot.

Two key aspects that were more ambiguous than they should have been were the time and setting. Ginia and Amelia fall in love right before the Second World War, which would seemingly add more stakes to their relationship, but it is only hinted at with some soldiers in one of the sequences and one of Mussolini’s speeches playing in the background. Perhaps this is intentional— the nature of their story causes everything else to take a backseat— but it is not a compelling enough reason. 

The Beautiful Summer generally lacked clarity and served as an experiential rollercoaster: emotional highs plummeting to disorienting lows. Furthermore, the film swathed itself in clichés that made its originality invisible. A young, impressionable, innocent girl meets a mature, extroverted, flirty woman. What could possibly happen next?

Although it was off to a promising start, The Beautiful Summer got lost in the heat of the moment and took too long to warm back up.