Film Review
David Lean directed many great films, several undisputed masterpieces,
but the film of which he was fondest was
Summertime,
a comparatively modest work which has been
described as a remake of his earlier
Brief Encounter (1945),
relocated from the dull home counties of England to the lush squares
and canals of Venice. After a decade of films made in black
and white,
Summertime, with
its sumptuous colour photography, is a significant turning point in
Lean's career, offering a taste of the cinematographic magic that the
director would unleash in his subsequent blockbuster epics.
Lean fell in love with Venice during the making of
Summetime, and from the stunning
vistas that make up the film, it is not hard to see why. Venice
is an artist's paradise and Lean and his cinematographer, Jack
Hildyard, are clearly enchanted by what the location has to offer them,
managing to capture the splendour, poetry and romance of the city in
virtually every frame.
Following her success in
The African Queen (1951) and a
series of highly popular comedies in the 1940s where she played
opposite her real-life lover Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn was a
major international star by the mid-1950s - and a personal favourite of
David Lean.
Summertime
allows Hepburn to give one of her most moving and memorable
performances, convincingly portraying a middle-aged spinster who
desperately needs to be loved but who is too afraid of the consequences
ever to hold onto what she most fervently seeks. Audiences were used to the
actress making them laugh but here she succeeds in making them weep.
Summertime is a beautifully
made and poignant film but somehow it lacks the coherence and inspired
touch that we find in David Lean's true masterpieces. At times,
the story it tells seems to be overwhelmed by the director's
fascination with the location, with the result that the film feels more
like a travelogue made by the Italian tourist board than a piece of
drama. Also, some of the visual symbolism is painfully unsubtle -
for instance, Renato's futile attempt to rescue a lost gardenia,
representing a love than cannot endure, and the fireworks display which
we see when the two lovers slip away to consummate their
affair. These trite visual metaphors date the film
somewhat and are the kind of thing you might expect from a lesser
director, not someone who was reputed to be the greatest British
filmmaker of his generation. However, despite these obvious
faults,
Summertime is a film
that still manages to charm and beguile the spectator. It
succeeds in evoking not just the majesty of Venice but also the
heartrending poignancy of a love affair that, like a late spring
blossom, endures for but a few glorious days and then is lost
forever. If you have tears, prepare to shed them now.
© James Travers 2009
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Next David Lean film:
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
Film Synopsis
Jane Hudson, a middle-aged spinster from Ohio, finally gets to realise
her lifelong dream, a holiday in Venice, where she hopes to find love
and romance amidst the golden waterways and ancient monuments. At
the hotel where she is staying, she gets to know a painter and two
fellow Americans, and a young street boy offers to be her guide as she
explores the marvellous city. The sight of so many couples
depresses Jane but whilst seated at a café in a busy square she
becomes aware that a man is watching her. Embarrassed, she
hurries away but she meets the same man a short time later when
she enters an antiques shop to buy a red goblet. The man, Renato
de Rossi, is clearly as attracted to her as she is to him, but Jane
holds herself back. Can this really be the man she has been
waiting for all her life? Or will he be just another short lived
acquaintance, soon forgotten after she has left Venice...?
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.