Starring: Gemma Arterton, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Penelope Wilton, Tom Courtenay, Lucas Bond, Dixie Egerickx, Sian Phillips, Amanda Root, Martina Laird
Distributor: Icon Films
Runtime: 95 mins. Reviewed in Jan 2021
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Where you, we might ask, is Summerland? Not an immediate name for anywhere in Britain. It is a mythical land, pagan land, where those who have died can go to rest, reaching out in natural phenomena to those they have loved in life. This Summerland is the subject of study and investigation by a reclusive writer, Alice, whose house by the cliffs of Dover is filled with books, illustrations, photos of Fata Morgana and mirages in the desert, manifestations of this other world.
In fact, the audience first sees Alice (Arterton) sitting at her desk, typing, a grouchy older woman (Wilton) gruffly warding off children appealing for charity! 1975. However, the audience is immediately taken back to the early 1940s. This is a World War II film.
Alice is grouchy, obsessed by her work, considered by the children in the village near the cliffs of Dover either a witch or Nazi spy. They play practical jokes on her. However, what happens to her next is not a practical joke at all. A woman from the village arrives and tells her that and evacuee boy Frank (Bond) from London has been allotted to her care. Needless to say, she does not want a bit of it – but is forced to have him for a week. Frank is a genial boy, forever asking questions about everything.
The atmosphere of the war comes across in the life of the village, especially at the school, where the kindly principal is played by Courtenay. Frank is allotted a seat next to Edie (Egerickx, who continues to show here the force that was marked in her role as Mary in The Secret Garden). Edie does not want a partner in studies and chalks a demarcation line across the desk. Needless to say, they become friends.
There is some delight to be had by the audience as they see Alice trying to deal with Frank, treating him as an adult, answering his questions straightforwardly, the audience realising that she is mellowing somewhat because she actually has somewhat to talk to. Her care for Frank is rather peremptory but she begins to care, taking him on her expeditions, helping him to find driftwood to build a toy plan because his father is in the air force.
But, there is another layer in the story. Frank asks Alice if she had been married – which leads to a number of flashbacks of events 15 years earlier, her days of study, her encounter with fellow-student Vera (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), the growing bond between them, a forbidden love at that period, broken because Vera wants to have children more than anything else. So, there are different layers to the character of Alice.
There is a dramatic episode where Frank gets the train to London, Alice pursuing him, experiencing the blitz, the bombed homes, taking refuge in the Underground.
Then comes a huge coincidence which audiences will not have been anticipating. And it adds to the emotional dimensions of the story and Alice opting to continue to care for Frank during the war.
The film ends back again in 1975 – an emotionally nice happy ending.
Peter Malone MSC
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