tao902 The film focuses on the bohemian Lamorna Group, which was part of the Newlyn School of artists whop based themselves in Cornwall. The unpredictable Munnings develops a relationship with Florence who initially was perceived as likely to be Gilbert's partner. The marriage soon falls apart and Florence commits suicide. For a supposedly wild, bohemian group they don't seem to live a particularly hedonistic, pleasurable lifestyle and the film isn't particularly enjoyable itself. Some of the acting and dialogue seemed stereotypical. The group may well have been more interesting than the film, which perhaps does them an injustice.

MartinHafer "Summer in February" is a bio-pic based on real people--just the sort of story I usually like. The retired history teacher in me likes learning about actual events and characters. However, as much as I wanted to like the film, I found it very ponderous and unappealing. The film is set just before the First World War. It begins with a small community of bohemian artists who have made the Cornish coast of England their home. Here, they seem happy and productive. However, when a newcomer arrives, things begin to take a turn towards the dark side. Florence Carter Wood (Emily Browning) is a rich young lady who wants to study from other artists and she's readily accepted by this group. One guy is infatuated with her but he unfortunately keeps this to himself. In the meantime, another artist, A.J. Munnings (Dominic Cooper) falls for her and asks her to marry him. The fact that she said she would marry Munnings is odd, at least in the film, because there isn't much build up to this--they meet, spend a bit of time together and suddenly they marry. I have no idea if their courtship was like this in real life, but I do know that their marriage was NOT a marriage made in Heaven! Again, this was a bit confusing, as you see Wood marry him willingly--but on their honeymoon, she tried to kill herself. The film seems to say that she knew he was sleeping around but still married him and then tried to take her own life. While this made little sense and the film tried to paint her as a sad but understandable woman, I assume she was mentally ill--though the film seemed to de-emphasize this. Again, this did seem a bit confusing as healthy and normal folks DON'T marry people who they dislike and don't try suicide on their honeymoon! This just isn't rational and I was looking for some possible explanation--and without mental illness, it left me confused--especially since you really aren't sure if Munnings actually did anything wrong and the film showed him trying, in vain, to make the marriage work--at least at first. What's next for the happy couple? See the film if you'd like to know.When I went on the internet to learn more about Munnings and Wood, there wasn't a lot of information about their marriage. Munnings later went on to be one of Britain's most celebrated artists--that was easy to find. But, about Wood, there is very little information. So, how close this is to the true story, I have no idea. After seeing the film, however, I'm going to say something that usually violates what I want in bio-pics--I wish the story had been VERY different even if the film became more fictional than not! This is because I didn't like the characters--they all seemed brooding, dull and hard to relate to or care about in any way. This does make selling the film problematic--and when the film was recently released, it was a box office failure. Now, it's just been released to DVD--having debuted on Netflix this week. Considering how ponderous the film is at times and how contradictory the characters act, however, I just cannot recommend it. Now I am not saying it's all bad--the cinematography was lovely and the acting was good--but without likable characters (or at least ones you can understand) and a sluggish pace, it's really not a film that most folks would or could enjoy. By the way, if you do watch the film, be aware that there is a fair amount of full frontal nudity in the first portion of the movie. It didn't seem gratuitous or inappropriate, as these artists painted nudes and, like true bohemians, had a different moral compass than the typical Brit of the day.

molvan As a hopeless romantic, I found this film beautifully satisfying. I knew nothing about the artists group depicted here, but I have certainly been motivated to learn about them as a result of viewing this film. The Cornish setting is so evocatively filmed, the score so compelling, the costuming so authentic and the performances so skillfully done, that I was captivated from the start. Seeing Hattie Morahan, Dan Stevens and Dominic Cooper together again--they were all in Sense and Sensibility on Masterpiece a few years ago--was a delight. I think they are all such excellent actors. I had only see Emily Browning once before, but I found that I could hardly take my eyes off her when she was in a scene. Now I want to visit the Cornish coast and stay in the little hotel depicted in the film! The IMDb rating is much too low for this film!!

cinematic_aficionado Set in beautiful Cornwall about 100 years ago this catatonic film tells the story of a group of artistic friends leading a bohemian life which is interrupted by the arrival of a sister of one from the group. One falls for her but she ends up marrying another, an individual that turned out to be an awful husband driving his wife to suicide.Aside from the fact that this group of friends turned out to be some of the country's most influential artists, this film is held together by the beautiful cinematography and some interesting performances with the word exciting lacking in the storyline, or the way it engaged the audience.