ALICE IN SUMMERLAND
Beautifully shot film resists easy definition — and it might even teach you something
Is Summerland a Second World War coming-of-age tale or a lesbian love story? Is it a refutation of superstition or an endorsement of magical thinking? Does that second-act twist beggar belief or fit right in with the plot? The answer to all these queries, and even to the larger question of whether you should spend 99 minutes of your time on it, is ultimately yes.
Scripted and directed by playwright and first-time filmmaker Jessica Swale, Summerland stars Gemma Arterton in one of those salt-of-the-earth, English Rose performances she does so well. This isn’t even her first time in the period, having headlined Their Finest in 2016, playing a screenwriter working on a propaganda film during the Blitz.
Her character this time is Alice Lamb, living in coastal England in the summer of 1940 and wanting nothing more than to be left alone to continue her research into ancient myths, and in particular the Fata Morgana, a kind of mirage that can appear to be an island in the sky. She’s of the firm belief that this is nothing more than an optical phenomenon, despite having a name drawn from Arthurian legend.
Alice is distracted from her work by memories of Vera
(Gugu Mbatha-raw), a woman she once loved, but who left her because she wanted a child. More directly, she has to deal with Frank (Lucas Bond), a child evacuee from London foisted upon her by the town council after some sort of paperwork mix-up. Curious and spirited but not especially troublesome, Frank is nonetheless too much for her to handle — or so she tells herself.
Some of the broad strokes of Swale’s screenplay are not especially surprising — it’s clear from the get-go, for instance, that Frank and Alice will find something over which to bond, and that eventually the resolutely grumpy grown-up will crack a smile. (You don’t put Arterton in a movie and not have her grin, any more than you did Julia Roberts a generation ago. Their teeth are box office gold!)
Even so, there’s enough uncertainty as to the resolution of the love story, and the fate of Frank’s parents — his mom is working for the government in London, while his dad flies in the RAF — to keep viewers invested in the tale. And wartime Britain never looked lovelier, all white cliffs and grassy fields. I don’t think it rained once.
The story is bookended by scenes set some 35 years later, with older Alice being played by Penelope Wilton. Again, not the most original framing device, but Summerland isn’t interested in breaking all the rules.
Besides, the film explained the concept of the Fata Morgana, and that the name Summerland comes from a pagan name for the afterlife. Sometimes a little learning and Arterton’s smile are enough.