Review of Summertime (1955) by Brett C — 24 May 2014

Review In A Nutshell:

David Lean's Summertime tells the story of a lonely self-made career driven woman, Jane Hudson, who takes a vacation to Venice and along the way, finds something an unsuspected romance with a local Italian shopkeeper.

I found the film's story to be interesting as the writers were able to conjure up a lead character that one can easily sympathise with. Throughout the entire film, I was determined to see her in getting something she never had, which was romance and intimacy. Throughout her whole life, she has been focused on building her career, that she has sacrificed her chance of love in order to obtain it. Over time, she has created a barrier for herself in order for things like love and romance to not penetrate through her, therefore leaving her being isolated but at the same time seeming tough. As she is a prideful woman, she would never admit to herself that she is lonely or that she is envious to the couples around her, but all that seems to change when she meets this charming man, Renati de Rossi. It was delightful to see Renati's presence around Jane slowly broke down her barrier, even though she is resisting; we the audience could look beyond her prideful persona and know what is best for her, so by the end of it, we want her to succeed in this romance.

Along her trip, she also meets a young boy who lives on the streets, and we see that her first reaction towards him was loathing; this one small reaction defines so much of what she was like before this trip and makes the internal development by the end of the film feel much more impacting.

Summertime isn't the kind of film that would deliver a message, but if it was, I think it would be that love is an amazing experience that would eventually come to you, and no matter how old you are there is still hope in finding it; it may not be the perfect fantasy that you always thought it would be, nevertheless it's still an experience that isn't worth passing.

The film features pleasing dialogue that develops its characters in a very naturalistic way, and doesn't shoo-in the film's themes in an obvious way. The first half of the film, the film's dialogue was at its peak, with conversations about Venice, and travelling that eases us into the second half of the film where dialogue becomes much deeper.

My issue with the film's writing is that I can't seem to be fully engaged with the lead characters. I definitely enjoy their romance, drama and the intentions that they have with each other but just as the characters themselves, they aren't as interesting as I wished they could have been. Maybe I was too concerned with the film's plot and the beautiful photography and that I need a rewatch in order to remedy this minor flaw.

The film's photography was gorgeous; with shots that really captures the frailties of the film's protagonist. The film allows us to see her in two ways. Firstly the film allows us to watch her in third person, judging her from an outside perspective; this is how the film perceives the character most of the time. Secondly, the film sometimes gives us a glimpse of what she sees and how she sees it, whether they may be tall and majestic buildings found in Venice, or the random bystanders who are happy and in love; this is where we feel the core of the character and what drives us in wanting her to succeed during this trip. The blending of these two perspectives together allows us to comprehensively see the character in ways that wouldn't have been effective if it just used one. The film also uses every opportunity that it can to implement the large buildings of Venice into the shots, which I think is meant to mean something but I cannot seem to grasp onto it as of yet.

The film's score was delightful, incorporating the beautiful string and accordion tunes of Italy, which allows the audience to be immersed in the world that is Venice, and also for the audience to really feel the love that is found in this city and how different it is when compared to the other countries. There are times the music just sinks my heart, and wish I was there just to hear it be played right in front of me, sometimes I could be a bit sentimental with things like this.

The acting in this film was great, with only minor flaws that bring the lowers the score slightly. I want to start by saying, Katharine Hepburn in this film was marvellous, and it would be the first film I have seen from her filmography; definitely a great start in exploring her career. She truly captured Jane Hudson's essence of loneliness wrapped around by a layer of pride. Even in the scenes where she is alone on screen and with no one to challenge her, she still was able to come off interesting and exciting to watch. Rossano Brazzi as Renato de Rossi was not as great to watch Hepburn, but was still able to keep up during their scenes together. Their chemistry for me was satisfactory but I did hope for a little more. Maybe it was due to the fact, the film is more concerned with Hepburn's character, that we don't really get the opportunity to explore more of Renato de Rossi. Gaetano Autiero as Mauro, the little boy Jane accompanies from time to time, delivered a better than average performance, particularly since he was a child actor during the age of Golden Age of Hollywood where children in film were less convincing than they are today. When Autiero and Hepburn was on screen together, something about it just worked and really made certain scenes feel really touching, particularly the final scene they had together.

Summertime is a wonderful film by David Lean that features a great performance from Katharine Hepburn, beautiful cinematography that truly captures the romance in Venice, and it features such a delightful score that would make me want to drop my life and head off to Italy. Summertime is a trip that I would definitely never forget.