Movie Review – Summer in February

Can a movie with superb acting, an interesting story and jaw-dropping beautiful scenery fail to entertain? This was exactly the problem that I had with Summer In February, the 2013 British film based on a novel of the same name. The film recounts the true events of world renowned artist Sir Alfred Munnings’ first marriage to Florence Carter-Wood.

Summer in February takes place in a small artist colony in England during the early years of the 20th century and, early on, relies on strong character development to portrait the personality differences between Sir Munnings and his friend Gilbert Evans. A short time later Ms. Carter-Wood joins the colony, and while she becomes a central focus of the movie, it seems that the writer failed to develop her character with equivalent thoughtfulness. Without revealing the plot lines, I felt the movie failed in a few key areas. The movie progressed far too slowly, which, while apropos to the era, resulted in far too much screen time to tell an otherwise simple love story. In addition, due to poor character development mentioned earlier, the motivations for Ms. Carter-Wood’s actions never become clear to the viewer. These shortcomings resulted in a movie in which the viewer fails to empathize with the main characters, and with a love story, that does not leave you with much else.