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One of my all time favorites.

Fantastic!

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

If you are still mourning over Dan Stevens dying in Downton Abbey, here is a picture with the blond-haired, dreamy eyed Englishman. However, don't expect much when it comes to the story, except that Dan comes across pretty much the same as Matthew Crawley.Where do I begin? Hum, well, it's a period movie, apparently about a factual event. Dominic Cooper plays A. J. Munnings, a talented artist who went onto to be a famous English painter. Set on the Cornwall coast in England, it's a story of a group of artists who do nothing but paint. Dan Stevens, who plays Gilbert Evans, is not an artist, but a friend of A.J. and in the military.The story is a strange love triangle. Enter Florence Carter Wood, another young wannabe artist. She arrives in Cornwall to be with her brother and meets both A.J. and Gilbert. Gilbert quickly falls in love with her, but A.J. wins the spoils instead. However, the entire affair is nonsensical. Florence, who comes across as a pretty, young aristocratic woman, finds A.J. fascinating because of his talent. However, he has a dark side wherein he is moody, belligerent, and drinks too much. Even though his personality is well revealed before the wedding, she for some odd reason proceeds with the marriage as if she is helpless to do so otherwise. Of course, her decision reaps an unhappy life, while Gilbert broods over his loss of his true love.Since I don't want to give the "spoils" away on this plot, I'll keep my remaining comments minimal regarding the final outcome. The location on the Cornwall coast has spectacular scenery. There are a few unnecessary scenes of total frontal female nudity, which added absolutely no value to the story whatsoever. (Three of these individuals in Summer in February also starred in the 2008 BBC Sense & Sensibility - Dominic Cooper, who played Willoughby; Dan Stevens, who played Edward Ferrars; and Hattie Morahan, who played Elinor.) Unfortunately, I cannot come away with anything lasting about this movie. Though well acted, the story itself turned out to be a melodramatic affair that made no sense to me whatsoever. The only pleasure in it was seeing Dan Stevens once again in a familiar period piece.

Rarely do I rank movies so harshly but rarely do annoying protagonists emerge in a movie unless written by Hardy or Sand and generally they are toned down from their respective books. I did not realize this was based on a true story until the end (probably fetching popcorn for the opening credits). The movie opened up promising enough, and it quickly devolved. I found myself wondering when the two older women from early on in the movie would make an appearance. To sum it up: Casting: All pretty characters but with no chemistry at all. Screenplay: Forced, stilted dialogue. Subject matter: Spoiled, dull, talentless woman wants to take over a talented artists life once she marries him by trying to sabotage his career, withhold sex, and give her virtue away to his best friend while trying to alienate him from his other friends . Oh yeah, she's a charmer. Vibrant, witty, fun-loving artist falls in love with her virginity, good looks, and family background and marries her one can only imagine because he was unable to paint her face correctly. Enter best friend of both and confidante of all Gilbert usurper of AJs virgin bride. Rarely have I been less interested in seeing two people fornicate, who sides completely on virgin brides side and is alienated from his friend. The only surprise in this movie is that the two men didn't commit suicide. And although the ending was a blessed relief, I only wished it was at the beginning and the lives of the two shocked older women were used for the movie instead. Acting: everyone's acting was fine, there is no believability in anyone being who they are though, except the two older women from the beginning of the film, who seemed like they could be friends. A case could be made for a cult film, in that the audience could be rooting for not opening the door to Florence, asking periodically where's the two older ladies, and booing Florence when she tries to manipulate all the people around her. Perhaps with a bit of a cheer when she finally departs the action, and a few "gah's" when the over the top ending is finally concluded in the most melodramatic and uninteresting way possible.

This was billed as a period romance, but in reality all it really is is a bunch of people roaming about the British seaside in 1913 with some art and poetry thrown in. The story is so weak and predictable and the characters are so bland even the most ardent Romance lover will end up disappointed. As far as the acting goes, Dominic Cooper is just horrible, and Dan Stevens is duller than cardboard, Emily Browning however, is thankfully somewhat better. I know the story here is based on real life events, and so calling it "weak" might not sound very just, but I feel that it is, for even if they were dealing with common themes and stories they could have at least tried to make them more interesting or even engaging, but sadly they don't. The only good part about it is that you get really beautiful views of the English seaside, so, in short, watch this is you really really really want to spend some time on the English seaside.

Once I got past the 'machine-knitted' hand-knits and the Mills and Boon score . . . perfectly watchable. Don't expect to be informed about artistic life or how to learn to draw and paint. I have got to say I think Emily Browning was miscast; though delightfully dinky and looking marvellous in her lace blouses and smocks . . she did not convey privileged entitlement or fragile mentality very well, not exactly wooden but leaning towards wet lettuce leaf. I feel a proper Cornish artist boho would be perfectly happy to be in love with two lovely men . . so bit of a plot hole there. The actress that played Laura Knight was perfect. Although location spotting was fun and authentic . . nothing else was. It seemed to lack real Cornishness . . a huge failing for me. Had I been directing I would have gone even more up the cheesy Mills and Boon route with it. Sorry but I was disappoint.