Summerland is a peaceful, romantic film set against the wide cliffs of England’s southern coast during World War II. It weaves together a woman’s guarded present with memories of her greatest love. Jessica Swale wrote and directed the movie, which stars Gemma Arterton and Gugu Mbatha-Raw. It’s about grief, connection, and the surprising ways love comes back, like when a child you never planned to meet shows up.
Alice Lamb, a reclusive and sharp-tongued writer, lives alone in a cliffside home in Kent. Known in the village as “the witch,” she avoids people, preferring her folklore research and the solitude of the coast. Her life takes an unwelcome turn when she’s assigned to care for Frank, a young boy evacuated from London during the Blitz.
At first, Alice resists the intrusion. But as Frank quietly settles into her world — curious about her work, unafraid of her barbed remarks — she finds herself opening up. Gradually, we learn through flashbacks that Alice once loved a woman named Vera, a relationship cut short not by lack of love but by Vera’s deep longing for motherhood, a role Alice felt she couldn’t share.
Frank’s presence forces Alice to confront her grief. Their bond deepens over shared moments — chasing mirages on the horizon, building model planes, and talking about life and loss. The turning point comes when Alice discovers Frank is Vera’s son, a revelation that reframes their connection in an almost fated light.
War shadows their days: Frank’s father is killed in combat, and Alice must navigate how to break the news. Her advice to him is blunt but compassionate — that pain is inevitable, but what matters is how you deal with it. The story culminates years later, when Vera reappears, and the three of them — older, changed, but still connected — find a quiet happiness together, walking by the sea.
Summerland Cast
Charactor
A solitary writer and folklorist living on the Kent coast, Alice keeps the world at arm’s length until Frank disrupts her carefully guarded solitude.
Gemma Arterton
Gemma Arterton is a British actress known for Tamara Drewe, Their Finest, and The Escape. She brings a layered mix of brittleness and tenderness to Alice, though some emotional transitions feel abrupt.
Alice’s former lover, whose desire for motherhood drove them apart. Her reappearance years later offers both closure and a second chance.
Gugu Mbatha-Raw
Gugu Mbatha-Raw, a British actress acclaimed for Belle, Black Mirror: San Junipero, and Misbehaviour, infuses Vera with warmth and quiet strength.
An evacuee from London during WWII, Frank’s arrival reshapes Alice’s life in ways neither could foresee.
Lucas Bond
Lucas Bond is a young British actor who delivers an unaffected, grounded performance, making Frank’s relationship with Alice believable and endearing.
Director
Jessica Swale
Jessica Swale is an Olivier Award-winning British playwright and filmmaker. Known for her stage work (Nell Gwynn), Summerland marks her feature film debut as writer-director. Swale blends a theatrical sense of dialogue with a painterly visual style, crafting a story that values emotional restraint and atmospheric beauty over high drama.
BEST SCENES
📍 Alice asking Frank, “If a woman loved another woman, would you think it strange?” — and his casual acceptance.
📍 The model airplane’s second flight, carrying Frank’s father’s photo, soaring instead of crashing.
📍 The first glimpse of Vera in the garden, as Frank calls “Mum” and Alice fights to keep her composure.
📍 The final seaside walk, three silhouettes against the wide Kent sky.
Summerland Review
Review
Story – 4/5
The narrative blends wartime displacement, same-sex romance, and found family. While these strands don’t always integrate seamlessly, the emotional throughline between Alice and Frank is strong. Their shared growth feels organic, even if some plot twists (such as Frank’s parentage) lean on coincidence.
Acting – 4/5
Gemma Arterton’s Alice balances prickliness with vulnerability, though her transition from guarded to open-hearted could use more connective beats. Lucas Bond as Frank gives a surprisingly grounded performance, avoiding over-sentimentality. Gugu Mbatha-Raw brings warmth and understated longing to Vera, even with limited screen time.
Chemistry – 3.5/5
The romantic chemistry between Alice and Vera is tender but restrained, more implied through memory than lived on screen. The truest “chemistry” is between Alice and Frank, in the way they slowly negotiate space and trust.
Production – 4.5/5
The Kent coastline and the Seven Sisters cliffs are stunningly shot, their changing skies mirroring the characters’ emotional states. Symbolic imagery — planes, mirages, the sea — is woven thoughtfully, even if the “Summerland” folklore feels underdeveloped in the first half.
Ending – 4.5/5
The happy ending feels unexpected for a lesbian romance set in a historical period — a welcome choice that resists the usual tragic tropes. While some may find it overly neat, it offers an affirming closure without erasing the hardships that came before.
💬 My Take
For me, Summerland felt like watching someone slowly unlock a long-sealed room in their heart. Alice’s sharp edges, her avoidance of children, and her stubborn solitude resonated with my own fears about living alone in the future. Frank doesn’t “fix” her — he simply shares the space until she remembers what it’s like to care and be cared for.
The reveal that Frank is Vera’s son hit me hard. It’s a narrative coincidence, yes, but emotionally it made sense why he and Alice clicked so naturally. And that final scene — Vera saying she visited 23 bookshops to find Alice’s address — might be too on-the-nose for some, but for me it captured the wish-fulfillment fantasy many queer viewers quietly hold: that a lost love might one day come back, deliberately, against all odds.