The film David Lean called his favorite

Before Bridge on the River Kwai and Lawrence of Arabia, David Lean gave us Summertime, a film that wholeheartedly deserves to be on the same level as those gargantuan masterpieces, which even he claimed was his favorite film he directed, and the fact that it isn’t loved and talked about more is heartbreaking to me.

Along with The Red Shoes and The River, this is easily one of the greatest color films of all time, as it was all filmed on location in Venice, with exceptional and vibrant composition, framing and imagery of the city, canals, architecture, statues, weather and people that hit you right in the soul and takes you back to this beautiful era. This is where David Lean’s obsession with scope begins, with hints of the conventions of his large-scale epics taking form here.

Katharine Hepburn’s performance here is an all-timer. It was really interesting to see this perspective of loneliness and longing from the eyes of a woman, as opposed to something like Taxi Driver or Her, and I was able to feel so much empathy for this character who’s both searching for love and afraid to love.

Although very flawed, I still believe it’s a vastly underrated work that goes down as one of the greatest films I’ve ever seen.