The Beautiful Summer La bella estate

Synopsis

Turin, 1938. Young Ginia has just moved from the countryside to the big city and takes a job at a dressmaker’s atelier. She demonstrates talent, and with the promise of a successful career, the future feels wide open. But war looms, casting shadows over the present and creating a sense of restlessness and unease. Desperate for adventure, Ginia befriends Amelia, who introduces her into a bohemian world of impetuous artists. Sensual and provocative, Amelia is different from anyone Ginia has ever known, opening her up to a world of new possibilities. During her “beautiful summer,” Ginia will surrender to her first great love and find the courage to be her true self.

Inspired by the 1949 novella of the same name by celebrated author Cesare Pavese (whose third novella in the same trilogy inspired Michelangelo Antononi’s Le amiche), The Beautiful Summer is steeped in the warm and glowing tones of radiant youth. Laura Luchetti elicits magnetic performances from the always sensitive Yile Yara Vianello (an Alice Rohrwacher regular also seen in La Chimera and Corpo Celeste) and radiant newcomer Deva Casel as two young women coming to terms with their own power and taking control of their destinies.