As August slowly slips away from us and the nights get darker faster, I’m actually quite happy with how my “hot girl summer’ has panned out. I’ve been focusing on bettering myself and improving the relationships with the women in my life. Sure, all my romantic ventures have been one hot garbage fire after another, but that’s just a small blip in the grand scheme of things!
For someone who’s never been fond of commitment and is absolutely terrified of intimacy, I’m quite the romantic and have always been infatuated with the concept of a summer of love. There’s something about travelling, the desire for socialization and the dreamy warm colour palettes these movies hold that make me run back to them all year long. Warning, I’m also in love with the fact that most summer flings have an expiration date (again, commitment issues.)
Whether you’ve been boo’d up this summer or not, here are my top five films about summer love to catch feelings over.
Call Me by Your Name (2017)
It’s the summer of 1983 and 17-year old Elio has been whisked away to a villa in Italy on his family’s summer holiday. When Oliver, the utterly stunning and much older doctoral student shows up to intern for Elio’s father, our sweet lead, Timothee Chalamet is launched into quite the sexual awakening.
The cinematography in this film is absolutely stunning, but it’s the desperation in their unexpected love that has me hooked. Our first loves are always a whirlwind, but when you’re abroad, there’s an age gap and you’re separated from any inkling of normalcy, that desire and impulse is only heightened. Call Me by Your Name is passionate, sexy, and a great reminder to explore something new.
Watch if: you fall hard and fast. Sometimes it’s important to just sit in your feelings and embrace the infatuation.
She’s Gotta Have It (1986)
Set during summer in Brooklyn, Nola is a sexually liberated artist openly pursuing three very different men and refusing to settle down. While they’re all incredibly different, they’re all slightly terrible and Nola has to navigate the exhaustion that is dating men in a way that feels all too familiar.
Sure, this is a list about summer love…but love isn’t always rainbows and butterflies. Sometimes you need to be reminded of why it’s important to love yourself and you get to enjoy a summer in Brooklyn in black and white.
Watch if: you’re exhausted by dating apps and need to reconnect with yourself.
My Summer of Love (2004)
What screams young angst more than exploring your sexuality with someone from a different class background than you and throwing all caution to the wind? It’s a mundane summer in Yorkshire where well-off Tamsin (Emily Blunt) has been suspended from boarding school. On a day out, she runs into Mona, a girl who’s a little rough around the edges because she comes from a family of criminals. They spend the summer in a tumultuous love affair.
I think this movie is a good reminder that regardless of privilege, everyone is going through something. It’s also a good reminder of how easy it is to romanticize mutually-assured destruction when you’re young, sad and lonely.
Watch if: you’re thinking of texting that toxic person back and need a reminder not to.
500 Days of Summer (2009)
Tom is an architect working as a greeting card writer infatuated with Summer, the new girl at work. Tom is the kind of person who thinks that listening to The Smiths makes them interesting. So, when he finds a girl into the same obscure indie stuff that he is, he thinks he’s found “the one.” Their time together is charming and that IKEA scene played over in the hearts of Wattpad and Tumblr girls for years.
Not to mansplain how to interpret a movie, but I think this movie is often misunderstood. Admittedly I was frustrated with Summer upon the first watch. However, it’s important to acknowledge that how we feel about others isn’t always reality. What we want from people and what they want for themselves has to be acknowledged far more than it is.
Watch if: you like unnecessary dance numbers and have recently moaned to your friends about someone not reciprocating your advances.
Take This Waltz (2012)
Obviously, I had to add a Toronto based film to the list, because what is more idyllic than Toronto in the summertime? If you know the area, this film focuses on a freelance writer living in Little Portugal as she struggles to come to terms with the feelings she has for her husband of five years.
Naturally, the only way to sort out your feelings for your husband is by eyeing the artist across the street, right? I think we’re all guilty of trying to find happiness by changing our surroundings instead of working on ourselves and what’s making us sad, but that’s not sustainable.
Watch if: you need to get your shit together
Before Sunrise (1995)
We’re finishing the list on the epitome of summer romance/fleeting love stories. This film pairs all of my favourite things: travel, spontaneity, and international romance. An American man convinces the Parisian woman he meets on the train to get off with him in Vienna. They spend a night together exploring both the city and their connection.
There’s something so peaceful and freeing about spending time in a new city with no agenda. Sure, this new-found infatuation isn’t sustainable, but isn’t it so much better to do instead of think “what if?” Think of all of the experiences you’ve missed out on by being cautious. I truly can’t think of anything sexier than spontaneity.
Watch if: it’s been a while since you’ve travelled or you need a reminder to say yes more.
