Directed by David Lean • 1955 • United States, United Kingdom
Starring Katharine Hepburn, Rossano Brazzi, Darren McGavin
With this sublimely bittersweet tale of romantic longing, director David Lean left behind the British soundstage to capture in radiant Technicolor the sun-splashed glory of Venice at the height of summer. In a tour de force of fearless vulnerability, Katharine Hepburn portrays the conflicting emotions that stir the heart of a lonely, middle-aged American tourist who is forced to confront her insecurities when she is drawn into a seemingly impossible affair with a charming Italian shopkeeper (Rossano Brazzi) amid the ancient city’s canals and piazzas. Lean’s personal favorite among his own films, SUMMERTIME is an exquisitely tender evocation of the magic and melancholy of a fleeting, not-quite-fairy-tale romance.
Up Next in Set in Venice
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Eva
Directed by Joseph Losey • 1962 • France, Italy
Starring Jeanne Moreau, Stanley Baker, Virna LisiBlacklisted ex-Hollywood director Joseph Losey’s reinvention as a voice of coolly stylized European art-house cinema in many ways began with this Venice-set tale of romantic obsession, gorgeously ph...
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Identification of a Woman
Directed by Michelangelo Antonioni • 1982 • Italy
Starring Tomas Milian, Daniela Silverio, Christine BoissonMichelangelo Antonioni’s IDENTIFICATION OF A WOMAN is a body- and soul-baring voyage into one man’s artistic and erotic consciousness. After his wife leaves him, a film director finds him...
