12 Dreamy Movies for the End of Summer
With fewer days spend idly by the beach or spent in languid pastoral relaxation, the end of summer can begin to lose its dreamy atmosphere. As the season starts to wind down it can be challenging to really sink into those final, fleeting summer days. To carry that hazy summer feeling throughout the June, July, and especially late August months, there are plenty of movies to watch that can fuel the summer mood or resuscitate the last few weeks of the season.
Call Me by Your Name (2017)
Call Me by Your Name depicts the essential details of the summer–the way sunlight trickles through trees; the subtle noises and stale silences; the friendships and romances. Set in rural Northern Italy in 1983, this steady film follows 17-year-old Elio as he learns to navigate his own desires and wrestles with complicated emotions. Apathy, curiosity, envy, and lust all linger in the peripherals of this film, which aesthetically captures the simplicity of a summers day while narratively grappling with the complexities of desire.
Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)
Vicky Christina Barcelona is the pinnacle of early 2000’s coming-of-age, early-life crisis cinema. This energizing film is about two polar opposite best friends who spend the summer in Oviedo, Spain. Released in 2008, it captures how I’d imagine an idyllic, messy, mythical summer abroad would play out. Vicky and Christian spend the summer questioning and challenging their notions about what is means to be in love, and ultimately find that their summer abroad has only made things less clear. This movie is thoughtful and dreamy, while also having a very light touch of humor throughout.
Parthenope (2024)
Set in 1950’s Italy, Parthenope is a thrilling, mysterious film about a young woman named Parthenope finding her place in the world. Her story is haunted by magical realism, obsession, and death, all of which shroud this film in a mysterious and almost sinister aura. Despite its ominous tone, it is fundamentally a film about savoring life. Parthenope, urged forward by an enigmatic drive, is asked to taste all that life has to offer, the decadent and the tragic alike. Along with its aesthetic beauty, its measured storytelling makes Parthenope a captivating and thought-provoking film.
Renoir (2012)
Renoir is sent on a costal estate in France in 1915, and follows a young model, Andrée, as she becomes a muse for the aging painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir. This slow, atmospheric film portrays Andrée as a captivating, almost siren like figure for the Renoir household, especially his young son, Jean, who returns home injured from World War I. This film follows the blossoming romance between Andrée and Jean, while depicting dreamy, inspired summer days in the French Riviera.
Y Tu Mamá También (2001)
Y Tu Mamá También is a coming-of-age film documenting a road trip across Mexico between two friends and an older Spanish woman. It is a movie that explores intimacy, self-discovery, and the slow, sometimes destructive, evolution of close friendships in early adulthood. Set against the backdrop of historical, political, and social friction in Mexico, this film is equally as complex as it is simple. The storytelling, pleasant scenery, and youthful abandon make this the perfect film to loosen inhibitions and attachment to outcomes.
Bonjour Tristesse (2024)
Set in the south of France, Bonjour Tristesse is a calculated, beautiful movie about self-discovery, juvenal selfishness, and mourning. 18-year-old Cécile’s languid summer with her widower father is interrupted when he becomes enamored with an austere, cultured woman named Anne. Filled with the slow stillness of summer days, this movie follows Cécile as she explores intimacy and studies her father’s new relationship with a slow, tentative interest.
La Passion de Dodin Bouffant (2023)
La Passion de Dodin Bouffant or The Taste of Things is a melancholic romance set in 19th century France. It focuses on Eugénie and Dodin whose relationship is nourished and built around their mutual passions for cooking and good cuisine. While they find intimacy in their deep but noncommittal romantic relationship, there a sense that they have transcended traditional understandings of love through their relationship with food. It’s beautiful, melancholic storytelling and captivating scenery make this a perfect film for a hazy summer day.
리틀 포레스트 (2018)
Little Forest is a tranquil, heartwarming film about a young woman who leaves her blossoming career in the city and returns to the rural village where she grew up. She spends a dreamy summer reconnecting with her home, with childhood friends, and with herself. Her days are spent slowly; recreating childhood meals she learned from her mother, tending to the land, and carefully recovering from a devastating failure. This film is a deeply peacefully and healing movie to watch, especially on a rainy summer day.
È Stata La Mano Di Dio (2021)
Set in 1980’s Naples, The Hand of God, centers on Fabietto’s coming-of-age in the midst of tragedy and his own romantic awakening. While the film is haunted by a melancholic tone, there is likewise a sense of adventure as Fabietto ponders his aspirations to become a film maker while he wanders the mystical summer streets of Naples. Like Parthenope, this film is brimming with magical realism and lush cinematography–capturing languid summer days with ease, and thus positioning itself as a great film to conclude the summer with.
Violets Are Blue (1986)
Violets Are Blue is a 1980’s costal summer romance about two high school sweethearts who are reunited after 15 years. Set on the beachy Maryland coast, it follows Gussie and Henry as they navigate their complicated feelings for one another after they’ve both grown into new people with their own careers, identities’, and responsibilities. Maybe it was the fact that I watched this movie at 2 am, or maybe it was the linen button downs that appear in virtually every scene. Either way, it was one of my favorite films this summer, one that I will assuredly be watching in summers to come!
Stealing Beauty (1996)
Stealing Beauty combines so many elements of great summer films into one. Set at a beautiful, sun-soaked villa in Tuscany, it is a coming-of-age film following Lucy as she attempts to reconnect with her recently deceased mother who used to spend her summers there. The villa is owned by a sculptor who intends to carve Lucy’s portrait and is bustling with other creative types who marvel in her youth and joie de vivre. Lucy spends her summer uncovering the powerful effects beauty can have on others, while also learning about her own romantic desires.
The Lost Boys (1987)
I am a little bias, because this is one of my favorite movies OF ALL TIME. But also, a kick ass summer film that combines beachy summer vibes, teenage angst, and horror (so perfect for transitioning into fall). Set in Santa Clara, California The Lost Boys follows Michael and Sam as they move to the apparently vampire infested town of Santa Clara. Michael meets a mysterious girl named Star who he is immediately bewitched by. In his haste to capture her affections, he falls in with the wrong crowd and learns for himself is the rumors of vampires were true.
