Few movies tread the often misunderstood, ignored and fetishized frontier of female sexuality with honesty, compassion and depth. Writer-director Alanté Kavaïté’s dreamy and multilayered drama Summer of Sangaile is one that depicts the eponymous heroine’s coming of age with humanity and dignity during the course of a summer spent on the Lithuanian lakeside. Seventeen-year-old Sangaile (played by Julija Steponaityte) is transfixed by the stunts performed at an aerobatic air show when she unwittingly captures the attentions of an effervescent girl named Auste (Aiste Dirziute).
The lanky, melancholic Sangaile (her name means “strength”) initially runs away from the other girl’s enthusiastic friendliness, but is soon won over. Sangaile’s family seems as idyllic and serene as the outside of their summer home, but the facade cracks instantly to reveal a cold and austere reality that actually resembles the stark interior of their house. Her parents may have money, but it can't remedy the palpable rift between Sangaile and her ballerina mother, who’s resentfulness at having had her dreams dashed comes out in passive-aggressive jabs at her daughter. Sangaile wears the effects of this in the composition of her body, underneath the off-season armour of head-to-toe clothing she wears and in the fear that keeps her from pursuing her own dreams of flying.
By contrast, Auste’s life is sincerely happy. She lives alone with her mother in a Soviet era building, which appears grim on the outside but inside is quirky and alive with homemade art and colorful fabrics. Auste, a budding dressmaker and stylist, photographs her clothes in inspired editorials and takes Sangaile under her wing as a model. Some of the loveliest scenes are the playful vignettes of the girls modeling the clothes for Auste’s camera, that lead to their blossoming romance. A prime example of a person chasing her dreams, Auste brings a world of good into Sangaile’s otherwise lonely existence.
The film is intensely focused on sensations and feelings, not only in the embodiment of the characters, but also in the landscape. Kavaïté’s love of her native Lithuania helps the narrative unfold like a third protagonist. Steponaityte and Dirziute are well cast and compliment each other exquisitely. The metaphors of flying, capture Sangaile’s journey of self discovery and overcoming fear in a well-crafted film about the power of love and encouragement.
