A Month by the Lake

The director of A Month by the Lake, John Irvin, also directed the charming "Widows' Peak", so we dared to have a go at this film, which has not been released in Denmark. The film is set before the outbreak of the Second World War by the Italian Lake Como, where the by now middle-aged Englishwoman Miss Bentley is spending a month's holiday, as she has done since childhood. When the impeccable Major Wilshaw turns up, he immediately strikes up an acquaintance with Miss Bentley, but Cupid's arrows do not fly too easily, for which both of them can be blamed. Miss Bentley is just a touch too liberated and flighty for Wilshaw's taste, while he is ridiculous in his open admiration of the young American Miss Beaumont, who makes him extend his holiday without wanting to get romantically involved with him. As a countermove, Miss Bentley provokes him by letting herself be waited on by a fiery young Italian, Vittorio, but things turn out as they should. The young ones probably end up with each other, while the older ones find each other to share their old age with.

A Month by the Lake is of variable quality. There are some really funny scenes, as when Miss Bentley beats the Major at tennis. He is what you would call a bad loser! The film does, however, let itself be carried away too easily by the relaxed atmosphere by Lake Como, and the characters' actions do not always seem logical, and their motivations are in some cases unclear.