Summertime (1955)

While I love my parents' humble little abode in our sleepy seaside town where an entire day can be spent just playing with the dog and reading a book, this time last year and three summers before that, I was in Venice. So in honor of my previous sojourns to that glorious city on water, I'm going to write about one of my favorite movies (and not just movies set in Venice) - Summertime starring the legendary Katherine Hepburn.



I have an addiction to films about people (okay, mostly women) who undergo personal transformations due to a particular experience. In this movie, Katherine Hepburn plays an ordinary middle-class middle-aged woman from middle-America who cashes in her savings for a dream trip to Venice. As a lonely, repressed spinster, she has constructed in her head an unrealistic, fantasized vision of Venice and hopes that her vacation will result in some sort exciting adventure (and possible romantic tryst), the kind she has only ever encountered in books.

Props/wardrobe play a significant role in this particular film because they are used extensively, although sometimes subtly, to highlight Hepburn's character's gradual self-awakening. We start off with her character wearing generally drab and colorless ensembles. Notice that the heavily layered outfit in which she arrives is entirely inappropriate for the intense heat of summer. Notice how she likes to wear gloves and how her collars are buttoned up high, both to show how uptight and distant to contact she has been all her life.

Regardless of its symbolism, I still love this brown outfit. Just wear it when it's cold instead and it'll look perfect.


Loving the way the scarf is folded and held by the scarf ring.


Notice how the belt is wavy!


Ill-fitting and colorless dress, which is in line with her loneliness after being in Venice for a few days and still not having made any real friends.


Here she is in the large cafe area in San Marco square, where she notices and is noticed by a handsome Italian man played by the scrumptious Rossano Brazzi. This unnerves her greatly (being the naive, repressed spinster from middle America that she is) and she pretends to film the activity of the square instead of paying attention to him. Notice how one of her gloves is now off, to signify that this is the turning point where she starts to shed her old self. And I love her pearl bracelet!


Why, hello there, pretty lady...


She continues to explore Venice on her own, sometimes accompanied by a little street urchin.





She notices a gorgeous red goblet in an antique shop. Do you recognize yourself in those eyes? I know I have the same expression whenever I stumble across a fabulous find.


She enters the antique shop. It turns out that Brazzi's character is the owner. They talk about the goblet and he asks her out. She gets totally flustered like a young schoolgirl.


After she meets and befriends Brazzi, she begins to take more care in her appearance. And their relationship turns romantic.

Here she is out on a date with him. I never much cared for dotted print but I love this dress. I like the sheen to the fabric.


Now, notice the use of red in this film and what it represents - the red goblet, the red shoes she buys, the red/salmon colored dress she wears below, the small stripe of red in her white scarf with the black evening gown in the next image, and the red in the lapels of her coat, etc. Notice how this introduction of color contrasts with the the dull, colorless ensembles she wears before she meets her hot Italian lover. They all represent her awakening to sensual pleasures that she has never known before.







The red shoe, carefully placed in front of the door to the bedroom, signifies that the couple are now in the back, consummating their love. I love the use of shoes to show that sex is taking place...I just think shoes are so erotic and I, for one, don't particular enjoy having everything shown to me in graphic detail.


Overall, this is a wonderful film and Katherine Hepburn's acting was flawless. Even though I'm not middled aged yet, I can still relate deeply to her character and all the emotions that she goes through. See this if you can. It's totally worth it.

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Oh, I almost forgot! I wanted to show you a couple of images of the other two minor female characters in the movie because I loved their outfits. Below, to the right is a woman whose is also staying at the pensione that Hepburn's character is staying at. She is fun and uninhibited and her personality shines through her choice of clothing.

Loving: her low-cut faux-wrap around white blouse, the billowing striped skirt, and the dangling rhinestone earrings.


And below is an image of the owner of the pensione. Here she is saying, "In Italy, age is an asset" and sitting the way she does and looking the way she does, I am completely convinced she's right!

Loving: the confidence, the chic black dress, the red lipstick, and the simple but stand-out gold pendant necklace.

Posted in: films made in the 1950s,Katherine Hepburn,self-discovery,Venice