Summer in February

In a nutshell, this is a classic tale of boy meets girl, girl meets boy’s boorish best friend, girl chooses the bad guy (always a bad move), very quickly regrets her decision – and it all ends in disaster.

Set just before the Great War, it tells the true story of the oh-so-bohemian Lamorna Group, whose members included Alfred Munnings (elected president of the Royal Academy of Art in 1944), played here by the dashing Dominic Cooper, and fellow artists Laura and Harold Knight (Hattie Morahan and Shaun Dingwall).

Gilbert Evans (Dan Stevens) is the land agent in charge of the Lamorna Valley estate who generally keeps an eye on the artists, whose favourite hobby seem to be drinking to the small hours in the local. They are joined by Florence Carter-Wood (Emily Browning), an aspiring young artist from London.

Munnings, Evans and Carter-Wood meet at a party, and the three sides of the love triangle come together.

Stevens is great as the decent, honourable chap, but the character is so close to that of Matthew Crawley, his Downton Abbey role, that he could have popped out and filmed this during his lunch break. Nevertheless, this role is well within his comfort zone.

Although a good watch, the stunning scenery – it was shot in Cornwall – is slightly more captivating than the film itself. It’s not the most riveting story, and in some scenes you may find yourself thinking ‘oh, what a nice woolly jumper’, which is great for the wardrobe department, but not so great for the people on screen you’re supposed to be listening to.

All in all, this is an inoffensive film that plods along nicely.