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Poster for The Summer Book

The Summer Book

2025 · 94 min

A quiet, sunlit island summer where grief is held gently, and small everyday moments between generations carry the weight.

Directed by
Charlie McDowell
Genres
Drama
Starring
Glenn Close, Anders Danielsen Lie, Emily Matthews
Overview
The story of the relationship between Sophia, an eight-year-old girl who is growing up fast, and her grandmother, who is nearing the end of her life. They are spending time together with Sophia’s father, at the family summer house on a tiny unspoiled island in the Gulf of Finland. All three are coming to terms with the recent death of Sophia’s mother in very different ways.

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Rent in the UK
  • Apple TV Store
  • Amazon Video
  • BFI Player
More options Data from JustWatch
Directed by
Charlie McDowell
Genres
Drama
Starring
Glenn Close, Anders Danielsen Lie, Emily Matthews
In your watch list

How it feels

Written by AI. It can be wrong.

Tone
  • melancholicstrength 3 of 3
  • warmstrength 2 of 3
  • earneststrength 1 of 3
Pacing
slow-burn, 1 of 4, from slow-burn to relentless
Attention
engaged, 3 of 4, from background-friendly to demanding
Themes
  • grief
  • family
  • coming-of-age
  • death
  • healing
Places
  • countryside
  • sea
  • single country house
Era
contemporary
Audience
adult
Form
None
Content intensity
  • Gore none
  • Language mild
  • Violence none
  • Sex none
All scales, 0 to 10
Scales, 0 to 10
ScaleValue0 to 10
Action1
Horror0
Humour3
Realism8
Romance1
Tension3
Darkness4
Complexity5
Emotional weight8

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Where to watch in the UK

Rent
  • Apple TV Store
  • Amazon Video
  • BFI Player
Buy
  • Apple TV Store
  • Amazon Video

Streaming data from JustWatch.All options on TMDB

Details

Genres
drama
Directed by
Charlie McDowell
Written by
Robert Jones
Starring
Glenn Close, Anders Danielsen Lie, Emily Matthews, Ingvar E. Sigurðsson, Pekka Strang, Sophia Heikkilä, Theo Zilliacus
Music
Hania Rani
Cinematography
Sturla Brandth Grøvlen
Runtime
94 min
Country
Finland, United Kingdom, United States of America
Languages
English

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