The Summer We Lived

The plot delves into a love triangle that took place in the Summer of 1958 in Jerez de la Frontera, concerning an architect who arrived to town to build a winery (Gonzalo), the one ordering the winery (Hernán) and the latter's fiancee (Lucía). A different timeline set in 1998 deals with the reconstruction of the aforementioned love story upon the investigations carried out by a journalist trainee working with obituaries (Isabel) who enlists the collaboration of Carlos, the architect's son.[2][3][4][5]

The screenplay was penned by Ramón Campos, Gema R. Neira, Salvador S. Molina, Javier Chacártegui and David Orea.[10] The film is an Aquel Verano Movie AIE, Warner Bros Entertainment España, Atresmedia Cine, Mr. Fields and Friends, La Claqueta PC, Bambú Producciones and 4 Cats Pictures production.[11] Shooting began on 5 August 2019 in Jerez de la Frontera.[12] Shooting locations also included Galicia.[13]

The film was presented at the 68th San Sebastián International Film Festival on 20 September 2020.[4] Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures España,[14] it was theatrically released in Spain on 4 December 2020.[15]

Elsa Fernández-Santos of El País wrote that the film "confuses eroticism and passion with a grandiloquent epic akin to a tourist postcard, redundant music, aerial shots, and a string of metaphors", with the film resenting from, among other issues, a screenplay "without much narrative foundation" and otherwise also turning out to be "implausible and whimsical".[3]

Mireia Mullor of Fotogramas rated the film 3 out of 5 stars highlighting the landscapes of Jerez de la Frontera vis-à-vis the film's setting as the best thing about the film.[16]

Andrea G. Bermejo of Cinemanía rated the film 3 out of 5 stars, determining as a veredict that the film is "a formulaic [kind of] cinema... which, for that reason, [it] works".[5]

• List of Spanish films of 2020