Blu-ray

Set in the Lamorna artists colony in Cornwall in 1913, this period drama tells of the ill-fated love triangle that developed between artists Alfred Munnings (Dominic Cooper) and Florence Carter-Wood (Emily Browning), and Alfred's friend Gilbert Evans (Dan Stevens).

Unfortunately, the fact that it is based on genuine events hasn't prevented Summer in February's story from being turned into the dullest kind of sub-Merchant Ivory melodrama - one that fails to capture the passion of its central love story or give an authentic feel to the bohemian lifestyle of the Lamorna Group itself. An even bigger problem is the way that it fails to get a grip on Munnings. Sure, we're constantly told that he's genius, and from today's perspective we know of his talent as an artist, but there's no sense from anything we see or from Cooper's performance that he's anything more than your stereotypical boorish lothario.

Picture: The Blu-ray platter's AVC 2.40:1 1080p visuals do an excellent job of capturing the beautiful Cornish locations, but are hamstrung somewhat by Christopher Menaul's rather lifeless direction, which regularly conspires to give Summer in February the air of a Sunday-evening TV drama rather than a feature film.
Picture rating: 4/5

Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and LPCM 2.0 soundtracks are included on the disc. For the purpose of this review we checked out the former, which turned out to be a rather front-heavy affair that doesn't entirely convince when the surrounds are eventually brought into play. Still, there's no denying that both the dialogue (as limp as it may be) and Benjamin Wallfisch's score are both handled with aplomb by the mix.
Audio rating: 3/5

Extras: Metrodome's Blu-ray release boasts a reasonable selection of video extras, all presented in 1080p - although some have clearly been upscaled and look pretty rough on a big screen. Art Behind the Film (6-minutes), unsurprisingly, looks at the work of the artists of the Munnings and other members of the Lamorna Group, and how this was reproduced for the film. Shooting in Cornwall (3-minutes) highlights the location filming. The unhelpfully titled Montage (6-minutes) turns out to be a collection of behind-the-scenes footage set to music. While The Music (8-minutes) looks at the work of composer Benjamin Wallfisch.

The disc also includes a collection of short EPK interviews with director Christopher Menaul (4-minutes), actors Dan Stevens (3-minutes), Emily Browning (2-minutes), Dominic Cooper (3-minutes) and Hattie Morahan (5-minutes), novelist/screenwriter Jonathan Smith (5-minutes), folk singer Seth Lakeman (actually a 1-minute behind-the-scenes shot of him playing during the shoot) and Gilbert Evans' son David (9-minutes). Some of this material is repeated in the featurettes.
Extras rating: 2.5/5

We say: It may be a dull and predictable story, but at least the attractive hi-def visuals ensures that this Blu-ray gets the very best out of film's decorative use of Cornish scenery

Summer in February, Metrodome, All-region BD, £20 Approx
HCC VERDICT: 2.5/5