Hazy sunshine, factor-50 smiles and Cliff Richard at the wheel: the 20 best summer holiday movies have been ranked, from feelgood romances to heated interactions.
The Top Five Summer Holiday Films
Number one is Richard Linklater's 1995 masterpiece Before Sunrise, starring Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke as a pair of garrulous Interrailers who steal a few precious hours and wander around Vienna for the night. The film is described as a joyous film about footloose youth that went on to spark a pair of excellent sequels. What swung it for the top spot was the bittersweet flourish of its last moments, when Linklater's camera beats back like a ghost to show the places where Céline and Jesse were idling just a few hours before.
Number two is Charlotte Wells's 2022 Aftersun, a rapturous family album starring Paul Mescal as a young father in Turkey with his daughter (Frankie Corio), browsing for rugs and lounging by the pool, searching for sunshine and averting their gaze from the shadows. Wells's debut feature is described as an impressionistic, deeply felt and finally devastating tour de force.
Number three is Eric Rohmer's 1986 The Green Ray, a small miracle about thirtysomething Delphine (Marie Rivière), who is newly single and drifting in a kind of semi-ostracised state across France. It is also about the green ray, which can reputedly be glimpsed for a split second at sunset and might quietly, magically make everything right.
Number four is Satyajit Ray's 1970 Days and Nights in the Forest, in which four Kolkata bachelors drive into the backwoods of Bihar only to realise that there is more than one way to get lost. The film is described as an antic meditation on friendship, responsibility, class and cultural divisions.
Number five is Ingmar Bergman's 1953 Summer with Monika, a jolting kitchen-sink romance starring Harriet Andersson and Lars Ekborg as working-class Stockholm kids who make a bold bid for freedom and yet are bound for the rocks.
Notable Entries from Six to Twenty
Number six is Richard Linklater's 1993 Dazed and Confused, wrapping up at the start of the 1976 summer break. Number seven is Jacques Tati's 1953 Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot, described as a flawless comedy. Number eight is Joseph Losey and Harold Pinter's 1971 The Go-Between, a wonderfully treacherous period drama. Number nine is Michel Franco's 2021 Sundown, starring Tim Roth as mild-mannered Neil. Number ten is the 1987 film Dirty Dancing, a Borscht Belt summer classic.
Number eleven is Eric Rohmer's 1996 A Summer's Tale, a semi-autobiographical account of a lost summer spent on the coast of Brittany. Number twelve is William Wyler's 1953 Roman Holiday, starring Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck. Number thirteen is Jacques Deray's 1969 La Piscine, a dazzling, depthless thriller set on the French Riviera. Number fourteen is Céline Sciamma's 2011 Tomboy, a gorgeous coming-of-age tale about 10-year-old Laure (Zoé Héran).
Number fifteen is Peter Yates's 1963 Summer Holiday, starring Cliff Richard as a blue-collar bus mechanic. Number sixteen is Alfonso Cuarón's 2001 Y Tu Mamá También, starring Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna. Number seventeen is David Lean's 1955 Summertime, a tender Technicolor romance starring Katharine Hepburn. Number eighteen is Paweł Pawlikowski's 2004 My Summer of Love, starring Natalie Press and Emily Blunt. Number nineteen is Maggie Gyllenhaal's 2021 The Lost Daughter, starring Olivia Colman. Number twenty is George Lucas's 1973 American Graffiti, a rambunctious salute to footloose youth.
