Summer Lovers is a 1982 American romantic comedy film written and directed by Randal Kleiser and starring Peter Gallagher, Daryl Hannah, and Valerie Quennessen.

Americans Michael Pappas and Cathy Featherstone, a young couple from Connecticut who have just graduated from college, have known each other for approximately 10 years and have been together about half that time.

Michael sees it as a chance to enjoy one last wild summer before going to work at his recently deceased father's business in the fall.

When they visit a nude beach crowded with other young tourists, they are hesitant at first but find themselves getting caught up in the uninhibited energy that surrounds them.

Cathy reads a book of sexual techniques, then ties Michael to the bed and drips candle wax on his chest.

Michael, who says he has never been with another woman, keeps noticing Lina Broussard, a French archaeologist on temporary assignment at the nearby Akrotiri excavation.

Michael is confused when he learns that the two women are developing a friendship, but he quickly recovers and the three of them spend a few days gradually getting closer.

Finding herself in an intense relationship, and uncertain about her future with them, Lina begins to fear getting hurt when the summer ends and the Americans return home.

Summer Lovers with the screenplay by director Randal Kleiser was filmed during August–October 1981 primarily on the Greek island of Santorini.

In an area of the site selected for its light and production values, Quennessen, under the supervision and instruction of an archaeologist, began work before the cameras.

In November 2023, the Tampa Bay Times, citing IMDb, reported that, during the filming of the movie, Valérie Quennessen, who played Lina, an archaeologist, discovered pottery at the Akrotiri site that was circa 3,500 years old.

[2] Hans Van Tongeren, a Dutch actor, was visiting the area as a tourist when Daryl Hannah spotted him in the crowd.

Summer Lovers is the final theatrically-released film of actress Valérie Quennessen, who played a working archaeologist.

[7] When asked by David Letterman to give a recent example of bad taste, director John Waters said he loved the film because it was "about being young, rich, stupid and nude.

"[8] In 2015, Jim Hemphill wrote that "under Kleiser's relaxed but precise direction, their romantic adventures are incredibly erotic without ever coming across as 'dirty' or smarmy.

But he forgot to add a story ..."[10]The villa that the Michael and Cathy characters stayed at was purchased by a couple in 1987 and made into a gift shop named "Summer Lovers".