By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Whit Stillman
Starring: Chloe Sevigny | JennMurray | JTom Bennett | Kate Beckinsale | Lochlann O'Mearáin | Morfydd Clark
Country: france, ireland, netherlands, united_kingdom, united_states
Year: 2016
Running time: 92
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3068194/reference
Thom says: “I’d like to recommend LOVE & FRIENDSHIP. Sire, who doesn’t love Jane Austen & Whit Stillman but this adaptation from Lady Susan a novella from the divine Austen is downright brilliant. Kate Beckinsale is stunning as the wicked Lady Susan. And what a great turn for Austen whom in none of her beloved novels created such a bitch for a protagonist. And it certainly doesn’t hurt that Chloe Sevigny provides sensational support as Lady Susan’s BFF. My favorite film of the year so far.”
Bruce says: “Jane Austen’s epistolary novella, Lady Susan, is a perfect match for Whit Stillman’s style and ability to skewer social conventions. Stillman and Austen both relish the art of verbal exchange and the humour in moments when verbal communication falters.”
Michael says: “The protagonists of Jane Austen’s novels tend to cause problems for those around them, but rarely our of malice. Such is not the case of the lead in LOVE & FRIENDSHIP, adapted from one of Jane Austen’s novellas, Lady Susan. The Susan in question cares little as to who gets trampled by the wayside in her efforts to find a secure place for her in society, not even her own daughter who she views as competition in her quest for a husband now that she faces widowhood. After a reckless liaison with a married man while staying at his estate, Susan flees to her in-laws’ family home, and discovers her deceased husband’s younger brother. She immediately sets her sights on him, and begins her machinations to catch him in her web. Complications arise when her daughter shows up, rebuffing the buffoon who is seeking her hand in marriage, despite her mother’s insistence that he is a good catch. Susan’s dear friend, the American, Alicia, warns her that her new young beau might be turned by her own daughter, to which Susan immediately begins to work ensure does not occur.