LOVE & FRIENDSHIP

Writer-director Whit Stillman departs from the milieu of contemporary New York upper crust for this riotously funny examination of 18th-century polite society. Adapting Jane Austen’s long-unpublished novella Lady Susan, Stillman creates in Love and Friendship a period piece whose spirit is unmistakably modern.

The film revolves around the beautiful and cunning Lady Susan Vernon (Kate Beckinsale), a widow who engineers all manner of devious plots to bend the world to her will and land herself a wealthy new husband. Taking up residence at Churchill, her in-laws estate, she sets her sights on the dashing Reginald De Courcy (Xavier Samuel) and soon has him wrapped around her little finger.

However, her plans are derailed when her beautiful daughter Frederica (Morfydd Clark) turns up at Churchill after being dismissed from boarding school. Fearing Frederica will turn Reginald’s head, Lady Susan sets out to obtain a suitor for her daughter. Enter Sir James Martin (Tom Bennett), a well-meaning but witless older man who is confounded by the fact that there is neither a church or a hill at Churchill.

Brilliantly played by Beckinsale, Lady Susan possesses a confidence, audacity and unapologetic dishonesty (“Facts are horrid things,” she laments after being caught in a lie) that paradoxically endow her with a winning charm, and make her an Austen heroine to rival Elizabeth Bennett and Emma Woodhouse. If you’re looking for a smart, fun and scruple-free romp, Love & Friendship is definitely your cup of tea.

“With his love of fine clothes and finer diction, Stillman proves an unsurprisingly intuitive fit for Austen, but he also knows just how to give her pointed social satire an extra stab of wink-wink post modern drollery without breaking the spell.” – Justin Chang, Variety

Country: Ireland/Netherlands/France/USA, 2016
Language: English
Run Time: 92 min,
Director: Whit Stillman
Rating: PG

Note: This event copy provided by Columbia Valley Arts.

Doors open at 6:30 PM – Film starts at 7:00 PM

Cash bar and light refreshments plus popcorn and other theatre snacks.

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