"The Furniture" is our weekly series on Production Design. Here's Daniel Walber...
Chirp.Lady Susan Vernon (Kate Beckinsale) finds the countryside boring. She’d much rather be in London, safe from her daughter and her other dull relations. Yet she’s broke and bound by obligation to spend time at a large country estate. This is the central problem of Whit Stillman’s Love & Friendship, a delightful adaptation of Jane Austen’s Lady Susan.
The estate in question is Churchill, the home of her brother-in-law Charles Vernon and his wife, Catherine Vernon (nee DeCourcy). Granted, as the amusingly dim-witted Sir James Martin points out, there appears to be neither church nor hill on the property. Instead there is only period-appropriate finery and some very subtle efforts to manipulate audience loyalty.
Production designer Anna Rackard and art directors Louise Mathews and Bryan Tormey go about this with great care.
Lady Susan is a selfish,...
Chirp.Lady Susan Vernon (Kate Beckinsale) finds the countryside boring. She’d much rather be in London, safe from her daughter and her other dull relations. Yet she’s broke and bound by obligation to spend time at a large country estate. This is the central problem of Whit Stillman’s Love & Friendship, a delightful adaptation of Jane Austen’s Lady Susan.
The estate in question is Churchill, the home of her brother-in-law Charles Vernon and his wife, Catherine Vernon (nee DeCourcy). Granted, as the amusingly dim-witted Sir James Martin points out, there appears to be neither church nor hill on the property. Instead there is only period-appropriate finery and some very subtle efforts to manipulate audience loyalty.
Production designer Anna Rackard and art directors Louise Mathews and Bryan Tormey go about this with great care.
Lady Susan is a selfish,...
- 9/12/2016
- by Daniel Walber
- FilmExperience
Film comedies packed witty, biting humor and whip-smart dialog are pretty rare these days. So Love & Friendship, director Whit Stillman’s screen adaptation of Jane Austen’s lesser-known early short novel “Lady Susan,” is particularly welcome. With Kate Beckinsale shinning in the lead role as clever, ruthless Lady Susan, the witty comedy is even more delicious.
Love & Friendship is pure fun, a brilliant comedy filled with laugh-out-loud moments and terrific ensemble performances by a largely British cast, making it entertaining even for those who are not big fans of Jane Austen or costume films.
Unlike other more familiar Austen works, Love & Friendship is more comedy than romance, although there is some of that too. The story might be described as a comedy of manners but that label makes this very funny film sound more tame than it really is. The story is set in the 1790s, a little earlier than most Austen stories,...
Love & Friendship is pure fun, a brilliant comedy filled with laugh-out-loud moments and terrific ensemble performances by a largely British cast, making it entertaining even for those who are not big fans of Jane Austen or costume films.
Unlike other more familiar Austen works, Love & Friendship is more comedy than romance, although there is some of that too. The story might be described as a comedy of manners but that label makes this very funny film sound more tame than it really is. The story is set in the 1790s, a little earlier than most Austen stories,...
- 5/27/2016
- by Cate Marquis
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Despite a three-movie takeover of the ’90s, Whit Stilman isn’t a name that offers much draw to those who weren’t around to fall in love with his comedies of manners.
Damsels in Distress, despite casting Greta Gerwig and Adam Brody (and being as good as his other films), couldn’t manage to pull in audiences the way the rest of the films did.
Now Stilman is back again, and he’s offering up Jane Austen this time around. In a perfect blend of styles and sensibilities, Stilman directs and wrote the screenplay based on one of Austen’s less-appreciated works, Lady Susan.
Kate Beckinsale has never looked more impressive, and Chloë Sevigny, while she doesn’t have a lot of chance to show off in the trailer, has shown that this is right in her wheelhouse. Plus, the trailer gives you the chance to catch a glimpse of the supporting cast members,...
Damsels in Distress, despite casting Greta Gerwig and Adam Brody (and being as good as his other films), couldn’t manage to pull in audiences the way the rest of the films did.
Now Stilman is back again, and he’s offering up Jane Austen this time around. In a perfect blend of styles and sensibilities, Stilman directs and wrote the screenplay based on one of Austen’s less-appreciated works, Lady Susan.
Kate Beckinsale has never looked more impressive, and Chloë Sevigny, while she doesn’t have a lot of chance to show off in the trailer, has shown that this is right in her wheelhouse. Plus, the trailer gives you the chance to catch a glimpse of the supporting cast members,...
- 3/25/2016
- by Marc Eastman
- AreYouScreening.com
The work of Jane Austen continues to accumulate fans, centuries after her passing, and the happy result of this is a semi-regular stream of impressive screen adaptations. The latest of these is Love & Friendship – not to be confused with the novella of the same name, which was written by Austen at the age of 14. The film is actually adapted from another of the writer’s early works – Lady Susan – but the title was switched for reasons best known to its writer-director, Academy Award nominee Whit Stillman.
The story centres on the unconventional and subversive character of Lady Susan Vernon (Kate Beckinsale) – recently widowed, and mother of the somewhat shy Frederica Vernon (Morfydd Clark). Lady Susan and Frederica sweep into the home of her brother-in-law, Charles Vernon (Justin Edwards), where Susan sets about finding a husband for herself, and one for her daughter – all the while having a relationship with a man who is,...
The story centres on the unconventional and subversive character of Lady Susan Vernon (Kate Beckinsale) – recently widowed, and mother of the somewhat shy Frederica Vernon (Morfydd Clark). Lady Susan and Frederica sweep into the home of her brother-in-law, Charles Vernon (Justin Edwards), where Susan sets about finding a husband for herself, and one for her daughter – all the while having a relationship with a man who is,...
- 3/24/2016
- by Sarah Myles
- We Got This Covered
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