#Reginald DeCourcy

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Propaganda :

Mr Darcy: ...

Reginald DeCourcy:

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Mr Darcy (1995) Vs Reginald DeCourcy (2016)

list of handsome period drama/fantasy men | Xavier Samuel as Reginald DeCourcy, Love & Friendship (2016)

[byneddiedingo]

Emma Greenwell and Xavier Samuel in Love & Friendship (Whit Stillman, 2016)

Cast: Kate Beckinsale, Chloë Sevigny, Xavier Samuel, Stephen Fry, Emma Greenwell, Morfydd Clark, James Fleet, Jemma Redgrave, Tom Bennett, Lochlann O'Mearáin. Screenplay: Whit Stillman, based on a novel by Jane Austen. Cinematography: Richard Van Oosterhout. Production design: Anna Rackard. Film editing: Sophie Corra. Music: Benjamin Esdraffo. 

Jane Austen's greatest novels -- Emma, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, and Persuasion -- tend to run to formula. The heroines are all marriageable young women who for one reason or another are having trouble finding a mate. They are usually put in jeopardy of marrying scoundrels -- Emma to Frank Churchill, Elizabeth Bennet to Mr. Wickham, Fanny Price to Henry Crawford -- or fools -- Emma to Mr. Elton, Elizabeth to Mr. Collins -- or in Anne Elliot's case not at all, a calamitous fate in the world of the novels. Eventually, however, they find their Mr. Knightley or Darcy or Edmund or Capt. Wentworth and live happily ever after. The pattern is so familiar that it persists to this day in romance novels, but it's not why we read Jane Austen. We read her for the wit, the moral observations, the deft interplay of personalities, which is why even the best movies made from her books are slightly unsatisfying: Film can't do justice to what's on the page. And that's why Love & Friendship may be the best Jane Austen movie ever: What's on the page in its source, Lady Susan, the epistolary novella she never submitted to a publisher, departs radically from the formula. The titular heroine (played brilliantly in the film by Kate Beckinsale) is herself the scoundrel, more in the mold of Henry Crawford's sister, Mary, in Mansfield Park than any of Austen's more familiar heroines. And she winds up marrying the fool, the wealthy Sir James Martin (Tom Bennett), whom she originally planned as a husband for her daughter, Frederica (Morfydd Clark), after having courted Reginald DeCourcy (Xavier Samuel), who winds up marrying Frederica. Whit Stillman's screenplay is a brilliant transformation of what's on the pages of the source, where the point of view is limited to that of the letter writers. The freedom to manipulate point of view in the film allows him to play with inverting the formula: In the film, Reginald takes on the role usually played by Austen's heroines, i.e., almost marrying the scoundrel. With Bennett's considerable help, Stillman makes Sir James Martin into one of the funniest fools ever, so blithely out of it that he is astonished to learn that Frederica reads "both verse and poetry" and thinks that Moses delivered 12 commandments -- after being told that there are only ten, he tries to decide which two he should discard. He also winds up after his marriage to Lady Susan in a ménage à trois that includes Lord Manwaring (Lochlann O'Mearáin), but he remains apparently unaware that Manwaring is her real lover and the father of the child she is carrying. That last could never have found its way into print in Austen's day, of course, but Stillman succeeds in integrating it into a convincingly Austenian context. If there is a flaw to the film, it may be that it's "rather too light, and bright, and sparkling," which is the criticism that Austen made of Pride and Prejudice. It sometimes feels like a parody of a Jane Austen novel, but a masterly one.

[nerdgatehobbit]

When conflicted over whether to adhere to the commandment to honor her parents (as pressured to by her mother) or to find a way not to marry Sir Martin, Frederica goes to the church and speaks with the young curate (who, honestly, I wish had gotten a larger part even if he’s original to the film).

The second photo shows how she has on a warm shawl over her black cloak.  This is the gold gown from before, but semi-hidden by her outerwear.  In any case, she’s walking back with Reginald DeCourcy.  I do like his outdoor coat, especially the ‘ruffles’ or layered capelet at the top.

[pers-books]

Hi, Jemma Redgrave! Please tell me you’re gay, without telling me you’re gay:

Typical gay - can’t sit in a chair in the prescribed fashion, she has to sit in it sideways!

From the Behind the Scenes featurette for Love & Friendship, which I’ve just watched this afternoon. Amazingly starry cast, amazingly dull film. I actually almost fell asleep part way through. (And Jemma was, typically, not in it enough - though I loved the relationship between Jemma’s Lady DeCourcy and James Fleet’s Sir Reginald DeCourcy - one of those long marriages where the two  just cherish each other.)

[bookwormchocaholic]

The results are in... most would marry Fitzwilliam Darcy.

No one wants to marry Reginald decourcy.

[letterfromtrenwith]

Re-used Costumes in Poldark

Light green dress coat

Shaun Evans as Sir Richard Worsley in The Scandalous Lady W (2015) Xavier Samuel as Reginald DeCourcy in Love & Friendship (2016)   Jack Farthing as George in s2

[ian-thebean]

For real!! He’s so sure his arch penetration (haha) will mortify her to her core and then it all falls apart when she doesn’t act the way he think a “loose woman” would. Like dude. Sorry that you expected her to continuously betray her dissolute character. Sorry you think surface is substance. Skill issue I guess.

The best part of lady susan is hearing reginald say like "god shes the flirtiest and worst socialite in england. Id love to meet her and see through her guise" and then meets her and utterly duped. Like my man was soooooo confident. He thought he was the strongest and smartest man. And he folds like immediately to a few sensible conversations.

[reactingtosomething]

Reacting to Love & Friendship

What Women Aren’t Supposed to Do

The Setup: We’re always excited to bring in another Guest Reactor, and today’s is a long time coming. Keely is a lawyer, professor, and award-winning screenwriter who for all that somehow doesn’t make the rest of us feel bad about ourselves, because she’s also the nicest. Happily for us (and for you), Keely told Marchae she wanted to react to something before we could work up the nerve to ask. Even more happily for Kris in particular, she is like him a big Kate Beckinsale fan, which meant she was game for Love & Friendship. The devilishly funny Jane Austen adaptation, written and directed by Whit Stillman, was possibly Kris’s favorite movie of 2016 (with Arrival being the main reason for the qualifier).

It’s also relatively short, and streaming on Amazon Prime, so you could even watch it right now and read this afterward. Just saying.

GIFs from here. A (very) few post-chat notes from Kris in italics.

KEELY: Ready when you are!

KRIS: Hey! I’m so glad this is happening

KEELY: I'm a slow typer on text, so bear with me. ;)

Me too!

Thanks for asking me to do this. 

KRIS: No, seriously, you’re half the reason I first pitched having guest reactors months ago. But let’s dive in. Was Love and Friendship something on your radar at all when it came out?

KEELY: Yes. I I think I see almost every romcom that comes out. I feel it's important to know what else is being made, what's finding success, what's not, as I try to create my own original modern romantic comedies.

Plus, Kate Beckinsale. 

KRIS: YES to that. I’m not proud to have first become a Kate Beckinsale fan because I was in high school when Underworld came out, but then I also saw Serendipity and was glad to have good reasons to like her.

KEELY: Serendipity is what did it for me too. Fan for life. 

[SPOILERS after the jump]

KRIS: I’m not like an Austen expert or anything (actually haven’t seen most adaptations), but I was fond of what I read of hers in high school, and Matt Quinn [a professor we both had, though at different times] had recommended that I look at Whit Stillman for a feature rewrite, so this was definitely a lot of things I both wanted and needed. Did you like it/what’s your Austen history/can you imagine talking about a Jane Austen adaptation with Matt Quinn?

KEELY: I wouldn't say that I am an Austen aficionado, but I have seen most of the adaptations of her work over the years. In general, I enjoy epic love stories with extraordinary costuming and scenery. As to Austen in particular, I appreciate the strong female characters she was creating long before anyone else was. What I particularly liked about Love & Friendship, however, is that it was more light-hearted than Austen's other works. While it maintained her trademark strong-willed, independent female heroine, it included so much more comedy than typically present in her stories. I thought it was a lot of fun!

And, no, I can't imagine Matt being even remotely interested in Jane Austen!

But he's got a good eye. What Stillman did with this film was not typical Austen - it was a fresh new twist on the genre.

KRIS: (sorry for any delayed responses on this end, I think my computer is just getting your messages slowly)

The lightness definitely struck me too. I loved the portrait-y “title card” things, which were such a good way to telegraph the overall cheekiness of the movie that I assumed they were in the script, but I read somewhere that they only occurred to Stillman after the fact

KEELY: I read the script, and didn't notice them in there either. I liked it too. It added to the fun and comedy of the movie overall. It reminded me of the quirkiness of The Royal Tenenbaums. 

I also read that Jane Austen's original novella was a series of letters, which makes Whitman's adaptation even more interesting. 

KRIS: Right! And there are still hints of that not just in how dialogue-driven and seemingly “uncinematic” it is, but in how a fair amount of the action (like one of Susan’s arguments with Reginald) happens off-screen

Also, the elder Lady DeCourcy immediately became one of my favorite characters in that scene where Sir DeCourcy read Catherine’s letter to her

“My eyes have definitely cleared”

KEELY: I found that scene compelling as well. There was a sense of sweetness in marriage. My biggest criticism of the film is the lack of parity between the men and the women. The men in general are fairly dopey, manipulated by the women around them, as if pawns in a game. 

KRIS: I get that, though I guess part of the reason it didn’t bother me is that everyone’s at least a little dopey, and out of their depth; even Susan sometimes seems to have massive blindspots

I also weirdly identify with Charles’s whole always-has-a-reason-to-say-yes thing

KEELY: Agreed. And that's part of the comedy - the complete disconnect between the characters at times. Part of Stillman's genius in the film is not taking Austen too seriously. However, I always hate to see a man empowered at the expense of a woman, and am equally adverse to seeing a woman empowered at the expense of a man. I prefer romcoms where both of the players learn from each other, where there is more parity.  That, to me, is where the chemistry comes from.

Loved Charles. Dopey, but lovable. And that nugget – always doing the right thing at the right time - is very sweet. And, yet, where's the chemistry?! ;) 

I guess I would say that Love & Friendship played fabulously as a comedy (Lady Susan, Sir James - laugh out loud funny!) but fell a bit short on romance for me.

KRIS: Definitely true that it isn’t really a chemistry-driven movie, and it’s interesting that Susan being this sort of force of nature ends up meaning she doesn’t get a Darcy-like sparring partner

I LOVED Sir James

Always looking up for some reason

KEELY: He's an absolute scene stealer! Tom Bennett could not play that part any better. Genius.

KRIS: I’m not sure if I’d say this felt underdeveloped, exactly, but I would have liked a better sense of Susan and Alicia’s history and friendship

Maybe because of most of my formative pop culture being superhero and action stuff that routinely fails the Bechdel Test, adult me is always fascinated by really well-drawn friendships between women

KEELY: I think the story overall was a little bit thin. I don't say that necessarily as a criticism, because again I think the story works best as a comedy. But I too would have liked just a bit more backstory on the characters. And, being a romcom writer, would've liked to have seen why the characters fell in love.

Much of the courting happens off screen or in montage scenes. To your comment about Darcy-like sparring, I think that, for me, was what was missing.

KRIS: I have So Many Questions about Lord Manwaring

KEELY: Good point regarding the Alicia and Susan friendship. Those scenes were so much fun to watch. They highlight what was truly great about this film - the idea of women trying to find an avenue of liberation in an oppressive, male-dominated society. Lady Susan is doing what women aren't supposed to do – manipulate her circumstances, sleep around, outsmart men, dictate her own future. When Sir James meets with Alicia in the end, he finds it laughable that women would cheat on men. And that's laughable to us! It's exactly what Lady Susan is doing. She's breaking the rules. This is groundbreaking for a heroine of her time. And it still plays today. Which makes it fun. I'm all like, "Yea, girl, don't let them slut shame you." ;)

KRIS: Yes, I was really, really struck by how there’s this surprising harshness built into the very premise of I guess really all of Austen’s matchmaking stories, but that I hadn’t thought much about before this: Susan’s literally trying to make sure she and Frederica have roofs over their head next week, and all of her (hilarious) cruelty comes from trying to make that happen

One of the movie’s shortest but best lines: “We don’t live, we visit.”

KEELY: Lord Manwaring. Talk about an underdeveloped character! Although, I think this works so well for Lady Susan's character. For all of her scheming, planning and plotting, in the end she's just as susceptible to attraction and infatuation as all of the men infatuated with her.

By not knowing Lord Manwaring, it boils the relationship down to its essence - sex. Another rule Lady Susan is breaking. ;-)

And while we're on the subject of Lady Susan, can we just talk about the wicked dialogue?

KRIS: Absolutely

I planned to take notes on my rewatch, which Marchae is really good about, and I mostly just wrote down lines

You’ve touched on how there’s kind of a lack of Feeling in this movie that tilts it into a particular area of comedy, and there’s an interesting balancing act in reminding us that the stakes are kind of brutishly existential while having Susan float so high above it all. And I guess it’s exactly because the stakes are so high that the flippant-ness of Susan’s dialogue is so funny

KEELY: It's so hyper verbal. So many witty, ironic, multi-layered lines embedded to very even-keeled monologues. I was afraid to look away for even a second for fear of missing a line of incredible dialogue!

I love your reference to Lady Susan floating above it all. My favorite line: "I vastly prefer the generous spirit of a Manwaring who, deeply convinced of one's merit, is satisfied that whatever one does is right." On the surface, she's talking about a quality she likes in a man. Really, though, she's talking about herself. This is why I love her. Because she's honest with herself, and she approves of herself and the choices she's making. That's empowerment.

KRIS: Oh that line about Manwaring is a great catch. I also love that Susan gets to be all of those things you say, but also -- in what are some of her funniest lines -- totally unreasonable and hypocritical about some things, exactly because she never stops to question herself. Only Alicia ever manages to provoke introspection

“and as an element of friendship is involved, I’m sure the paying of wages would be offensive to us both”

“A worthy lover should assume one has unanswerable motives for all one does!”

And then there are times when she’s tooootally spot-on, even when her overall goal in the scene is to be manipulative, like when she defends James to Reginald -- “the incomprehension of the rich and easeful” and all that

Susan getting too real: “But any man, navigating the cascades of romantic courtship, and occasionally falling into those foaming waters, is apt not to appear at his best.”

KEELY: "Facts are horrid things!" 😂 As a lawyer, I could not love this line more. I think on some level Susan knows that she's being unreasonable, but believes that the ends justify the means. She says to Alicia - "we women of decision" - meaning she is in charge of her life. She is - like the line above – convinced of her own merit, therefore her decisions must be correct, even if the rationale is somewhat unreasonable.

I’m glad Keely mentioned the “women of decision” line because this first scene is also one of my favorite bits in the movie

Lady Susan is certainly one of the meatier female lead roles I've seen in awhile. Kate Beckinsale must've had an absolute blast playing that part, which she does flawlessly. My only criticism, from a story standpoint, is that Lady Susan's character doesn't seem to evolve in any material way as a result of her journey. She begins the story as a manipulative egocentric, and alas she ends as she starts, with perhaps just a smidgen more affection for her daughter. She's a wonderfully fun character to watch but she learns virtually nothing, which is a bit unusual. Normally I would say this was unsatisfying, but in this case I love Lady Susan so much that I don't really want to see her change. ;) Did you feel this way at all?

KRIS: First, I totally agree with your point about her conviction and self-regard -- and even when she wrongs people on an individual level, it’s hard to fault her for the orientation toward life she’s chosen in the context of her society. (Totally different genre, but I also feel this way about Gone Girl.)

I think it’s true that she doesn’t have much of an arc

But I agree, she’s so fun to watch and Beckinsale just kills it, I’m not sure I’d want to see a different Susan. Definitely not one with softer edges.

I’m trying to pinpoint the act breaks to see if there’s more of an emotional arc that I’m missing, but I think the breaks are the arrivals of new characters who complicate Susan’s scheming

They’re consequences of her actions, but they’re consequences of actions that happen in “zero act” so they don’t have the same cause-and-effect feel that you’d “traditionally” want to see in a straightforward feature

(I thiiiink I’d say the break into two is when James arrives, but could see a case for Frederica. The break into three is triggered by Lucy Manwaring, yeah?)

KEELY: I felt like the first act break was the arrival of Federica (which Susan clearly doesn't want, and complicates Susan's designs on Reginald), but agree that Lucy Manwaring was the second act break. The only small arc that I can see for Lady Susan is a growing affection for her daughter. It's small (if it even exists) - we only see just a hint of it in her final carriage ride with Alicia.  Otherwise she seems to hold true to her convictions and her world view from beginning to end, no?

KRIS: I think that’s right. There’s a suggestion that her feelings about Frederica haven’t changed much when she tricks Catherine and Charles into thinking that moving Frederica back to Churchill is something she doesn’t want, but I think the best hints that their relationship has improved are in Frederica’s attitude toward the end

Although part of that is probably just relief about not having to marry James, and I guess it’s still not clear whether Frederica understands all the layers of Susan’s scheming

I did laugh out loud at the line “I’m not so self-indulgent as to want to wallow in the companionship of a child”

“even her tendency to extreme quiet I’ve grown to find rather soothing” was another favorite -- deeply honest in what I read as an otherwise manipulative conversation, and funny for how to Susan it’s a throwaway observation that she doesn’t realize says a lot about their relationship or her parenting

KEELY: Could there be an argument that her growth is that she becomes more "selfish"? Instead of trying to save Frederica's future by passing her off on Sir James, she takes Alicia's advice to be more "selfish" and takes Sir James for herself. This plays nicely into the tongue in cheek- ness of the film – the idea that Lady Susan has actually been incredibly unselfish for the entire film and only becomes selfish in the end when she decides to take Sir James as her own. Sounds like an argument Lady Susan herself would make. ;-)

KRIS: Oh I LOVE that

She does SO MUCH damage when she’s trying to do the best thing she knows how for Frederica, and everything just clicks together when she takes Alicia’s advice

That’s great

KEELY: It seems poetic.

KRIS: And it’s also illuminating of the Manwaring relationship, like you said -- she’s doing actually a very unpragmatic thing by holding out for a union with this guy she’s deeply in lust and love with

KEELY: I wish I lived in LA. This would be so much fun over wine.

KRIS: Yes, please reach out next time you visit, if you have time! I’m happy to stay on here as long as you like, but I also don’t want to keep you too long if your schedule for the rest of the day is tight. The last big thing I really want to say is that I enjoy how a lot of the first act involves learning about Susan through how other people talk about her when she’s not around. That’s a device I tend to like a lot, but I’m not yet very good at it myself -- it’s easy to make it too transparently expositional, but it works really well here, maybe because it’s being translated from an epistolary novella.

KEELY: I liked that too – in particular, the introductory scene between Lord and Lady Vernon. It efficiently and effectively demonstrates the difference between how men and women view Lady Susan, which is the heart of the conflict in the story.

KRIS: Right, there’s a little bit of a “catfight, maybe?” vibe that could be troubling in other contexts, but here part of the lesson -- though the text of the movie is never pedantic about this -- is that Susan is sometimes harmful to other women because patriarchy has sort of weaponized her talents. And because the movie loves Susan as much as we do, it doesn’t go into like “Madonna-Whore complex” territory.

And it also never makes, say, Catherine the butt of a joke. I liked that I could empathize with her even as I rooted for Susan to pull out a win somehow.

KEELY: I think, overall, it illuminates the superior intellect of the women too. In other words, the women are able to see through her deceit and manipulation whereas the men are not. 

KRIS: Yeah!

The first scene with Catherine and Charles does a lot of work in hindsight. Catherine is absolutely in the right about the facts, but Charles also isn’t wrong in a broader sense about how women in Susan’s position are treated.

Reginald and Catherine’s father is interesting in this context -- he knows enough to think of Susan as dangerous, but isn’t smart enough to outmaneuver her and is maybe the closest thing the movie has to an unpleasant personality so our sympathies stay with Susan

KEELY: Agree. I particularly like Catherine as well, even though she points out Lady Susan's faults. I think it's because the film doesn't fall into the trap of making women dislike other women on the basis that they're attractive to other men. That's catty. Here, the women don't like her because she's manipulative (or a husband stealer). Which is fair. But we don't fault Lady Susan for her manipulation because what other choice does she have in her world? 

The film walks a tightrope here, but comes out well-balanced I think. 

KRIS: Yeah, the whole thing is such a fun and smart and delicate balancing act

Do you have any other overarching thoughts, or favorite moments/lines?

KEELY: I think it's a good illustration of how important comedy is to the success of this genre right now. I'm feeling inspired!! 

KRIS: Keely, thanks so much for joining me to talk about this. And for being patient with the long waits between my replies!

Hopefully we’ll figure out a time to talk about Home Again with Kelly soon

KEELY: Thank you, Kris!! Your thoughts and insights are illuminating - it's been a lot of fun!! 

And, YES, Home Again and Nancy Meyers are my jam. I'll make myself free!!

(Hope you’re reading, Kelly.)

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[hotjaneaustenmenpoll]

[ljones41]

"LOVE & FRIENDSHIP" (2016) Review

"LOVE & FRIENDSHIP" (2016) Review I never thought any film or television production would find another story written by Jane Austen to adapt. Not really. The author only had six novels published. And I was never really aware of any other novels, novellas or short stories . . . until I learned about "LOVE & FRIENDSHIP", Whit Stillman's adaptation of Austen's 1794 epistolary novel, "Lady Susan". 

Set during the 1790s, "LOVE & FRIENDSHIP" began with the aristocratic and lovely young widow, Lady Susan Vernon, being forced to leave the Manwaring estate due to her dalliance with the married Lord Manwaring and the hysterical reaction to the affair by the latter's very wealthy wife. Lady Susan had been staying with the Manwarings in order to arrange a possible marriage to her adolescent daughter Frederica and the wealthy, yet brainless Sir James Martin. But after being forced to leave by Lady Manwaring, Lady Susan and her widowed companion, Mrs. Cross, head to Churchill, the country home of her brother-in-law, Charles Vernon and his wife, Catherine Vernon. While at Churchill, Lady Susan becomes acquainted with her sister-in-law's handsome younger brother, Reginald DeCourcy. Reginald becomes deeply attracted to Lady Susan, who views him as a potential husband or lover. She also continues her plans to ensure that Fredrica becomes Sir James' wife. "LOVE & FRIENDSHIP" offered at least two reunions for actress Kate Beckinsale. The movie marked her second foray into the world of Jane Austen. Some twenty years earlier, she had portrayed the lead in the 1996-97 adaptation of Jane Austen's 1815 novel, "Emma". Beckinsale also found herself reunited with director/writer Whit Stillman and her her co-star Chloë Sevigny. She had worked with both on the 1998 comedy-drama, "THE LAST DAYS OF DISCO". In the end, I must admit that I enjoyed "LOVE & FRIENDSHIP" very much. I would not regard it as one of my favorite Austen adaptations or one of its best. But I must admit that due to its unique protagonist and Whit Stillman's witty direction, I really enjoyed this film. However, there is one aspect of "LOVE & FRIENDSHIP" that I found confusing. And there is another that I found somewhat disappointing. For the likes of me, I do not understand why Stillman did not use the novel's original title for the movie. Instead, he borrowed the title, "LOVE & FRIENDSHIP", from another one of Austen's early works that had been written in 1790. Why Stillman had decided to use this title instead of the one from the 1794 novel upon which this movie was based . . . I have no idea. Frankly, I found it not only unnecessary, but also confusing. I was also confused by Lady Susan's movements in the film's third act. She seemed to travel back and forth between London and Churchill without any real reason. And if there were reasons for her constant traveling, they seemed to be presented with a blink of an eye, due to Stillman's unusual direction style. There were times when I found Stillman's pacing just a bit too fast. This led to my last problem with "LOVE & FRIENDSHIP" - namely its running time. I realize that the movie's literary source is a short novel written in epistolary form (usually, a series of letters or other documents). But a part of me felt slightly disappointed that "LOVE & FRIENDSHIP" could have possessed a longer running time. For me, 93 minutes is not long enough - especially for a lush Jane Austen cinematic adaptation. But as I had earlier pointed out, I still managed to enjoy "LOVE & FRIENDSHIP" very much. Unlike the other Austen stories familiar to me, this tale struck me as rather unusual. Most Austen movie or television adaptations were set between 1800 and 1820 - with the exception of 1995's "PRIDE AND PREJUDICE", which seemed to be set on the cusp of the 18th and 19th centuries. Eimer Ni Mhaoldomhnaigh's costume designs seemed to make it clear that "LOVE & FRIENDSHIP" is definitely set during the first half of the 1790s. But the most original aspect of "LOVE & FRIENDSHIP" was the story's protagonist - Lady Susan Vernon. Villainous protagonists are not exactly new in various movie and television protagonists throughout the years. But they barely exist in a Jane Austen story. The closest she has come to creating a villainous protagonist in the six novels familiar to millions was Emma Woodhouse in her 1815 novel, "Emma". But Emma proved to be more of a misguided protagonist forced to learn a lesson in the end. Lady Susan Vernon, on the other hand, is not a nice woman. She seemed to harbor a good deal of contempt toward others - including her own daughter, Frederica. Which means she is not a good parent. She is self-involved, a liar, a manipulator, a gold digger and quite possibly a borderline sociopath. Some have compared her to Mary Crawford from "Mansfield Park". However, I suspect Mary might be more of an anti-heroine than a villainess. Unlike Lady Susan, she is capable of warmth and compassion. I cannot say the same for this movie's leading lady. And yet . . . unlike Emma Woodhouse or Mary Crawford, Lady Susan did not learn a valuable lesson about her character or faced punishment for her sins. And like many other Austen productions, "LOVE & FRIENDSHIP" was filled with a great deal of wit. I suspect a good deal of it came from Stillman's own pen. Among my favorite lines - many of them from Lady Susan herself: *"Americans really have shown themselves to be a nation of ingrates, only by having children can we begin to understand such dynamic." *"That’s the parent’s lot! We bring these delightful creatures into the world—eagerly, happily—and then before long they are spying upon and judging us, rarely favourably. Having children is our fondest wish but, in doing so, we breed our acutest critics. It is a preposterous situation—but entirely of our own making." *"My dear Alicia, of what a mistake were you guilty in marrying a man of his age! just old enough to be formal, ungovernable, and to have the gout; too old to be agreeable, too young to die." *"He has offered you the one thing he has of value to give . . . his income." Speaking of Eimer Ni Mhaoldomhnaigh's costume designs, I noticed that they had failed to earn any Academy Award or Golden Globe nominations. Mhaoldomhnaigh did earn nominations from the Satellite Awards and the San Diego Film Critics Society. But they are not exactly regarded in the same sphere as the Oscars or Golden Globes. I did come across one blog - Frock Flicks - in which the writer felt that Mhaoldomhnaigh had failed to created historically accurate costumes. Well . . . historically accurate or not, I found them rather colorful and beautiful, as shown in the image below:

Another aspect of "LOVE & FRIENDSHIP" that I found colorful was Anna Rackard's production designs. I thought she did a wonderful job in re-creating the world of the Georgian Era of the 1790s in both London and in several landed estates. Both Mhaoldomhnaigh's costume designs and Rackard's production designs benefited from Richard Van Oosterhout's colorful cinematography. As for the cast . . . I find it mind boggling that none of the major cast members managed to acquire a major acting nomination. Especially three of the main leads. First of all, the movie featured some first-rate acting from the supporting cast, which included Stephen Fry, Jemma Redgrave, James Fleet, Xavier Samuel, Emma Greenwell and Morfydd Clark. But there were three performances that I found truly outstanding. Tom Bennett gave a hilarious performance as the dimwitted baronet, Sir James Martin. His character reminded of the numerous Austen characters who would ramble on, spouting some of the most inane comments. But thanks to Bennett's skillful performance, Sir James proved to be the most inane and hilarious character ever created by Austen. Chloë Sevigny, who had co-starred with Beckinsale in "THE LAST DAYS OF DISCO", gave a very charming and subtle performance as Lady Susan's American-born confident, Mrs. Alicia Johnson. Thanks to Sevigny's performance, her Alicia proved to be just as unscrupulous as Lady Susan, but a bit more subtle and much wiser - as the final act would eventually prove. But the star of the movie proved to be Kate Beckinsale, who an outstanding performance as the witty, yet calculating Lady Susan Vernon. Beckinsale's Lady Susan was not only deliciously bitchy, but also stylish and skillful in the way she pursued her goal that I could not help but cheer her on . . . despite the manner in which she treated others, especially her daughter. To this day, I still cannot understand how Bennett, Sevigny and especially Beckinsale managed to garner major nominations for their performances. As I had earlier pointed out, I do not regard "LOVE & FRIENDSHIP" as one of the best Austen productions I have ever seen. I had a few problems with the movie's pacing and some of the narrative in the third act. The humor featured in "LOVE & FRIENDSHIP" did not leave me laughing on the floor with laughter. But Whit Stillman's delicious screenplay and direction had me smiling continuously throughout the film and sitting on the edge of my seat, anticipating Lady Susan's final fate. However, it was the excellent performances of the cast, led by the superb Kate Beckinsale, that truly sold me on the movie in the end.

[nontonxxi-blog]

Love & Friendship From Jane Austen’s novella, the beautiful and cunning Lady Susan Vernon visits the estate of her in-laws to wait out colorful rumors of her dalliances and to find husbands for herself and her daughter. Two young men, handsome Reginald DeCourcy and wealthy Sir James Martin, severely complicate her plans.

[bookwormchocaholic]

Fifteen hours left!

[nerdgatehobbit]

While it looks greenish in one image and bluish in the other, I’m pretty sure Catherine is wearing the same dress in both.  It’s nice and does a good job of balancing Catherine looking good but making her far less ‘flashy’ than Susan and Alicia.  This hairstyle is one of the most Grecian-inspired looks, and Catherine looks fantastic with it.

Reginald is in the background; I acknowledge that I’m way less interested in the guys’ costumes.  Also a lot of my screencaps will involve the characters looking befuddled because Susan spends basically the whole film running circles around them, although in this case they’re just baffled by Sir Martin.

[anneboleyns]

list of handsome period drama/fantasy men | Xavier Samuel as Reginald DeCourcy, Love & Friendship (2016)