LOVE & FRIENDSHIP

Ireland, 2016, 91 minutes, Colour.
Kate Beckinsale, Morfydd Clark, Xavier Samuel, James Fleet, Jemma Redgrave, Tom Bennett, Jen Murray, Chloe Sevigny, Stephen Fry, Emma Greenwell, Justin Edwards, Kelly Campbell.
Directed by Whit Stillman.

Probably, the best thing to say is: attention all Jane Austen lovers. We all know the six classic novels, have our own favourite, and have probably seen many of the cinema and television versions over the decades. We have become at home in the Regency period, in London and in provincial towns in the countryside. We are familiar with the costumes and decor. And we know that there will be various intrigues in terms of relationships, marriage planning, issues of both pride and prejudice.

Many of us may not be familiar with the juvenile novella, Lady Susan, which Jane Austen did not complete. It is an epistolary novel. But, it has been adapted for the screen, given the title of Love & Friendship, by American filmmaker, who has not made many films but is interested in portraits of society, aspects of elegance, and in both literature and in images, Whit Stillman, Metropolitan, Barcelona, Last Days of Disco.

So, here we are in Jane Austen land, travelling from country house to country house, following Lady Susan as she seeks refuge and some security, having recently been widowed. She does have a daughter, about whom she cares very little, who is away at boarding school.

She takes refuge at the home of the Vernons, Mrs Vernon being the sister of her husband. She arrives with her made, Mrs Cross, whom she treats as both and companion and, in a sign of things to come, says that both she and Mrs Cross would think it unbecoming were she to be paid for her work. At the house, Churchill, Susan encounters Reginald DeCourcy? who is attracted to her and she, with an eye to the future and self-interest, is attracted to him, walking, talking, sharing confidences, so that he moves to defend her against the rumours that have been circulating about her and her behaviour.

We, the audience, do not need such persuasion because we watch Lady Susan go into action, eventually deciding that a pleasantly daft landowner, Mr Martin, is the ideal husband for her daughter who leaves her school and comes to Churchill, where she is welcomed and is also welcomed by Reginald’s parents, the DeCourcys?.

One of the great satisfactions in watching this film and listening to the dialogue and its delivery is the delight in fine English language, an extensive vocabulary, beautifully modulated sentences and a great deal of wit.

This is due in large matter to the excellent cast. Kate Beckinsale has had a mixed career but here she is at her best, beautiful, exquisitely dressed, charming manner and articulation but completely amoral, self-obsessed, with an eye to financial security. Xavier Samuel perfectly embodies the young country gentleman, Reginald, earnest but more than a touch ingenuous. There is a very strong supporting cast of character actors, including Tom Bennett lighting up the screen as the gawky Mr Martin and a cameo from Stephen Fry. Chloe Sevigny, who worked with Kate Beckinsale in Stillman’s Last Days of Disco, is Lady Susan’s over-accommodating American friend.

There is never what might be called action in a Jane Austen story though there is a great deal of psychological and emotional action as characters meet, fall in love, fall out of love, exploit one another – with some finding happiness.

To all these extents, Love & Friendship is an unanticipated pleasure.

1. Audience interest in Jane Austen’s work? The range of novels, versions, television versions? The centuries-long appeal?

2. Jane Austen writing Lady Susan, not well-known, written when young, unfinished? An epistolary novel?

3. Whit Stillman and his adaptation, his succession of films, the emphasis on culture, literate?

4. Locations in Ireland, the country houses, the countryside? The London sequences? The early 19th century, the Regency period, costumes and decor, furnishings? Meals, dances? Creation of an atmosphere? The classic musical score and the chorale background?

5. The impact of the screenplay, literate, language, vocabulary, elegance and wit?

6. The title, the range of love and friendship? Marriage, fidelity, infidelity, children, family, seduction and security?

7. Themes of truth, lies, deception? Self-knowledge? Self-interest?

8. The device of introducing the places with name captions, the characters and the introductions and explanations – with touches of irony? The families, the estates?

9. Kate Beckinsale as Lady Susan, the focus of the film? Age, beauty, appearance, elegant dresses, elegance of manner, her way of speaking, her life, marriage, becoming a widow? Her history with her husband, his death? Her being dependent, lack of money? Sending Frederica to school, neglecting her? The affair with Mainwaring? Her going to different houses, welcome and unwelcome? Her capacity for manipulation?

10. Alicia Johnson, the friendship, American, Connecticut? Her husband and his bean godfather to Mrs Mainwaring? Friendship? Alicia at her agreeing with everything Lady Susan said, complicit in her behaviour, covering for her – and her husband threatening to send her back to Connecticut?

11. Susan arriving at Churchill, Mrs Cross attending, unpacking, subservient, no payment? Are leaving? Have been welcome to Churchill, James liking her, the sister wary of her? The household, the servants? The presence of Reginald?

12. Reginald, in himself, age, experience, demeanour? The rumours about Susan, walking with her, talking, liking her, his need to defend her against rumours? The possibilities of a relationship? The effect on Reginald? His parents warning him against her? Frederica arriving?

13. The De Courcys, at home, age, experience, pleasant characters, caution against Susan?

14. Susan, taking things for granted, rationalising her situation, talk, excuses? Her emphasis on income and financial support? The encounter with the man and suggesting he be whipped – only saying this because she knew him? The encounter with Mr Martin, her plan for Frederica? The clashes with Mr Johnson?

15. Frederica, her age, at school, the bad reports, her leaving, the mother’s neglect? Coming to Churchill? Her music, the family welcoming her? Susan, the manipulation about Mr Martin, warning her not to tell aunt or to tell Reginald? Her doing so? Her mother taking her to London? The De Courcys and the support of her – and the father thinking her a nightingale?

16. Mr Martin, a silly-ass, the comic touches, a nice person, but daft, church and hill, Churchill? The discussion about peas? Farm technology? The reaction of all to him? Frederica not wanting to marry him?

17. Susan going to London, Reginald and his visit, her manipulating the time, the visit of Mainwaring, the letter to Alicia, Mrs Mainwaring reading it? Reginald and his disillusion? The Mainwarings, their separating?

18. Mrs Mainwaring, her wailing, her husband and his sinister behaviour, Mr Johnson?

19. Susan, the irony of her marrying Mr Martin, getting security, Mainwaring living in the house, Mr Martin announcing the day after the marriage his delight that Susan was pregnant?

20. Frederica and Reginald, the courting, the wedding scene, happiness – and Susan in the background?

21. A comedy of manners, aristocracy and class, traditions?