I met a gypsy last December; she told me one of three things would happen to me this year, but she wouldn’t tell me which: 1) I would be hit by lightning. 2) I would become Apple’s new CEO. 3)I would enjoy and praise a Kate Beckinsale performance. Let’s just say that during the rainy season, I didn’t go out much. Even so, clearly the least likely of the three came to pass; I did indeed enjoy Kate Beckinsale as Lady Susan Vernon and I daresay this performance by itself pushed Love & Friendship from “thumbs down” to “thumbs up.” Go figure.
Have you ever thought about how much you have to know to enjoy Jane Austen? You’ve got to have pretty good grasp on history, literature, politics, sexual politics, European culture, manners, mannerisms, language, traditional behavior, use of subtlety, irony, and, of course, you need a fair amount of empathy for your subjects. I bet you can name at least ten people off the top of your head who fit the necessary educational threshold and yet don’t enjoy any Jane Austen. Guessing most of them are men, but that’s just a guess. Point is, the enjoyment of Austen is such an increasingly eclectic pursuit that, IMHO, few representatives of the genre actually get more than a cursory, “I liked it.” I’ll try to do better than that.
Based on the short story Lady Susan, Love & Friendship introduces not one, but two different characters as “handsome” or some form thereof in text superimposition; ahhh, this is a different kind of Austen, I see – one that’s interested in merriment and perhaps a shade of bemusement. The action is almost entire driven by Lady Vernon, a penniless conniver and frequent puppet master. Her entire life is driven by securing her future, but on her terms. It’s sorta weird, actually. She has an eligible well-to-do bachelor Reginald DeCourcy (Xavier Samuel) wrapped around her finger. (Is there an Austen term for “Cougar?”) And yet, one gets the feeling that his fault is being too young to die early enough for her.
Confronted by her own scheming, Lady Vernon is apt to announce, “Facts are horrid things.” Every other woman in the story save American Alicia Johnson (Chloë Sevigny) knows exactly the extent of Lady Vernon’s
web-spinning, but manners dictate that nobody do anything about it. Aw, that nutty 19th Century. I wish there were more to this tale, but that’s about it. One schemer and Tom Bennett to show up and play a fool: “I saw the word ‘Churchill,’ but could find neither, just this manor.”
Whit Stillman has oft lived up to his name, providing ironic and humerous conversation in very self-reflective films, the most recent being Damsels in Distress. It’s clear here that he wanted a talkie Austen, where the usual pastoral lapses and generally lethargic pace dictated by the style were edited in favor of laconic, witty prose (almost certainly to hide the fact that there wasn’t much here). I’m a fan of the style; I just felt there were a lot of players without a whole lot of playing; this film requires Lady Vernon to haul around most of the dialogue and intrigue entirely from her own petticoat. Luckily, and very surprisingly, I found Kate Beckinsale up to this task. I don’t expect this to happen again and neither should you.
Manners and scheming in tandem found
Through penniless widow who is not moral bound
We gave it a shot
But that’s all we got
Austen is better when there’s more goin’ round
Rated PG, 92 Minutes
D: Whit Stillman
W: Whit Stillman
Genre: Jane-lite
Type of person most likely to enjoy this film: Austen fanatics
Type of person least likely to enjoy this film: The undereducated
