Although it is refreshing to see such a strong, completely immoral female character depicted on screen, the character’s continual performance is somewhat wearing by the end. Beckinsale excels as Lady Susan, and the implementation of her scheming machinations is genuinely enjoyable to watch, bettered only by Tom Bennett’s entertaining and entirely believable portrayal of the lovable idiot Sir James Martin. The film begins with Lady Susan proudly removing herself from the house in which she has been conducting an affair with a married man – as a cunning widow saddled with a daughter whom she clearly dislikes and no immediate prospects, what else has she to do but aim for marriage? Her blatant flirtations and manipulations of men cause her to be later on characterised as ‘genius of the evil kind’ by her suffering sister-in-law.Īlthough Love and Friendship is, in effect, a romantic comedy, it suffers from none of the predictability or sentimentality that typically plagues the genre. Kate Beckinsale’s turn as the brilliantly devious and unscrupulous Lady Susan Vernon completes a surprisingly modern take on relationships, considering much of the crisp dialogue is sourced directly from Austen’s own novel. Whit Stillman’s adaptation of Jane Austen’s early epistolary narrative Lady Susan is a prime example of just how witty Austen can be, a fact usually lost in the Regency innocence that tends to epitomise most adaptations.

Love and Friendship is funny – in fact, it’s very funny.

Love and friendship review nyt