Watching: Love and Friendship

To get the titling quibbles out of the way, I still don't understand why anyone would decide to make a film of Lady Susan and call it Love and Friendship (and not even Love and Freindship, ffs!). But, that aside, this is an utterly delightful film; it has gorgeous locations, pretty frocks and plenty of romance, and is also very, very funny. Obviously, I am not at all surprised to discover that Jane Austen wrote social comedy, because I have actually read her, but adaptations usually end up producing the occasional wry smile or maybe a gentle chuckle; this was proper laugh-out-loud funny.

Kate Beckinsale is fabulous as the manipulative Lady Susan Vernon; she's awful but you can't help feeling a sneaking admiration for her audaciousness, and the film shows enough of the difficult position of a widow with little money to feel very true to Austen's depiction of women in her society (and also to occasionally make me feel I could have been watching a live-action version of Manfeels Park). The other standout performance was Tom Bennett's wonderfully dim but rich suitor, although the supporting cast is strong generally, with nice turns from Jemma Redgrave and James Fleet and a remarkably restrained cameo from Stephen Fry. All in all, highly recommended.