Whit stillman was probably born to direct a jane austen movie. Based on her littleknown novella lady susan, the film will prove familiar to fans of both the author and the filmmaker, the previous output of the latter in. Kate beckinsale talks film adaptation of jane austens. Lady susan vernon takes up temporary residence at her inlaws estate and, while there, is determined to be a matchmaker for her daughter frederica and herself too, naturally. Isabel asks laura to tell the misfortunes and adventures of her life to isabels daughter marianne. This is by no means a period drama that is content to coast by on its locations and actors looking. It beat the previous record set by captain america. A chronicler of wellread, wellspoken, uppercrust characters, writerdirector whit stillman is perfectly, delightfully suited to jane austen, bringing a cheerful wickedness to her story. Indie film only cared about class in relation to class warfare, and stillmans deb balls and hampshire college grads were odd bedfellows with the eras. Moonlight, love and friendship lead london film critics circle nominations both films head into the january 22 ceremony with seven nominations, while toni erdmann scores six. The sort of movie that fans will quote to each other to affirm membership in a.
Based on jane austens epistolary novel lady susan, written c. His penchant for characters who walk and talk makes an. The soundtrack will be released on may 6, 2016 and is now available for preorder on amazon. Midway through the film gets a needed boost from tom bennett, who plays the oafish sir james martin. The delight of its director, whit stillman, enlivens every scene, so what might. If kate beckinsale and chloe sevigny look comfortable sharing the screen together, thats because the film is somewhat of a reunion for the actresses, having worked together in the last days of disco. Whit stillman adapting jane austen works better than i imagined, seamlessly. Blinder films, chic films, amazon studios, westerly films, revolver amsterdam. This presents a glimpse into the life of laura from isabels perspective. Directed by whit stillman damsels in distress, the film is an adaptation of lady susan, an. He is an oasis in the midst of the arid screenplay, which.
The director whit stillman adapting jane austen is one of those ideas that sounds like its made up because its so perfect, like wes anderson announcing that hes going to make an animated film about foxes based on a book by roald dahl. Kate beckinsale is deliciously acerbic in whit stillmans fifth film in 26 years a mashup of two early jane austen stories. It does not seem a great leap to think of the juxtaposition of beckinsales two roles as not just marking her own career trajectory, or mere differences in the plots of two authors, but highlighting a 200year change in. Set in the 1790s, love and friendship centers on beautiful widow lady susan vernon, who has come to the estate of her inlaws to wait out colorful rumors about her dalliances circulating through polite society. Weve been pretty excited about this movie since we first heard about it a few years ago, because we knew with.
At any rate, this film adaptation is lovely to look at and very fun to watch. Genuinely puzzled, my daughters, whom i had brought with me to the screening, commented on the sea of graying feminine heads. Whats wonderful isnt just that hes doing it, but that doing it makes certain aspects of his talent official. A version of this article appears in print on may, 2016, section c, page 5 of the.