'Love & Friendship' could be the best Austen adaptation yet
By Farran Smith Nehme May 26, 2016 | 1:51pm
Chloe Sevigny (left) and Kate Beckinsale in "Love & Friendship."
Whit Stillman’s debut film, “Metropolitan,” contained a spirited exchange about “Mansfield Park,” and indeed his sensibility always seemed ideal for Jane Austen. And so it has come to pass: Stillman’s latest film adapts an Austen novella called “Lady Susan,” and the result is the sharpest, least sentimental and possibly the best version of Austen yet.
Lady Susan (Kate Beckinsale) has a dead husband, depleted finances and a marriageable daughter, Frederica (Morfydd Clark). She also has a prospective husband for Frederica, the blockhead Sir James Martin (Tom Bennett, in an inspired comic turn), and in her spare time she flirts with her sister-in-law’s brother (Xavier Samuel). Best of all, for Stillman fans, Beckinsale has Chloë Sevigny, her co-star in Stillman’s “Last Days of Disco,” as her confidante. You can have the guys in the capes, this is the reunion of the year.
Lady Susan is so smoothly manipulative she could give Scarlett O’Hara a seminar, and it’s a giddy joy to watch her scheme and listen to her unique take on life. (“Too old to be governable, too young to die,” she sighs about her friend’s husband.) Despite a polished period look, this is no cake-frosting romantic Austen. Stillman’s version shines because like the author, he is wise to how class and money affect matters of the heart.
Kate Beckinsale as Lady Susan in 'Love & Friendship'
Watch: 'Love & Friendship' Official Trailer
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