"LOVE & FRIENDSHIP" (2016) Review

"LOVE & FRIENDSHIP" (2016) Review

I never thought any film or television production would find another story written by Jane Austen to adapt. Not really. The author only had six novels published. And I was never really aware of any other novels, novellas or short stories . . . until I learned about "LOVE & FRIENDSHIP", Whit Stillman's adaptation of Austen's 1794 epistolary novel, "Lady Susan". 

Set during the 1790s, "LOVE & FRIENDSHIP" began with the aristocratic and lovely young widow, Lady Susan Vernon, being forced to leave the Manwaring estate due to her dalliance with the married Lord Manwaring and the hysterical reaction to the affair by the latter's very wealthy wife. Lady Susan had been staying with the Manwarings in order to arrange a possible marriage to her adolescent daughter Frederica and the wealthy, yet brainless Sir James Martin. But after being forced to leave by Lady Manwaring, Lady Susan and her widowed companion, Mrs. Cross, head to Churchill, the country home of her brother-in-law, Charles Vernon and his wife, Catherine Vernon. While at Churchill, Lady Susan becomes acquainted with her sister-in-law's handsome younger brother, Reginald DeCourcy. Reginald becomes deeply attracted to Lady Susan, who views him as a potential husband or lover. She also continues her plans to ensure that Fredrica becomes Sir James' wife.

"LOVE & FRIENDSHIP" offered at least two reunions for actress Kate Beckinsale. The movie marked her second foray into the world of Jane Austen. Some twenty years earlier, she had portrayed the lead in the 1996-97 adaptation of Jane Austen's 1815 novel, "Emma". Beckinsale also found herself reunited with director/writer Whit Stillman and her her co-star Chloë Sevigny. She had worked with both on the 1998 comedy-drama, "THE LAST DAYS OF DISCO". In the end, I must admit that I enjoyed "LOVE & FRIENDSHIP" very much. I would not regard it as one of my favorite Austen adaptations or one of its best. But I must admit that due to its unique protagonist and Whit Stillman's witty direction, I really enjoyed this film. 

However, there is one aspect of "LOVE & FRIENDSHIP" that I found confusing. And there is another that I found somewhat disappointing. For the likes of me, I do not understand why Stillman did not use the novel's original title for the movie. Instead, he borrowed the title, "LOVE & FRIENDSHIP", from another one of Austen's early works that had been written in 1790. Why Stillman had decided to use this title instead of the one from the 1794 novel upon which this movie was based . . . I have no idea. Frankly, I found it not only unnecessary, but also confusing. 

I was also confused by Lady Susan's movements in the film's third act. She seemed to travel back and forth between London and Churchill without any real reason. And if there were reasons for her constant traveling, they seemed to be presented with a blink of an eye, due to Stillman's unusual direction style. There were times when I found Stillman's pacing just a bit too fast. This led to my last problem with "LOVE & FRIENDSHIP" - namely its running time. I realize that the movie's literary source is a short novel written in epistolary form (usually, a series of letters or other documents). But a part of me felt slightly disappointed that "LOVE & FRIENDSHIP" could have possessed a longer running time. For me, 93 minutes is not long enough - especially for a lush Jane Austen cinematic adaptation.

But as I had earlier pointed out, I still managed to enjoy "LOVE & FRIENDSHIP" very much. Unlike the other Austen stories familiar to me, this tale struck me as rather unusual. Most Austen movie or television adaptations were set between 1800 and 1820 - with the exception of 1995's "PRIDE AND PREJUDICE", which seemed to be set on the cusp of the 18th and 19th centuries. Eimer Ni Mhaoldomhnaigh's costume designs seemed to make it clear that "LOVE & FRIENDSHIP" is definitely set during the first half of the 1790s. 

But the most original aspect of "LOVE & FRIENDSHIP" was the story's protagonist - Lady Susan Vernon. Villainous protagonists are not exactly new in various movie and television protagonists throughout the years. But they barely exist in a Jane Austen story. The closest she has come to creating a villainous protagonist in the six novels familiar to millions was Emma Woodhouse in her 1815 novel, "Emma". But Emma proved to be more of a misguided protagonist forced to learn a lesson in the end. Lady Susan Vernon, on the other hand, is not a nice woman. She seemed to harbor a good deal of contempt toward others - including her own daughter, Frederica. Which means she is not a good parent. She is self-involved, a liar, a manipulator, a gold digger and quite possibly a borderline sociopath. Some have compared her to Mary Crawford from "Mansfield Park". However, I suspect Mary might be more of an anti-heroine than a villainess. Unlike Lady Susan, she is capable of warmth and compassion. I cannot say the same for this movie's leading lady. And yet . . . unlike Emma Woodhouse or Mary Crawford, Lady Susan did not learn a valuable lesson about her character or faced punishment for her sins. 

And like many other Austen productions, "LOVE & FRIENDSHIP" was filled with a great deal of wit. I suspect a good deal of it came from Stillman's own pen. Among my favorite lines - many of them from Lady Susan herself:

*"Americans really have shown themselves to be a nation of ingrates, only by having children can we begin to understand such dynamic."

*"That’s the parent’s lot! We bring these delightful creatures into the world—eagerly, happily—and then before long they are spying upon and judging us, rarely favourably. Having children is our fondest wish but, in doing so, we breed our acutest critics. It is a preposterous situation—but entirely of our own making."


*"My dear Alicia, of what a mistake were you guilty in marrying a man of his age! just old enough to be formal, ungovernable, and to have the gout; too old to be agreeable, too young to die."

*"He has offered you the one thing he has of value to give . . . his income."

Speaking of Eimer Ni Mhaoldomhnaigh's costume designs, I noticed that they had failed to earn any Academy Award or Golden Globe nominations. Mhaoldomhnaigh did earn nominations from the Satellite Awards and the San Diego Film Critics Society. But they are not exactly regarded in the same sphere as the Oscars or Golden Globes. I did come across one blog - Frock Flicks - in which the writer felt that Mhaoldomhnaigh had failed to created historically accurate costumes. Well . . . historically accurate or not, I found them rather colorful and beautiful, as shown in the image below:



Another aspect of "LOVE & FRIENDSHIP" that I found colorful was Anna Rackard's production designs. I thought she did a wonderful job in re-creating the world of the Georgian Era of the 1790s in both London and in several landed estates. Both Mhaoldomhnaigh's costume designs and Rackard's production designs benefited from Richard Van Oosterhout's colorful cinematography. 

As for the cast . . . I find it mind boggling that none of the major cast members managed to acquire a major acting nomination. Especially three of the main leads. First of all, the movie featured some first-rate acting from the supporting cast, which included Stephen Fry, Jemma Redgrave, James Fleet, Xavier Samuel, Emma Greenwell and Morfydd Clark. But there were three performances that I found truly outstanding. 

Tom Bennett gave a hilarious performance as the dimwitted baronet, Sir James Martin. His character reminded of the numerous Austen characters who would ramble on, spouting some of the most inane comments. But thanks to Bennett's skillful performance, Sir James proved to be the most inane and hilarious character ever created by Austen. Chloë Sevigny, who had co-starred with Beckinsale in "THE LAST DAYS OF DISCO", gave a very charming and subtle performance as Lady Susan's American-born confident, Mrs. Alicia Johnson. Thanks to Sevigny's performance, her Alicia proved to be just as unscrupulous as Lady Susan, but a bit more subtle and much wiser - as the final act would eventually prove. But the star of the movie proved to be Kate Beckinsale, who an outstanding performance as the witty, yet calculating Lady Susan Vernon. Beckinsale's Lady Susan was not only deliciously bitchy, but also stylish and skillful in the way she pursued her goal that I could not help but cheer her own . . . despite the manner in which she treated others, especially her daughter. To this day, I still cannot understand how Bennett, Sevigny and especially Beckinsale managed to garner major nominations for their performances.

As I had earlier pointed out, I do not regard "LOVE & FRIENDSHIP" as one of the best Austen productions I have ever seen. I had a few problems with the movie's pacing and some of the narrative in the third act. The humor featured in "LOVE & FRIENDSHIP" did not leave me laughing on the floor with laughter. But Whit Stillman's delicious screenplay and direction had me smiling continuously throughout the film and sitting on the edge of my seat, anticipating Lady Susan's final fate. However, it was the excellent performances of the cast, led by the superb Kate Beckinsale, that truly sold me on the movie in the end.

"LOVE & FRIENDSHIP" (2016) Photo Gallery

Below are images from "LOVE & FRIENDSHIP", the 2016 adaptation of Jane Austen's 1794 novel, "Lady Susan". Directed by Whit Stillman, the movie starred Kate Beckinsale: 


"LOVE & FRIENDSHIP" (2016) Photo Gallery

"THE GOLDEN BOWL" (2000) Review

"THE GOLDEN BOWL" (2000) Review

I have never read any of Henry James' literary works. Never. However, I have seen a few adaptations of his works. Some of them had been adapted by the production team of Ishmail Merchant and James Ivory. Aside from E.M. Forster, they must have been diehard fans of James. They had produced three adaptations of James' novels, including the 2000 film,"THE GOLDEN BOWL". 

Based upon James' 1904 novel, "THE GOLDEN BOWL" is a character study of an adulterous affair between an impoverished Italian prince named Amerigo and Charlotte Stant, an equally impoverished American young woman. The movie explores their affair and its impact upon their lives and the lives of their spouses - a father-and-daughter pair named Adam and Maggie Verver. The movie begins with Amerigo's recent engagement to Maggie in London, July 1903. Amerigo and Charlotte, who were past lovers, visit A.R. Jarvis' antique store in order for Charlotte to purchase a wedding gift for Maggie, who is an old school friend. Jarvis shows them an ancient bowl, carved from a single piece of crystal and embroidered with gold, he asserts is flawless. Charlotte is indecisive about buying it, and Jarvis offers to set it aside until she can make up her mind. Although Maggie's aunt, Mrs. Fanny Assingham, is well aware of Amerigo and Charlotte's past relationship, she suggests to Maggie that Charlotte would make the perfect second wife for Adam Verver some two years later. Concerned about her father's possible loneliness, Maggie supports Fanny's idea and eventually, Charlotte becomes her stepmother. Due to their irritation over the unusually close relationship between Maggie and Adam, Charlotte and Amerigo rekindle their affair at a country house party three years later. Although Fanny and her husband Bob Assingham become aware of the affair, they decide to main silence in order to protect Maggie from any personal pain. However, in the end, their efforts prove to be in vain.

This adaptation of James' novel was not as well received as the 1972 BBC miniseries. Many critics claimed that the movie was not only inferior to the television production, but not as faithful to James' novel. As I have stated in other reviews, complete faithfulness to a literary source is not needed for a successful film, television or stage adaptation. If the changes help a particular production, then I will have no problems with said changes. The problem with "THE GOLDEN BOWL" is that I have never read James' novel. So, I cannot decide whether any changes made by screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala either improved or worsened James' novel. How do I feel about the movie? Well . . . I rather liked it. Most of it. The older I get, the more I find it difficult to view adultery in fiction with any single-minded disapproval. I have to give credit to Jhabvala for portraying Charlotte and Amerigo's affair with a good deal of maturity and complexity. Jhabvala made sure that audiences understood the couple's passion for each other . . . well, Charlotte's passion. The screenplay also conveyed the couple's irritation with the Ververs' close relationship and tendency to spend more time with each other, instead of their respective spouses. On the other hand, Jhabvala's screenplay does not hesitate to express the negative aspects of the couple's adultery - especially their careless behavior later in the story and the pain it causes Maggie when she becomes aware of it.

"THE GOLDEN BOWL" is a very beautiful looking film. I cannot deny this. The movie was filmed in both England and Italy. Tony Pierce-Roberts made good use of the locations, thanks to his sharp and colorful photography. But despite the movie's lush color, I did not walk away feeling dazzled by his work. I believe my feelings stem from Pierce-Roberts' limited use of exterior shots. On the other hand, I felt very impressed by Andrew Sanders' production designs, which ably re-created the upper-class worlds of Edwardian Britain and Italy. He was able to achieve this effect with the help of Lucy Richardson's art direction and Anna Pinnock's set decorations. However, it was John Bright's costume designs that really blew me away:





And yet . . . there are aspects of "THE GOLDEN BOWL" that either did not appeal to me or rubbed me the wrong way. These negative feelings regarding the movie did not pop up until its last 20 to 30 minutes. In the movie, director James Ivory included brief scenes of a turn-of-the-century American city as a visual symbol of the Ververs' hometown, "American City". These brief scenes were also used to reflect Charlotte's distaste for the United States and her fear of returning there. The problem is that I found these scenes very unnecessary and a rather heavy-handed literary device for American living during that period. The look on Uma Thurman's face whenever someone mentioned the idea of her character returning to States seemed enough to me. 

My real problem with "THE GOLDEN BOWL" is the strong hint of misogyny that seemed to mark the consequences that both Amerigo and Charlotte faced for their infidelity. It was bad enough that Fanny Assingham dumped most of the blame for the affair on Charlotte's shoulders. But apparently, so did Henry James. In the end, Amerigo failed to suffer any consequences for his faithlessness. On the other hand, Charlotte did. She not only lost Amerigo, but Maggie convinced her husband (and Maggie's father) to return to the United States to build his museum, taking Charlotte along, as well. One could say that Amerigo and Charlotte's fates were the result of Maggie's selfish desire to keep her husband. But when Amerigo failed to inform Charlotte that they had been found out and expressed contempt toward her failure to realize that Maggie knew about their affair, I became completely disgusted. Some claim that the latter never happened in James' novel. Actually, it did. And I can never forgive James' for his hypocrisy and obvious sexism. This struck me as a clear case of society blaming the woman for an adulterous affair.

"THE GOLDEN BOWL" featured some pretty solid performances and a few that really impressed me. Madeline Potter (an old Merchant-Ivory veteran), Peter Eyre, and Nicholas Day all gave solid performances. Although I would not regard their portrayals of the Assinghams as among their best, both Anjelica Huston and James Fox gave entertaining performances as the pair who seemed aware of the adulterous affair in this story. The chemistry between them struck me as surprisingly effective. Jeremy Northam gave a smooth and complex portrayal of the Italian prince torn between two American women. And I felt relief that his Italian accent - even if not genuine - did not bordered on the extreme. Kate Beckinsale's handling of an American accent struck me as a little more genuine . . . but just a little. Her performance for most of the film seemed pretty solid. But once her character became aware of the affair, Beckinsale's performance became more nuanced and skillful. Uma Thurman was excellent as the passionate, yet shallow Charlotte Stant Verver. Her Charlotte could have easily dissolved into a one-dimensional villainess. But thanks to Thurman's performance, I saw a passionate woman, whose flaws proved to be her undoing. However, I believe that Nick Nolte gave the best performance in the film as Charlotte's husband and Maggie's father, Adam Verver. Superficially, Nolte portrayed the millionaire as a soft-spoken, yet friendly man with a knack of making people feel at home. But there were times - especially in the movie's second half - in which Nolte kept audiences guessing on whether or not his character knew about the affair between Charlotte and Amerigo.

I would not regard "THE GOLDEN BOWL" as one of my favorite Ismail Merchant-James Ivory productions. But unlike some others, I certainly do not regard it as their worst. My one major complaint about the film was the ending of the Amerigo-Charlotte affair, which seemed to smack of sexism. And frankly, I blame Henry James. However, thanks to a first-rate cast, lush visuals and decent direction by Ivory, I thought it was a pretty decent and interesting film.

"THE GOLDEN BOWL" (2000) Photo Gallery

Below is a gallery featuring photos from Merchant-Ivory's 2000 movie called, "THE GOLDEN BOWL". Based upon Henry James' 1904 novel, the movie starred Uma Thurman, Jeremy Northam, Kate Beckinsale and Nick Nolte: 


"THE GOLDEN BOWL" (2000) Photo Gallery