Lady Susan says terrible things constantly with no particular awareness that she’s saying terrible things. The language is pure Austen, but naughtier. People who have some familiarity with Austen but who have not read Lady Susan will be surprised by many elements of the film. Sure I’m bereaved at all, but have you seen my hat? Do I not rock it? In the space of a 90-minute long movie, Lady Susan manages to break up a marriage, abuse the heck out of her “Ladies’ Companion,” flirt madly with a hot young guy, try to force her daughter to marry a older and even richer guy, cause all kinds of marital problems for her BFF (played by Chloe Sevigny), and wear a succession of dresses from widow’s black to fire engine red. However, if she can marry her daughter, Frederica (the adorable Morfydd Clark) off to a rich guy, then Lady Susan will be rich by association. Lady Susan has a married lover, and Lady Susan would find a rich husband for herself to be a potential inconvenience, although she grants that it may be a financial necessity. Lady Susan is a widow with a marriageable daughter. In her mind, Lady Susan is the heroine of her story, and Kate never lets that supreme self-confidence and self-regard falter for even a moment. I believe the key to her success is the character’s utter and absolute lack of self-knowledge. I’ve never been Kate’s biggest fan, but she shines as Lady Susan.

Love and Friendship relates a small portion of the havoc wreaked by Lady Susan, who is played with devastating aplomb by Kate Beckinsale. That purple gown….we wants it…bring me the gown of purple THIS INSTANT, SIRRAH!

The movie retains the novella’s charms (a delightfully wicked protagonist who shocks everyone around her, including the reader/viewer, and more or less gets away with it all) and its weaknesses (a slight and sometimes confusing story that lacks the emotional weight and tight structure of Austen’s published novels). Austen wrote the book early in her life and doesn’t seem to have planned to publish it. Love and Friendship is an adaptation of the novella, Lady Susan, by Jane Austen ( I reviewed it here). This being said, there is a movie, and it’s delightful. Love and Friendship is so full of beautiful clothes that I kept forgetting that there was an actual movie involved. Historical: European, Regency, Not a Book, Romance

Love and friendship summary jane austen