Adaptation of Lady Susan at Sundance Film Festival

http://www.sundance.org/projects/love-friendship

Set in the opulent drawing rooms of eighteenth-century English society, Love & Friendship focuses on the machinations of a beautiful widow, Lady Susan Vernon (Kate Beckinsale), who, while waiting for social chatter about a personal indiscretion to pass, takes up temporary residence at her in-laws’ estate. While there, the intelligent, flirtatious, and amusingly egotistical Lady Vernon is determined to be a matchmaker for her daughter Frederica—and herself too, naturally. She enlists the assistance of her old friend Alicia (Chloë Sevigny), but two particularly handsome suitors (Xavier Samuel and Tom Bennett) complicate her orchestrations.

Adapting Jane Austen’s unpublished early novella Lady Susan, Whit Stillman returns to the Sundance Film Festival (where his Metropolitan premiered in 1990) in top form with his latest comedy of manners. Kate Beckinsale excels in her role as the deliciously devious Lady Vernon and delivers each line with relish. With exquisite period detail and a script teeming with bon mots and witty dialogue, Love & Friendship is a rare—and rarified—treat.

YEAR 2016

COUNTRY Ireland/France/Netherlands

RUN TIME 94 min

COMPANY Protagonist Pictures

Oh, that could be fun!

By mistake, they spelled "Friendship" correctly. :-)

I'm so very much looking forward to eventually seeing this one!

On a similar note, I hear there is a production of Sanditon coming up and starring Charlotte Rampling. http://sharpelvessociety.blogspot.ca/2016/02/ramplings-role-in-upcoming-sanditon...

Imdb doesn't have much to say about it, so I guess it's a way in the future.

>4 Nickelini: Intriguing. Unfinished, 11 chapters - it will be interesting to see how they handle that.

I thought her Lady Susan book was hilarious, so I'm looking forward to that dramatization.

IMDB appears to have a release date for Love & Friendship of May 13, 2016. See http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3068194/. According to one of the linked articles, it looks like the U.S. distributor is Amazon, maybe it will show up for Prime or something?

Well, May 13 has come and gone, and of course "Love and Friendship" isn't playing anywhere in the metro-Vancouver area, because out of a city of 2.5 million people, we apparently only want to see cartoons and action flicks. I found a website that said the closest theatre playing it is in Montreal, 3600 KM away. (Although I suspect it might be playing in Los Angeles, which is significantly closer).

Sigh!

Has anyone seen this?

I haven't, but I'm really looking forward to seeing it. Chicago has it. I'm also hoping that it gets more people to read Lady Susan - such a funny and clever book.

>8 jnwelch: Ordered it from the library yesterday!

>9 2wonderY: Glad to hear it! I think you'll get a big kick out of it.

BTW, here in town the movie is getting major raves.

I hear that Amazon bought it -- don't even know what that means-- but it looks like the DVD might be out in June. That's good enough for me. Easier than going to Montreal.

I suspect I'll want to own the DVD. I've collected almost all of the others, BBC and theater movies.

>12 jnwelch: Yep! Me too.

I'm also looking forward to Sandinton, starring Charlotte Rampling.

Well, lo and behold, "Love and Friendship" showed up at a local theatre this weekend in my small town of 2.5 million people. And I got to see it, and it was great! Definitely buying the DVD when it comes out to rewatch it.

But I'm still annoyed that I can't find out movie information for the coming month, and have to wait for movies to actually being playing in a theatre -- and no idea how long they'll play for. Grrr.

>14 Nickelini: movie theater schedules drive me crazy too. Around here they don't publish a schedule more than 5-7 days in advance and I need to know specific times if I'm going to get a babysitter! There are very few movies out there that my husband and I both want to see, so it's not like we're going to just show up and see whatever's playing. Annoying.

>14 Nickelini: Just came back from seeing the movie today here in Chicago. I thought it was really good, although seemed to drag a bit toward the end. The dialogue is brilliant, and I want to see it again, just to get the bits I missed.

Love & Friendship also showed up here (much smaller market) last weekend. All of the sudden I have several choices in theaters that don't involve superheroes or cartoons (though I can't wait for Finding Dory to be honest).

I watched Kate Beckinsale last night on the Graham Norton Show, with some light discussion on this being the very first adaptation ever.

>17 amarie: I diss blockbusters and cartoons, but am also very excited for Finding Dory!