John Pollak

LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP

Set in England in the late eighteenth century the title of this movie LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP is deliciously ironical because it is about just the opposite. But do not be deterred. This movie is full of wit, epithet and epigram. It is loosely based on a novel by Jane Austen.

Lady Susan Vernon (Kate Beckinsale) who is stylish elegant and most attractive, has been recently widowed and is in dire financial straits. Her attempts to alleviate her predicament leave no stone unturned. Her first point of leverage is her daughter Frederica (Morfydd Clark) and she spends some time trying to marry her off to someone fabulously wealthy. Lady Vernon is ever flexible and also explores other options.

She is said to be the most accomplished flirt in England. On top of that she scandalised her marriage to Lord Vernon and drained his fortune before he passed away.  But it is a measure of her mercurial intelligence that she is able to adeptly sidestep the fallout from her conduct and weave her way around an aristocracy that know full well what she is up to but are too polite to do anything about it.

The script is crisp and sharp. The countryside is lush, the English castles and houses are grand, the horses and carriages are stunning and the era is authentically recreated . The cinematography is superb.  It is a fine performance by Beckinsale as the film swings between the dipole of Lady Vernon’s acuity and supreme tactical skill (and poverty ) and the dull inbred silliness of her counterpart Sir James Martin ( who is very rich) played by Tom Bennett. A triangle is formed by Lord Manwaring ..( the film plays a trick on us because it is pronounced ”Mannering” ) a pompous rake played by Lachlain O’Mearain. For lovers of Stephen Fry, he is in there  too, playing the voice of sweet reason ,Mr Johnson.

The plot moves smartly along all the while Lady Vernon calling the shots. Jane Austin’s book has feminist elements. …the men are generally dull and the women generally sparkle are assertive and know their own mind.Throughout it all there are lilting sad arias and grand baroque music contrasting the pedestrian motives of the protagonists.

 

Published by John Pollak

John Pollak did Arts and Law at Sydney uni. He practised Law for a short while and went into business. He made too much money for his own good and today is not so much retired as having little to do. He plays tennis and carries the bags for his wife when she goes overseas. When prompted and badgered he does the occasional review. He goes to Ethiopia every now and then and where, with Professor McGuigan of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, he is bringing the Sodis Program for safer water to the Tigray region. When seen in public he is often hunched over a cup of coffee and a foccacio whilst immersed in a diabolical suduko. Or he is driving his wife to bridge.