#Watch love and friendship full movie movie#
#Watch love and friendship full movie series#

He's one of those characters who goes on and on, and just when you think you've hit a pause and might have a chance to finally escape, he begins a new thought or a new story and you're stuck with him for another five minutes. The direction, writing, photography and performances make it worth seeing, though-in particular Samuel's and Beckinsale's, and Bennett's brilliant turn as Sir James Martin, a grinning ninny who's so hilarious that you can't feel contempt for him, only affection. Watching 'Love & Friendship' is a bit like watching an nonexistent classic sitcom that happens to be based on Jane Austen, one with impeccable timing that dresses its characters in period garb. After a while Susan becomes wearying, though not as wearying as she'd be if you were in the same house with her.

#Watch love and friendship full movie series#

The film is more of a series of situations, which might have been inevitable given that the novel is epistolary and summarizes developments that Stillman had to intuit or flesh out into scenes. There's not a lot in the way of story here, though, and you should know that going in. But they're standing right there! And they can't get their minds around how staggeringly rude and entitled Susan is-most of all Reginald, who's played with great precision by Samuel as a decent man who is so stunned by Susan's nerve that he can barely bring himself to reprimand her: he's too busy marveling at her existence. Susan is distinguished by her audacity, not just in her wants and desires but in the way she talks to other people, turning subtext into text in a way most people would not do unless the person they were talking about was in another room, or another state.

Her life force is so immense that it might remind you of how underused she is elsewhere-how many roles she's played that require little of her besides posing and looking either pretty or formidable. Susan is a great character, easily one of the meatiest parts Beckinsale's been given, and she tears into it. He's exceptionally good at this sort of thing and he's at the top of his game here, positioning characters in the frame so that you can see their faces as another person says or does something that's so idiotic they can't believe it, or that is so obviously intended to deceive that they seem to be wondering if this is really happening or if it's a dream. Stillman pushes the comedy right up to the edge of screwball.

#Watch love and friendship full movie movie#

That seems an increasing possibility as the movie goes on and Susan digs herself deeper into a pit of manipulation. Susan's confidant through all this is a Yankee,Р’В Alicia Johnson ( ChloР“В« Sevigny), who likes it in England and would really rather not go back to the states. As Susan circles the poor man like a hawk, she also tries to facilitate the union of Federica and the exuberantly thick-headedР’В Sir James Martin ( Tom Bennett), even though Federica doesn't particularly care for him. Her target isР’В Reginald De Courcy ( Xavier Samuel), whom she meets while visiting the estate of her in-laws. Kate Beckinsale, so delightful in Stillman's 'The Last Days of Disco,' returns here as Lady Susan Vernon, who recently lost her husband and is determined to find a new one for herself as well as for her daughterР’В Frederica ( Morfydd Clark), whom Susan frankly does not seem to appreciate or even like.

It's a richly funny people-watching film, one that happens to contain possible romantic pairings. Most of the time, though, Austen-isms walk shoulder to shoulder with Stillman-isms so gracefully that it takes a moment to realize which author is likely speaking through these characters. 'Love & Friendship,' about a scheming widow who tries to insinuate herself into a man's life, is based on a comparatively little-known and unfinished novella titled 'Lady Susan' that wasn't published until after Austen's death. That describes a fair bit of Austen as well, although you might not necessarily know it from adaptations that concentrate on romance at the expense of comedy. Throughout, the more brazen or ambitious characters run roughshod over people who have, well, manners. They pursue romantic partners that are wrong for them, suffer through relationships that are wrong for them, remain oblivious to better matches that are right in front of them. Stillman's films, which include ' Metropolitan,' ' Barcelona,' ' The Last Days of Disco' and ' Damsels in Distress,' are comedies of manners, about educated, often hyper-verbal people who are oblivious to how ridiculous they sound (even when discussing Austen's ' Mansfield Park,' as they do in 'Metropolitan').