The beautiful young widow of Lady Susan comes to the estate of the late husband’s family to wait until in high society they stop gossip about her adventures, and figure out how to fix their financial situation. Without wasting time, she decides to find a rich husband for herself and her young daughter. In the course are not only beauty and charm, but also a sharp mocking mind and an incredible talent to weave intrigue.

Feedback on the film:
This film can be called slow, prolonged and even boring. But, despite this, he, like a sharp razor blade – cuts easily and imperceptibly, causing a shock of perception. We are so used to the unstoppable action, to the abundance of sound and color! In a thirst to sell better in us, the spectators are crammed with all these tride, dolbisraunds, aimaks, additional frames in a second. And in the end, we experience a sharp pain in the brain from a simple quiet ornate history story. So the heart can stop, if in the middle of a hardcore concert suddenly there will be complete silence.

“Love and friendship” is a completely ordinary adaptation of the classical work. So ordinary that it looks wild against the backdrop of all these “rethinking” that fell on us. About 20 years ago this would have been a standard production, today it’s practically a kitsch.

Good quality screen version of the Victorian novel – this is all that can be said about the film. How few paintings can boast of such a characteristic today! Classical scenery of estates and manicured landscapes, classical actors’ play, classics as a soundtrack, classical plot, consisting of mesmerizing dialogues of dialogues … And even not a single fight, gentlemen and ladies!

“Love and Friendship” – a screen version of the novel “Lady Susan”, written by Jane Austen. That, yes. The novel was written at the dawn of her work, but it was published only after the death of the writer. The title of the film is the name of one of Austin’s early stories. He was even taken in the credits with a mistake, with what it was written. Very nice detail for connoisseurs of the writer’s work. But the name itself seems to me unsuccessful – it does not reflect the content of the film.

And in “Love and Friendship” (finally!) It is the content that plays the main role. Yes, in front of you, friends, a movie about the plot! I did not believe my eyes, I waited for some sort of quirk until the final credits – but the director, scriptwriter and producer Whit Stillman stood the classical style till the end. And the plot is simple: 35-year-old widow Lady Susan vengeance uses the surrounding people to attach themselves and their daughter.

The production of the film was extremely thin. With an abundance of dialogues, an enormous role for understanding is played by views, sighs. Silence. It’s not easy to catch everything. I watched the movie twice, and the second preview was more interesting than the first one. So much all new has opened! Perhaps this is the main sign of a good movie: when the second preview is more interesting than the first one.

To be honest, I do not really like all this Victorian snobbery, but in “Love and Friendship” it was presented in a somewhat new vein. All this brilliant British age, all this apogee of the iceguide, gloss and refinement are just chess alternately with poker. Every step, every gesture, every word is a game. All build strategic plans and all lie. And the grandmaster in this general game is Lady Susan. She scowls everyone around, she spits out lies on the move, turning out of the most delicate situations.

But I have no dislike for this woman. She lives in a world where bargaining prevails. Let me descend from the sublime poker to the proletarian “fool”: Susan went into battle with only one “dump” in her hand, having only charisma and reason in trump cards.

And she won it! It seemed that from time to time she retreated and pushed into the palm of the unaccepted “retreat”. But in the end you see that each step was strategic chess strategic. Any movement made sense not for one move forward. Some ladies, who naively claimed the title of master of intrigue, tried to unravel the meaning of Susan’s party. But their theories were naive.

I do not exclude the fact that my warm attitude to the intriguer is due to the fact that Lady Susan was able to charm me. Kate Beckinsale played delightfully! It was uncommon to see in the corset an actress, who was glorified by the “fighting” roles in “The Other World” and “Van Helsing.” But never before it was so beautiful on the screen, even in tight leather pants. I am sincerely happy for Kate, for the fact that fate gave her the opportunity to work as an actress for real. Her lady Susan has come out gorgeous!

The schemer broke the bank. At the same time, she did not even have to put anyone to mate and put the enemy king on the tartan of the chess field. Surprisingly, as a result of dirty intrigues, almost all of them became happy: all the men who found themselves in the zone of her “activity”, her own daughter, as well as all the numerous relatives of the Vernon and de Courcy families.

What comes out, gentlemen creators: Susan is a positive hero? And you quietly prepared for us the thought: perfidy is the way to universal happiness?

But!