Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: Love & Friendship (2016) - Stillman, Beckinsale and Co. win bigtime with cynically witty Austen adaptation

10/31/2018

Love & Friendship (2016) - Stillman, Beckinsale and Co. win bigtime with cynically witty Austen adaptation

♥♥♥♥♥♥

+ Best Comeback Actress of the Year: Kate Beckinsale + Best Huge Hit Movie of the Year + Best Period Movie of the Year + Funniest Movie of the Year

Kate Beckinsale stands out as a sensual beauty with a sly intelligence about her on this appealing poster for Whit Stillman's Love & Friendship

1790s England: The recently widowed Lady Susan is in a tricky situation with a daughter who is ready to be wed off. She decides to pay her in-laws a visit.

Love & Friendship is written and directed by Washingtonian master filmmaker Whit Stillman (Metropolitan (1990)), whose 5th theatrical feature it is, adapting Jane Austen's (Emma (1815)) Lady Susan, written circa 1794 and published posthumously in 1871. The new title is taken from a story by that name, which Austen wrote for her and her family's amusement as a young girl.
Our heroine here is a scheming, shrewd and cunning person, a 'busy woman' of the kind that men the world over are fascinated by but also terrified of. Kate Beckinsale (The Face of an Angel (2014)) has her career's best role to date here, and Chloë Sevigny (Barry Munday (2010)) is also outstanding as he maneuvering friend. The role of über dunce Sir James, SPOILER whom Susan marries in the end, is played with terrific, thrilled ignorance by Tom Bennett (PhoneShop (2009-13)), and Love & Friendship also has other priceless performances.
The dialog is tight and loaded with cynical wit, not unlike some of the films of Joseph L. Mankiewicz like All About Eve (1950) and The Barefoot Contessa (1954), and it makes this period dramedy beg for more than one viewing.
The essence of Love & Friendship is cynical to the degree that it shows us that its title presentations of its main characters are overrated and often not understood to the characters themselves, people operating to serve self-interest or opportunistic openings they encounter. This wisdom is expanded in one of the year's most bubbly and funny films, a refreshingly vigorous, true bull's eye.

Related post:

Whit Stillman: 2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 3 mil. $
Box office: 21.4 mil. $
= Huge hit (returned 7.13 times the cost)
[Love & Friendship premiered 23 January (Sundance Film Festival, Utah) and runs 93 minutes. Stillman discovered Austen's novel in the late 1990s, but has also cited Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988) as an influence on the film. Sienna Miller was first cast in the lead but dropped out in favor of Clint Eastwood's masterpiece American Sniper. Shooting took place in Ireland, including Dublin, in 27 days from February - March 2015. The film opened #31 to a 133k $ first weekend in 4 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #9 and in 826 theaters (different weeks) and grossed 14 mil. $ (65.4 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 2.3 mil. $ (10.7 %) and Australia with 1.6 mil. $ (7.5 %). The film won a string of honors but no major awards. Stillman has not announced his next project yet. Beckinsale returned in The Disappointments Room (2016), Sevigny in Antibirth (2016). Love & Friendship is certified fresh at 97 % with an 8.2/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Love & Friendship?

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William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

William Hurt has passed away

Born in Washington D.C., Hurt's first film role was the lead in Altered States (1980). Later credits include Body Heat (1981), The Big Chill (1983), Gorky Park (1983), Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), for which he earned his only Oscar as Best Actor; Chilrdren of a Lesser God (1986), for which he was also Oscar-nominated; Broadcast News (1987), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; Smoke (1995), A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), A History of Violence (2005), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; The Good Shepherd (2006), Into the Wild (2007), Robin Hood (2010) and many more. Hurt passed away at age 71. R.I.P.

Ivan Reitman has passed away

Born in Chechoslovakia, now Slovakia, Reitman's family fled the Soviet regime to Austria, then Toronto, when he was 4 years old. Reitman broke into movies as a director with Foxy Lady (1971). Later credits include Cannibal Girls (1973), Meatballs (1979), Stripes (1981), Ghostbusters (1984), Twins (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Kindergarten Cop (1990), Junior (1994), Father's Day (1997), Evolution (1998), No Strings Attached (2011), Draft Day (2014) and more. Reitman's son Jason Reitman is also a great filmmaker. Reitman passed away at age 75. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

Eagerly anticipating this week ... (6-24)

10/31/2018

Love & Friendship (2016) - Stillman, Beckinsale and Co. win bigtime with cynically witty Austen adaptation

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