DV Magazine — June 2016
Sensors & Sensibility: Achieving the Luminous Glow of Whit Stillman’s ‘Love & Friendship’

Love & Friendship is director Whit Stillman’s (Metropolitan) adaptation of Jane Austen’s early novella “Lady Susan,” which was written in the mid-1790s but remained unpublished until 1871, well after the novelist’s death. From Roadside Attractions and Amazon Studios, the film had its premiere at Sundance in January and opens in limited release on May 13.

Set in England in the 1790s — earlier than most Austen tales — Love & Friendship follows Lady Susan Vernon (played by Kate Beckinsale), a beautiful young widow who has come to her in-laws’ estate to wait out rumors about her liaisons that have been circulating through polite society. What follows is a hilarious period piece as Lady Susan, aided by American expatriate Alicia Johnson (Chloë Sevigny), flirts and schemes her way through the social ranks, pausing only to snap up a wealthy but delightfully stupid husband (Tom Bennett) — described as “a bit of a rattle” — whom she’d originally intended for her daughter (Morfydd Clark). All’s well that ends well for Lady Susan, who sheds her encumbrances, bests her adversaries, and lands a fortune in the process.

Shot in Ireland by Belgium-based cinematographer Richard van Oosterhout (Rosie, Little Black Spiders) using a single ARRI Alexa XT, Love & Friendship opens with a musical nod to Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon (the score, by composer Benjamin Esdraffo, was recorded under the direction of Stillman’s longtime collaborator, musical director Mark Suozzo). (Read full story…)