Love & Friendship is a 2016 period romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Whit Stillman. Based on Jane Austen's epistolary novel Lady Susan, written c. 1794, the film stars Kate Beckinsale, Chloë Sevigny, Xavier Samuel, and Emma Greenwell. The film follows recently widowed Lady Susan in her intrepid and calculating exploits to secure suitably wealthy husbands for her daughter and herself. Although adapted from Lady Susan, the film was produced under the borrowed title of Austen's juvenile story Love and Freindship.
The film premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival. Released theatrically on 13 May 2016, by Roadside Attractions and Amazon Studios in North America, the film received positive reviews and grossed $23.9 million.
Plot In the 1790s, the recently widowed and relatively young Lady Susan Vernon seeks a wealthy match for her only daughter, Frederica, and a wealthy husband for herself, to renew her fortunes. After being turned out of the Manwaring estate due to her dalliance with the married Lord Manwaring, she and her unpaid companion Mrs Cross head to Churchill, the country home of her brother-in-law (her late husband's brother), Charles Vernon, and his wife Catherine Vernon (née DeCourcy). Lady Susan frankly discusses her plans during visits to her trusted friend, the American Mrs Johnson.
Catherine and her younger brother, Reginald DeCourcy, are aware of Lady Susan's reputation as a determined and accomplished flirt. Under the influence of the amiable but dull Charles, Reginald agrees to keep an open mind, and soon finds himself enchanted with Lady Susan. When Reginald's father, Sir Reginald DeCourcy, learns of this, he warns Reginald against marrying Lady Susan lest the family name be sullied. Reginald says their relationship is not romantic; however, he and Lady Susan soon reach a romantic understanding.
Lady Susan's daughter, Frederica, who has been attending a boarding school which her mother cannot afford, runs away and is expelled. Frederica arrives at Churchill followed by Sir James Martin, who is both very wealthy and foolish. For example, upon arrival at Churchill, he explains that he struggled to find the estate as he had been looking for "church hill", a church and/or a hill.
Frederica confides in Reginald that she does not want to marry Sir James because he is "silly", but she fears her mother's determination to marry her off. Surprised, he decides to take up Frederica's case with Lady Susan and, after their confrontation, he decides to leave. However, Lady Susan smooths things over with him, then plots to punish him for his disloyalty.
When both Lady Susan and Reginald are in London, she seeks to delay their marriage, saying society does not yet approve of them (presumably because she is much older). Then, Lady Susan's relationship with Lord Manwaring is exposed when Lady Manwaring discovers the lovers are meeting in private, facilitated by Lady Susan's friend Mrs Johnson. Lady Manwaring appeals to her guardian, Mr Johnson, to confront them.
Reginald arrives with a letter from Lady Susan to Mrs Johnson and overhears Lady Manwaring crying. She emerges with Mr Johnson, who says he cannot help her, and in desperation she snatches the letter Mrs Johnson holds, recognising the handwriting. She insists her husband is with Lady Susan, but Reginald claims he has just left her, and she is "completely alone" for even the servants have been dismissed. Lady Manwaring is suspicious and demands a footman tell her what he saw at the house. He says, after Reginald and the servants left, he saw Lord Manwaring arrive and enter the house.
Lady Manwaring reads the letter which reveals Lady Susan asking her friend Mrs Johnson to welcome Reginald into her house and "keep him there all evening if you can, Manwaring comes this very hour". Reginald departs in anger and Mr Johnson berates his wife for her involvement with Lady Susan (who later says of him, he is "too old to be governable and too young to die").
Narrowly missing a departing Lord Manwaring, Reginald confronts Lady Susan, who says they cannot be married after all as he doubts her word and cannot trust her.
Reginald returns to his sister Catherine's home. Lady Susan marries Sir James, and Reginald falls in love with Frederica, and the two are soon married. Later, Sir James confides to Mrs Johnson his joy at the prospect of becoming a father, having been informed on the day after his marriage that his new wife is with child.
Sir James goes on to speak fondly of his newfound friend and long-term houseguest, Lord Manwaring, who was invited to stay by Lady Susan, and with whom he shares a love of hunting.
Cast
Kate Beckinsale as Lady Susan Vernon Chloë Sevigny as Alicia Johnson Xavier Samuel as Reginald DeCourcy Stephen Fry as Mr. Johnson Emma Greenwell as Catherine DeCourcy Vernon Morfydd Clark as Frederica Vernon James Fleet as Sir Reginald DeCourcy Jemma Redgrave as Lady DeCourcy Tom Bennett as Sir James Martin Justin Edwards as Charles Vernon Jenn Murray as Lady Manwaring Lochlann O'Mearáin as Lord Manwaring Sophie Radermacher as Miss Maria Manwaring Kelly Campbell as Mrs. Cross Conor MacNeill as The Young Curate
Production
Conception and development
In May 2013, Whit Stillman announced his plans to shoot a period comedy. In July, it was confirmed that Stillman was filming an adaptation of Jane Austen's Lady Susan, titled Love & Friendship. Stillman hoped to shoot the film in Britain or Ireland. Unlike other Austen novels, Lady Susan has rarely been adapted for the screen. In the late 1990s, after he had finished reading Austen's Northanger Abbey, Stillman found Lady Susan was included in the same edition and he became "fascinated" with the story, believing it "was too good not to be known". Stillman thought the novel had some good features, but was inaccessible, causing it to be overlooked by filmmakers. During interviews at the International Film Festival Rotterdam screening of the film, Stillman said that although the literary influences for the film were clearly taken from Jane Austen, the film's cinematographic influences were developed from the Michael Caine and Steve Martin film Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.
Casting In February 2014, Amanda Dobbins of New York magazine reported actress Sienna Miller had been cast as Lady Susan, while Chloë Sevigny would play Susan's close friend Alicia. Miller later left the project and Kate Beckinsale replaced her as Lady Susan in 2015. Beckinsale and Sevigny previously worked together on Stillman's The Last Days of Disco. Xavier Samuel and Stephen Fry joined the cast as Reginald and Mr. Johnson respectively. Other cast members include Emma Greenwell as Catherine Vernon, Morfydd Clark as Frederica, Jemma Redgrave as Lady DeCourcy, James Fleet as Sir Reginald DeCourcy, Tom Bennett as Sir James Martin and Justin Edwards as Charles Vernon. Stillman later confirmed that Clark was the first actor to be cast, followed by Fleet and Redgrave. The director said he met with two other actors for the part of Sir James Martin, before Bennett was cast in the role.
Emily St. James writing for Vox referred to the successful aspects of Stillman's casting for the film stating: Love & Friendship is filled with (casting) ringers. Stephen Fry pops up in what amounts to a one-scene cameo, and he's wickedly funny. Chloë Sevigny is great as his wife, Susan's American friend who finds herself constantly dealing with the protagonist's latest schemes. And Xavier Samuel is deliciously oblivious as the young man Susan tries to wed. But even the actors you've never heard of give wonderful performances. Love & Friendship marks one of Morfydd Clark's first film roles, and as Frederica she manages to transform the character's innocence into the basis for comedy instead of just a metaphor for everything Susan might destroy. That same level of skill is evident in every member of the ensemble.
Filming The film received funding from Arte, the Irish Film Board, and the Netherlands Film Fund. Principal photography was originally scheduled to begin in the summer of 2014, but started on 2 February 2015 in Dublin. Filming also took place in the coastal town of Donabate, and at Russborough House, which was used as the exterior for two different residences in the film, and at Howth Castle, which featured as the exterior of 'Churchill'. For three weeks, scenes were shot on-location at the Newbridge Estate. On 16 March 2015, it was announced that filming on the production had wrapped. In a thirty-minute interview for AOL Build released on 12 May 2016 on YouTube between Stillman and Beckinsale, Beckinsale indicated that filming was completed in 27 days. The film's assembly edit took place at the EGG Post Production house in Dublin, and continued in France and the Netherlands.
Costume design
Irish costume designer Eimer Ní Mhaoldomhnaigh designed the clothing for the film. She used bold colours to show Lady Susan's transition from a widow in mourning to "a confident society lady". When the character is in the countryside, she wears mostly black, grey and mauve clothing, matching the mourning clothes of the period, but once she is in London, the colours become brighter and she wears more corseted dresses. The bold hues used for Lady Susan contrast with the more subtle blues, gold and bronze colours of Alicia Johnson's clothing. Ní Mhaoldomhnaigh used the colours to show Alicia is not fully comfortable with country living, as she comes from the city. The designer also wanted Alicia to appear "quite ornamental" and as if she spent a long time choosing what to wear. Ní Mhaoldomhnaigh said, "The brilliant thing about this film – because all the characters are heightened versions of themselves, it gives you leeway to be bold and use color and texture ... so the costumes can be heightened as well."
Music
Stillman's regular collaborator Mark Suozzo composed Love & Friendship. French composer Benjamin Esdraffo wrote additional pieces, including the opening harp theme. The score was recorded in August 2015 at the Windmill Lane Studios in Dublin, with Suozzo conducting the Irish Film Orchestra. Suozzo added that 'the music of Love & Friendship brings the Georgian era to life through a variety of musical styles'. The soundtrack includes original compositions and well-known and obscure classical pieces by William Boyce, George Frideric Handel, Henry Purcell, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Vivaldi. It was released on 6 May 2016.
Release UK sales agency Protagonist Pictures represented the film at the European Film Market during the Berlin International Film Festival. Amazon Studios acquired the North American rights to the film, and teamed up with Roadside Attractions for its theatrical release. While Curzon Artificial Eye handled the film's UK release. Love & Friendship had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on 23 January 2016. The film received a limited release in the US on 13 May 2016, playing in four theatres, before going wide on 26 May 2016 to 826 cinemas.
A short six-minute documentary of the making of the film titled Behind the Scenes was released in May 2016, which included interviews with the director, and the film's leading and supporting actors, including Stephen Fry.
Home media The DVD and Blu-ray release of the film was released on 6 September 2016. It became available on Amazon Prime Video on 20 October 2016.
Novelisation