Love & Friendship shows just how funny Jane Austen can be! A treat!

This acerbic gem must be the most politely impolite film of the year. Intelligently adapting the monologues of Austen’s source material into dramatic dialogue Stillman’s screenplay draws spicy cream from the milk of the author’s formal experiments.

An adaptation of Jane Austen’s “Lady Susan”, Love & Friendship sees Whit Stillman transpose his urbane, ironic brand of humour to 18th-century England with delightful results. The recently widowed Lady Susan Vernon (Kate Beckinsale), a scheming, self-interested manipulator, comes to stay with her in-laws, Catherine and Charles Vernon, primarily for the purposes of securing her financial future through a match with Catherine’s eligible younger brother Reginald, a plan which comes unstuck with the surprise arrival of her daughter Frederica, a potential romantic distraction for Reginald. Lady Susan must use all her wiles to thwart their possible union.