Love & Friendship (2016)

Fresh and Exciting

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Love & FriendshipIt's a bit cheesy, ridiculous and ironic tale retold in a light manner and keeps it all on surface despite of possessing such a deep and layered concept. Having said that, it doesn't suggest in any way that it doesn't lacks issues; it is chalky around the edges and volatile on emotions. The screenplay is fast paced and well structured; something that is unfamiliar to such genre, and that is what hooks the audience and keeps them on the edge of the seat. The technical aspects like production, costume and make-up design along with background score, is not one of its strength. The adaptation by Whit Stillman is smart and finely edited which latter also helps him on executing the anticipated vision as it grows effortless. It is quite difficult to portray such manipulative dislikeable character (addition to that she is hilarious too in her brutal sarcastic nature) and still mark an impression; is one of the main reason why Kate Beckinsale seems an appropriate choice. The tone of the feature is poised and visually rich that may come off a bit pretentious as it lacks proper technical aspects that should have actually been supportive and instead falls against it. Love & Friendship is not so lovable but surely a trustworthy friend that has an immensely powerful central character that changes one's perspective through its twisted yet somewhat justifying act.

I always like Period drama. This movie is just average. It's just too fast and too many characters to follow. The old English language is a little hard to grasp. I admit that my English is not that good unfortunately. I would have to watch it again to fully appreciate what's going on.

The action takes place at an epoch where people of high society didn't work at all and lived on rents of their estates and property. They had therefore plenty of time to engage themselves in amorous intrigues, seduction attempts and flirtations to pass time leading a pleasant life. This movies shows that kind of atmosphere in an admirable way in terms of sceneries, situations, costumes, rich dialogues and the actors' and actresses' performances. The story in itself is quite trivial but can be pleasantly viewed by the onlooker since it is visually very agreeable. To sum it up the story tells us about a charming young widow who is trying to get a suitable rich husband for her daughter and finishes herself also entangled in some love courtship vicissitudes. There is a brilliant reconstitution and presentation of life and society of the upper classes at that time and that's all.

Love & Friendship follows a woman who, after taking up temporary residence in her in-laws' house, attempts to marry her daughter off. The acting is all pretty good in this movie. The actors largely embody their characters and do a good job of presenting their lines in a believable, and on occasion humorous way. The humor itself is actually pretty decent. During the first bit some of the situations are somewhat laughable, and one character in particular is pretty funny too. He's like 21st century person trying to fit into this time period, and ends up over-speaking to the point of silliness, and it is rather amusing. However, the moment that character leaves the story plummets. It suddenly becomes completely boring, and with the lack of any intrigue caused by the plot up to this point, plus the fact that there isn't any more comedy, it transitions from a good movie to a lullaby. Overall 50 minutes of this movie are good, and 40 are an absolute drag. It's only 92 minutes long, so these are both big chunks. Only one part of this movie is actually good, and the rest is dull. In the end I really wouldn't recommend this movie. While it appears worthwhile at first, it divulges to a bore by the end.