Easy Virtue (2009)

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Noel Coward gave lie to the maxim "Write what you know". A working - Class Londoner,he was at home writing about England's aristocracy,rich or impoverished,the Upper - Classes in love and at play.Due to his "Talent to amuse" and his fearsome social climbing he was accepted by those whose lives he chronicled so avidly and was not above dropping a royal name or two. In contrast,very few of his portraits of the Lower Orders rang true. Somehow,one felt,he was happier with a Turkish Sobranie between his lips than a Wills' Woodbine. One of his early plays,"Easy Virtue"is a "cuckoo in the nest" story about a rich American woman, in the manner of the times a daring adventuress,who marries into the English Gentry and proceeds to wake them from their centuries - old sleep.Unbeknownst to her,they are on the verge of bankruptcy. Not perhaps one of The Master's most - revived works,it is a sometimes uneasy mixture of comedy and pathos,a blend that he later perfected - indeed it became one of his trademarks - his style here is in it's relative infancy. However,this production rises above any inherent weakness by just slightly guying the original plot,and by the use of deliberate anachronisms of both dialogue and music that connect the rather creaky play with the 21st century. The wonderful Miss Cristin Scott - Thomas treads a very fine line between being hateful and adorable as the mother - in - law who leads the family's rejection of its newest member.She is a tightly wound bundle of hatred and resentment,but still a loving mother to her children.A superb performance. She is matched by Mr Colin Firth who plays her husband,still mentally crushed by losing his battalion in the Trenches.Forget his much lauded "The King's Speech" performance,aided as it was by that much - loved actors' crutch - a funny voice.Here he has little dialogue,but it's what he does with it that counts.The scene where he dances the tango with his new daughter - in - law after she has been seen to be in disgrace by his family is very moving. Finally,Miss Jessica Biehl,has the balls,figuratively,required to match the combined assault by her new husband's relatives and do things her way. At the end of this movie I stood up and applauded.I haven't done that since "Jules et Jim",and I was a helluva lot younger then.

I wasn't aware that 'Easy Virtue' was based on a Noel Coward play and while the cast included great actors like Colin Firth and Kristin Scott Thomas I was a bit skeptical when the credits spelled out Jessica Biel. Anyway, when I got the opportunity and finally sat down to give this a chance and it's actually not a bad movie.Although the film is set in the 20s, it's quite a modern adaptation. The art direction is pleasing to look at. The sets are lovely. I only thought that the costumes were a bit out of place, especially those worn by the Whitakers. Granted that this isn't supposed to look like a Merchant Ivory production but if it weren't for their properties, I wouldn't have had any idea that they're a wealthy family. Even their maids and butler are better dressed. There are certain historical accuracies that are apparent.But what's delightful about 'Easy Virtue' is the acting. However some of the characters are very poorly written. For example the Whitaker sisters are caricature and even the Mrs. Whitaker character is a cliché but Kristin Scott Thomas manages to rise above it. Colin Firth is excellently restrained as the quiet and traumatized father. The real surprise is Jessica Biel. Where acting is concerned, this may be her best performance to date and she definitely holds her own. My only quibble, which doesn't have anything to do with her acting, is that her character, who apparently is supposed to be older than Panda, doesn't look older than John.Overall, it's a decent one-time watch flick. The best parts are Biel's sequences with Scott Thomas and Firth.

The era between the two great wars of the last century is the period where this comedy is set. English aristocracy trying to hold on to ancestral lands, but having a hard time doing so, is the subject of the adaptation of Noel Coward's play of the same title. John, the heir of the Whittaker estate, meets and falls in love with an American race driver. Wanting to bring his new bride home to introduce her to his family, proves not to have been such a good idea, after all.Larita, the ace driver does not have a clue as to what lengths her new mother-in-law, Mrs. Whittaker, will go to remind her of her lowly status as the newlywed woman arrives to the old homestead. Jim Whittaker, the father of John, is a man that has no saying in what goes on in the house, ruled with an iron fist by his wife. It is not too long after the arrival of the American when trouble begins between two women from two different worlds. Larita, after scandalizing the family when a secret about her past life is revealed, decides to leave it all because she realizes the husband she married care more for his status, than for her. It is the opportunity Jim Whittaker has wanted in order to escape his horrible life.Directed by Stephan Elliott, who adapted Noel Coward's material with Sheridan Jobbins, succeeds in creating a comedy that holds our attention. The theme of class differences has been done before. Surprisingly, Alfred Hitchcock directed the original screen adaptation of the play in 1928. Not having seen it, there is no basis for comparison. What Mr. Elliott achieved was bringing a remarkable cast to do justice to the Noel Coward witty play for our benefit. Some well known songs by Mr. Coward are heard throughout the film.Jessica Biel proves to be a good choice for Larita, the American race driver. She holds her own playing opposite the likes of Colin Firth and the wonderful Kristin Scott-Thomas, who makes the hateful Mrs. Whittaker a figure of scorn, but never descending into a caricature of the character. The English supporting cast, especially Ben Barnes, playing John Whittaker, is good. Kris Marshall is perfect as the drinking butler.

Although not of aristocratic birth Noel Coward became the protégée of Mrs Astley Cooper at an early age, and through her gained access to London Society where his sharp eye and keen perception enabled him to achieve an almost unique appreciation of both its strengths and its weaknesses. He exploited this shamelessly in a steady stream of very popular plays as well as such epic dramas as the award winning WW-II film "In Which We Serve". Easy Virtue, first staged in New York in 1925 and one of Coward's earlier plays, was completely reconstructed to become an almost incredible silent Alfred Hitchcock film made in 1928 shortly before the Hayes Code came into force. It was a daring film even for this period, mocking divorce laws which ignored such trivial matters as love, support or understanding from a spouse, in favour of a black and white judgment based solely on proved infidelity. This film turned on a divorce court action brought by a wealthy husband against a wife he accused of having an affair with an artist who was painting her portrait. Little evidence was shown but it was made clear that the jury picked were likely to side with the husband. When awarded his divorce his wife became an outcast - a lady of 'Easy Virtue'. Both Coward's play and Hitchcock's film contrasted this standard with the failure of the husband to make any attempt to provide his wife with the love and support to which she was entitled. Coward's play went even further, comparing these domestic failings with post-WW-I failings of the British aristocracy to recognise their long established obligations to attempt to create an acceptable lifestyle for all those living on their estates. He portrayed landowners, depleted in both number and wealth by the conflict, as becoming sterile and embittered - with their energies spent almost entirely in trying to preserve their line and as much as possible of their estates. This is hardly the subject for a traditional comedy but Coward's biting wit and mastery of irony made for dialogue which was often both absorbing and enjoyable. .Hitchcock's early film was thought to have been lost until a copy was discovered in Austria, and later featured in one Hitchcock collection. But it would be hard to obtain a copy today, and for most people probably not be worth the effort. By 2008 it was time for this remake from Ealing Studios who have a long tradition of filming major British comedies. Their film-script only broke with Coward's play at two significant points. It is both well made and well acted so it provides very enjoyable viewing, but I do not think it deserves the 8 or 9 IMDb rating that some reviewers here have given it. Its re-written dialogue attempts to reproduce the irony and sardonic humour in Coward's play, but does not always succeed. Some of the humour almost approaches slapstick and is rather out of place in this comedy of manners, leading to a few sequences which induce shudders. Nevertheless its makers deserve recognition for creating a sophisticated comedy rather than relying on belly laughs. I felt that, if the dialogue had been a little more true to Coward's original, this film could have been in the running for an Oscar, but its box office appeal might then have been less. Most North American film-goes remain conditioned to expect the types of situation comedy so brilliantly exploited by Chaplin, Lloyd, Keaton, Langdon and many others - all working before effective dialogue became practicable; and sophisticated comedy still seems to have very limited appeal here.This film features Jessica Biel as an American racing car driver, Larita, who captures the heart of a young and immature English landowner John Whittaker (Ben Barnes). Married, they return to his family estate where he totally fails to provide his wife with any support against the onslaughts of his horrified and gorgon like mother (Kristin Scott Thomas). Larita's only support comes from John's alert and observant father (Colin Firth, giving the best of many consistently good performances) who unfortunately still suffers from experiences as an army officer during WW-I that have left him rather ineffectual. We also meet Sarah (Charlotte Riley) John's former girlfriend and daughter of a wealthy nearby estate owner. We find it easy to understand why Mrs Whittaker with a loveless marriage and facing an unending battle to manage the estates and deal with the debts, is so anxious to destroy John's marriage and encourage him to re-marry Sarah. Our natural sympathy with Larita, who has blown into the Whittaker household like a much needed dose of salts, is tempered by the fact that she is not presented as an entirely sympathetic character, leaving us free to sit back without taking sides and simply enjoy the dialogue (often witty and still showing glimpses of Coward's original brilliance) whilst closing our eyes and ears occasionally for a few shudder inducing sequences. With Coward's plays it is often true that the characters are almost caricatures designed to complement the author's plot, nevertheless the resulting ride remains a lot of fun. The film-script differs from Coward's play both in the nature of the scandal in Larita's past and in the ending. The former change I felt was unfortunate - it opened up a whole new playing field which there was no time to explore; but I do commend the scriptwriters for their ambiguous new ending that seemed to me to be more in accordance with today's lifestyles. As usual the credits were overlong, but those to "the orchestra" were delightfully original. The film probably deserved an IMDb rating of 6, but because sophisticated comedies are as rare as hens teeth today I felt compelled to rate it 7.Recommended!