EASY VIRTUE

Director: Stephan Elliot
Cast: Jessica Biel, Colin Firth, Kristin Scott Thomas, Ben Barnes
Run Time: 93 minutes
Country: United Kingdom
Year: 2009
Language: English
Rating: G (Nudity)

A Special Presentation at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival®, Easy Virtue has a pedigree to be envied: based on the play by Noel Coward, which was first adapted by Alfred Hitchcock during the silent era, the film is the epitome of British wit. Combine those names with a cast led by Colin Firth (Love, Actually; Girl with a Pearl Earring), Kristin Scott Thomas (The English Patient, I’ve Loved You So Long) and – as the American interloper – Jessica Biel (Elizabethtown, The Illusionist), and the result offers all the delights of wicked, high-toned comedy. Bringing it all together is Stephan Elliott, a director with a sure hand for such giddy, savage fare, best known for The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.

Larita (Biel), the American, is a Jazz Age race-car driver. After impulsively tying the knot in Monte Carlo with young Englishman John Whittaker (Ben Barnes, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian), she travels to England to meet her groom’s privileged and batty family. Naturally, they hate her. John’s mother, Mrs. Whittaker (Scott Thomas), and his sisters Hilda and Marion (Kimberly Nixon and Katherine Parkinson) do their best to sabotage the newlyweds and banish their brother’s shocking new wife. Only in the family’s patriarch, Mr. Whittaker (Firth), does the young bride find acceptance, and the two develop a bond founded on their mutual appreciation for motorbikes and flouting social etiquette.

Elliott directs the ensemble cast with verve bordering on glee, bringing his own wit and style to this sparkling Noel Coward confection. Scott Thomas delivers her barbed dialogue with delicious timing, while Firth counters her pinched sophistication with droll one-liners. The look of the Whittaker estate is gorgeous, the visual style quotes and plays with the conventions of the era, and the music is positively radical. Crafty direction, snappy dialogue and a delightful cast take this comedy of manners far beyond the confines of the typical romantic comedy. What results is a film that is as clever and hilarious as it is artfully crafted.

“Elliott has created a wonderfully rich battle for propriety in Easy Virtue. The humor might sting, but the pain is worth the pleasure.” - Los Angeles Times

Reviews: www.metacritic.com/film/titles/easyvirtue

Official Site: www.easyvirtuethemovie.co.uk

 

Summer Cinema 2009 July 6 - EASY VIRTUE July 27 - SUGAR August 17 - IS ANYBODY THERE?