Plagued with a barrage of falsified rumors, A woman finds herself on a search for “Love & Friendship”. Beautiful young widow Lady Susan Vernon (Kate Beckinsale) visits to the estate of her in-laws to wait out the colourful rumours about her dalliances circulating through polite society. While staying there there, she decides to secure a husband for herself and a future for her eligible but reluctant daughter, Frederica (Mofydd Clark). In doing so she attracts the simultaneous attentions of the young, handsome Reginald DeCourcy (Xavier Samuel), the rich and silly Sir James Martin (Tom Bennett) and the divinely handsome, but married, Lord Manwaring (Lochlann O’Mearain), complicating matters severely, while creating a love square that casts the town, as well as its upper-class citizens on a poignant and satirical look at love in the 17th century. “Love & Friendship” is written and directed by Whit Stillman, and is rated PG for thematic elements.

For fans of English-infused humor, “Love & Friendship” might be the very cup of English tea that you are searching for. Going into this film, I didn’t honestly know much more than what I had been shown in the mostly dark humor inspired trailer, and I have to say that overall I rather enjoyed Stillman’s insightful satire on victorian era love, and the kinds of under-the-table steps that it takes to secure such a love. The film offers some fresh artistic directions in the way it is presented, often feeling like a stage play that we the audience are watching play out before our very eyes. The mood goes from satirical humor to full blown soap opera by the time our characters settle after 87 minutes of interchangable scenarios and situations that is sure to satisfy the gossip lover in all of us. Perhaps the most impressive aspect is that I am the most difficult of audiences to please in a setting like this, but there was something about “Love & Friendship” that I couldn’t take my eyes off of. It’s a production that really reaches for the most in every element of the creative spectrum for this movie.

The first of which comes from some solid grade-A performances from an ensemble cast that really had their work cut out for them. Over the course of the film, I found it impressive that the movie on more than one occasion used no cuts during long exchanges of dialogue back-and-forth between our characters. This is even more remarkable when you notice how the tempo of each scene gradually increases in speed or in emotional tempo, but our cast never misses a beat in memorization. As for the cast, there is more than enough to praise here. Kate Beckinsale plays the most conniving of characters as Lady Susan. You really get an overwhelming feeling of jealousy not only for her friends, but for even her daughter, and there’s nothing that Susan won’t do to put herself first. What’s astounding is that she plays this character so “Matter of factly” that she never truly holds any remorse or regret for the way she plays everyone like puppets. It’s impressive to see the lengths that this woman goes, and Beckinsale makes for the most arrogant of anti-protagonists who we follow every step of the way. Who stole the show for me was English television celebrity Tom Bennett as the dim-witted Sir James Martin. Right around the time in the movie where I was really close to checking out, Martin comes along and totally flips the script and mood of this film on its head. It’s during the second act where the movie finally rewards us with some top-notch comedy that had even this tough critic chuckling in delight. Bennett is responsible for a majority of that. His energetic, and unrelenting personality really infused the kind of energy to get this film through some of its weaker parts.

As for those problems, the film doesn’t have a lot, but what it does have makes this a tough sit for anyone who isn’t a fan of English humor. As I mentioned earlier, the film does start off a little slow during the first act, a lot of which is used for introductions for a large cast. But where the film struggles is finding a comfortable median for creative mood that is all over the place. In the first act, it’s serious. In the second act, it’s a dark humor delight. In the third act, it’s a soap opera. Together, the three different moods give this a feeling of disjointment in the script. I also felt that some of the transition scenes from setting to setting felt a little formulaic in presentation. For the most part, it’s the same wash, rinse, repeat cycle throughout the entirety of the film. We get a scene that takes place in one setting without moving, the characters speak briefly, then we cut to a scenic location where the next scene takes place. If this sounds like nitpicking, believe me it isn’t. The film feels very tedious and often reptitive because of this, and it resulted in me checking out for its lack of depth.

I wanted to talk about some cool creative extras that the film has going for it. On top of this film feeling like a stage play at times, it also feels very much like it is lifted from the pages of a novel. One aspect that not only gives the audience some laughter but also creativity in delivery is pausing the story so we can get a five second profile video of each character, complete with on-screen text telling us who they are and their purpose in the story. This is simple character building without wasting too much time on storytelling. We know what to expect when each one comes on the screen, so we’re always side-by-side with the revolving door of this ensemble cast. Another cool touch included some more visual text, as every time a letter was read by a character we saw it in cursive just to the side of the scene. This sort of puts us in the shoes of the character, as we’re seeing the very thing that they are reading at that moment. Meta comes full circle.

Overall, “Love & Friendship” is an education in love that even Jane Austen would be proud of. If you can get by the humor differences, which is sometimes lost in translation, then this film is a slow-starting, but tremendously witty expose’ in the very evolving game of territorial love.