Easy Virtue is a social comedy based on Noël Coward's play of the same name. The play was previously made into the silent movie Easy Virtue (1928) by Alfred Hitchcock. This version is directed by Stephan Elliott, written by Elliott and Sheridan Jobbins, and stars Jessica Biel, Ben Barnes, Colin Firth and Kristin Scott Thomas. Easy Virtue is a social comedy in which a glamorous American widow, Larita, impetuously marries a young Englishman, John Whittaker, in the South of France. When they return to England to meet his parents, his mother takes a strong dislike to their new daughter-in-law, while his father, Jim, finds a kindred spirit. Family tensions escalate. The score contains many Coward and jazz-age songs, some of which are sung, or partially sung by the cast.
The film was screened at the Toronto Film Festival and London Film Festival[1] prior to its 7 November release by Pathé in the UK. Subsequently, the film was also screened at the Rio International Film Festival,[2] Middle East International Film Festival in Abu Dhabi,[3] and the Rome Film Festival.[4] It closed the Adelaide Film Festival prior to the Australian theatrical release on March 12, 2009.[5] In May 2009 it was released in theatres in the U.S.[6]
In the United States of America, this film enjoys commercial success. Sony Pictures Classics paid around $1 million to acquire the film's distribution rights in the United States, Latin American and South African [1]; this film went on grossing $2.5 million in limited theatrical release in the United States.[2]
Plot
Larita, a glamorous American widow and successful racecar driver (Jessica Biel), meets young John Whittaker (Ben Barnes) in Monaco. They marry, and he takes his bride home to meet his family at their impossibly large rural mansion, where seven generations of Whittakers have been gentleman farmers. There she meets her icy cold mother-in-law, Veronica (Kristin Scott Thomas) and disheveled, sad-eyed father-in-law, Major Jim Whittaker (Colin Firth).
Veronica, already predisposed to dislike her new daughter-in-law ("John's floozy") is further disappointed to find that she is a brash American who, like the Major, speaks fluent French. Larita also meets John's former girlfriend and neighbour Sarah Hurst (Charlotte Riley), who is gracious about the marriage. Larita remains calm in the face of her new mother-in-law's disdain, even admitting to being previously married. Veronica feels that John will soon tire of his wife and that the marriage will end in divorce. She works on making Larita unhappy, while making John content to stay.
Time passes, and to Larita's disappointment, John is not eager to leave the estate so that they can find a home of their own. Larita is bored and miserable in the countryside and hates blood sports like hunting. She reads Proust's Sodom and Gomorrah, which shocks her husband's female relatives, and she doesn't want to play tennis. She also dislikes Veronica's stuffy decor, her constant entertaining of her stuffy friends and the overcooked food. Worse still, she suffers from hay fever. She tries to get along with her mother-in-law, but Veronica refuses to accept her and resents her attempts to bring some fresh air into the situation.
Larita makes some inadvertent gaffes, accidentally killing the family chihuahua and giving some joking advice to the younger daughter, Hilda (Kimberley Nixon), that unfortunately results in embarrassment to, and enmity from, the daughters. Sarah comes to the Whittakers' parties, and to play tennis, accompanied by her brother Philip (Christian Brassington), on whom Hilda has a crush. Philip, however, is infatuated with Larita, which further angers Hilda. To Veronica's horror, she and her hunting party discover John and Larita making love in an outbuilding. Larita finds herself increasingly isolated and demoralized by her mother-in-law's derision, verbal attacks and dirty tricks. Larita's only sympathetic friends are the Major and the servants, whom she treats better than does Veronica. Larita retreats to the Major's workshop to help him work on his motorcycle. Still reeling from losing all his men in the war, the Major has lost interest in his home, and there is no love between him and his wife.
The Whittaker estate has fallen on hard times. Larita's handsome and charming young husband, once in the shadow of his dragon-lady mother, loses his independence and seems immature to her as he is drawn into family life. In addition, John's affection for Larita seems to be waning, as complains about his wife to Sarah, who finds his overture inappropriate. When John learns how bad the financial situation is for the family, his sense of responsibility to his family brings him closer to his mother and drives a wedge between him and his wife, as his mother had hoped.
Finally, Hilda obtains a newspaper cutting revealing scandalous secrets about Larita's first marriage to a much older man who was dying of cancer: she had helped him die using poison. John withdraws from Larita, while the Major scolds his daughters for their cruelty. At Veronica's next big party, John refuses to dance with Larita, so the Major dances a tango with her. She determines to leave the marriage, and on her way out of the mansion, she apologizes to Sarah for having interrupted her relationship with John. She hopes that Sarah will take John back. Veronica shows up, and an argument ensues in which Veronica and Larita trade barbs. Larita finally leaves, but the Major goes with her. Furber (Kris Marshall), the family butler, wishes them well.
Writing
Coward's play was adapted to the screen by Stephan Elliott and Sheridan Jobbins and follows the progress of the original play quite closely.
In his autobiography, Present Indicative published in 1937, Coward describes his object in the play as being "to compare the declasse woman of to-day with the more flamboyant demi-mondaine of the 1890's." He goes on to say, "The line that was intended to establish the play on a basis of comedy rather than tragedy, comes at the end of the second act when Larita, the heroine, irritated beyond endurance by the smug attitude of her 'in-laws', argues them out of the room."[7]
Although the play was made into a silent film in 1928 directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Isabel Jeans and Franklin Dyall, this film is not mentioned in Coward's autobiography. The 2008 version of the film, is, however, favourably reviewed by the Noël Coward Society (see below).
Directing
Filmmaker Stephan Elliott instructed Kristin Scott Thomas to play Mrs. Whittaker as a "mustache-twirling... Disney witch." Initially, the actress responded by suggesting this is the worst direction she had ever received, but later embraced her character's wickedness and somewhat haggard appearance and unflattering wardrobe.
Cast
Soundtrack
The score for the film was produced by Marius de Vries and the film's director Stephan Elliott. It features several songs by Noël Coward. It is performed by The Easy Virtue Orchestra - which was assembled specifically for the film. Jessica Biel makes her musical debut singing two tracks which are featured on the soundtrack album. Ben Barnes also sings several songs on the sound track, including "Room With a View", while Colin Firth makes a guest appearance on the closing track. An album of the soundtrack was released on November 3, 2008 in stores and on iTunes.
Also featured (in the closing credits)is a cover version, in 1920's faux-jazz style of "When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Get Going"(c.1986) Written by Billy Ocean, Robert John Lange, Wayne Brathwaite, Barry Eastmond; and Performed by Colin Firth, Ben Barnes, Jessica Biel, Andy Caine (Published by Imagem London Ltd.) [3]
Critical Reception
Colm Andrew of the Manx Independent gave the film 7/10 and said it was "a frothy affair but the source material is good - the script is workmanlike but at least it doesn't try to be clever and the quality of the acting makes sure the lines resonate soundly"[9]. Some critics felt that the movie’s insistent jazz-age lilt is ultimately at odds with a play written in 1924 that attacks the hypocrisy, smugness and benighted values of the English landed gentry between the wars. The screenplay includes scattered Coward bons mots, but the witticisms don’t come as thick or as fast as in his later plays. [8]
References
- [4] Interview with Stephan Elliott & Sheridan Jobbins
External links
- Reviews
- Soundtrack
