‘Love and Friendship’ is a must for Jane-ites, but will also appeal to cinema-goers who like a fast-moving narrative and escapist couple of hours in 18th century England.
It is an adaptation of young Jane Austen’s novella Lady Susan, written in the mid 1790s, revised in 1805 and finally published by her nephew, James Edward Austen-Leigh, in 1871.
The engaging heroine is beautiful young widow Lady Susan Vernon (Kate Beckinsale) who has come to Churchill, the estate of her in-laws, to secure a husband for herself and for her
daughter, Frederica, played by Morfydd Clark.
The waters are troubled by the arrival at Churchill of the handsome, eligible Reginald DeCourcy (Xavier Samuel) and silly but cheerful — and very rich — Sir James Martin (Tom Bennett).
I saw this in the UK and found it funny and entertaining with beautiful cinematography. The premiere is in Aix at the Mazarin on June 21st at 18:30.
But before then, the Mazarin is having a series of films by its 
American director Whit Stillman. The films are Metropolitan (1990), The Last Days of Disco (1998) and Damsels in Distress (2012). They will be showing from tomorrow.
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