Love & Friendship (2016) – Review

I decided to get out of my comfort zone by watching Love & Friendship. Normally I’m not a fan of costume dramas. The setting and events rarely manage to entertain me (Amadeus being an exception), but there are times when you have to give movies a chance. This film seemed like the right choice. The reviews were very positive and as the source material, Jane Austen’s “Lady Susan” is considered a classic and this also had comedy, I expected to actually enjoy this.

It is around 1790 and Lady Susan (Kate Beckinsale) has just become a widow. She wants to keep living the luxury life she is accustomed to and doesn’t only start looking for a rich man to marry, but also wants to do the same for her daughter Frederica. She heads to Churchill, where her brother-in-law Charles Vernon lives with his wife. She hopes to be able to manipulate everyone to reach her goal.

 Unfortunately Love & Friendship didn’t succeed to make me laugh. The story is very slow to start and the introduction of the characters, with a portrait and a short description, made me think of something from a book. It simply doesn’t need to be presented in a movie like this as you see a lot of names in a very short time and it’s hard to remember all the information. As the story progresses it feels like parts are missing, resulting in me regularly having no idea what was happening. The only part which did make me laugh was Tom Bennett as Sir James, who kept making silly remarks and also is a joy to watch as he breathes humour. Unfortunately this movie confirmed to me that I still should stay away from costume dramas, as I seem to be only of the few who wasn’t able to enjoy Love & Friendship.