‘Easy Virtue’ sounded right up my street when I first heard about it. Based on one of Noel Coward’s brilliantly constructed plays I couldn’t see how it could go wrong. The film was originally filmed and directed by Alfred Hitchcock over 80 years ago and now taken on by Stephan Elliot (better known for directing Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, which gives us some prior warning as to how the film would progress.)
With a stellar cast including English heartthrob Colin Firth and American superstar Jessica Biel it seemed like the perfect antidote for a Saturday night in.
The first thing that disappointed me was how badly the characters interacted with one another. Kirsten Scott Thomas played the overbearing and ice-cold mother Mrs Veronica Whittaker with such gusto and passion that I found myself completely despising her character ( I think that is a good sign) and hoping that she wouldn’t take up too much of the film. Jessica Biel plays the fun-loving and glamorous Larita who marries Mrs Whittaker’s son John impulsively whilst on a racing car tour in Monaco. Understandably John is keen to show off his new bride to his family in England and takes Larita to his parents’ large and daunting mansion. However Larita has no idea that John is in line to be the next Whittaker to take over the house and proceeds to completely wreck Veronica’s ideal perception of her daughter-in-law by reading adult and explicit literature, refusing to go fox hunting and wearing outfits that Veronica finds repulsive.
Colin Firth’s performance unfortunately seemed totally washed out and exhausted in this movie which is a shame because he is usually on top form playing genteel society men (just look at him in Pride and Prejudice!).
I found myself likening this to plays by Oscar Wilde, although I found Wilde’s work to be lighter, more jovial and much easier on the eye. A film worth seeing for the gentle comedy and lovely location, but leave the genius of the double-entendre and side-splitting humour to Oscar Wilde.
With a stellar cast including English heartthrob Colin Firth and American superstar Jessica Biel it seemed like the perfect antidote for a Saturday night in.
The first thing that disappointed me was how badly the characters interacted with one another. Kirsten Scott Thomas played the overbearing and ice-cold mother Mrs Veronica Whittaker with such gusto and passion that I found myself completely despising her character ( I think that is a good sign) and hoping that she wouldn’t take up too much of the film. Jessica Biel plays the fun-loving and glamorous Larita who marries Mrs Whittaker’s son John impulsively whilst on a racing car tour in Monaco. Understandably John is keen to show off his new bride to his family in England and takes Larita to his parents’ large and daunting mansion. However Larita has no idea that John is in line to be the next Whittaker to take over the house and proceeds to completely wreck Veronica’s ideal perception of her daughter-in-law by reading adult and explicit literature, refusing to go fox hunting and wearing outfits that Veronica finds repulsive.
Colin Firth’s performance unfortunately seemed totally washed out and exhausted in this movie which is a shame because he is usually on top form playing genteel society men (just look at him in Pride and Prejudice!).
I found myself likening this to plays by Oscar Wilde, although I found Wilde’s work to be lighter, more jovial and much easier on the eye. A film worth seeing for the gentle comedy and lovely location, but leave the genius of the double-entendre and side-splitting humour to Oscar Wilde.
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