Easy Virtue (2008) [PG-13] ****

Larita (Jessica Biel) is a racing car driver, a glamorous Roaring Twenties American with a dark, mysterious past. Having just finished first in the 1928 Grand Prix of Monte Carlo, Larita catches the eye of the much younger John Whittaker (Ben Barnes), a wealthy Englishman. Impulsively they get married, and after a short honeymoon they travel to the stately Whittaker mansion in the English countryside so Larita can meet John's eccentric family.

Although John's two sisters Hilda and Marion (Kimberly Nixon and Katherine Parkinson) find Larita quite intriguing, John's mother, Veronica Whittaker (Kristin Scott Thomas), takes an immediate dislike to Larita, and does her best to sabotage the newlyweds and rid the family of her son's shockingly modern bride. Larita understands Veronica's wicked game and realizes that she must fight back if she is going to hold onto her husband. Soon sparks are flying and a hilarious battle of wits ensues as Larita and Veronica try to outsmart each other. Interestingly, John's father, Mr. Whittaker (Colin Firth) accepts Larita, and the two develop a bond based on their shared love of motorcycles and the flouting of social convention.

Easy Virtue is based on a Noel Coward play, and was first adapted by Alfred Hitchcock in 1928 as a silent film of the same name: Easy Virtue. Directed and co-written by Stephan Elliott, Easy Virtue is the pinnacle of the British comedy of manners, and combined with a stellar ensemble cast, the result is a period film that is both slyly clever and well crafted, although some viewers may find it rather staid, understated and slow-moving. Biel, Firth and Scott Thomas deliver their barbed dialogue with wonderful comedic timing. Direction is stylish, costumes and sets are gorgeous and the soundtrack is delightful, with both period songs and Jazz Age arrangements of modern songs. If you enjoyed De-Lovely and Gosford Park, I predict you will also enjoy Easy Virtue.

Easy Virtue was filmed at Flintham Hall, Flintham, Newark, Nottinghamshire, England. The Wikipedia page describes Flintham Hall as a Grade I listed country house in the Flintham estate, on the western edge of Flintham village. It was built in 1796 on the site of an earlier house bought by Thomas Thoroton in 1789. It was expanded in 1820-30 by architect Lewis Wyatt for British Army Colonel T. Thoroton and remodeled in 1853-59 by George Thomas Hine for Thomas Blackborne Thoroton Hildyard. It is built on two and three stories, 11 bays wide and 3 bays deep, with an attached glassed Victorian conservatory. The conservatory was influenced by Prince Albert's London Crystal Palace (the Great Exhibition of 1851) and is the finest of its type left in England. The Thoroton Hildyard family continues to reside at Flintham Hall, and it is now the home of Myles' nephew Sir Robert Hildyard and his wife Lucy.

The car driven in the film is a 1937 Frazer Nash BMW 328. Since the film was set in 1928, the car is about ten years too young for the film.

REFLECTION: After thinking about this film I've come to realize that it is much deeper than a comedy of manners. The film is set in 1928, at the height of the Roaring Twenties, just before the Great Crash. The back story is that Jim Whittaker, was an army officer in the Great War, 14 years earlier. He lost every man under his command in a single trench battle, and it so shattered him that he could not return home, but stayed in Paris after the war, forcing his wife Veronica to come after him and bring him home to his family estate and his three young children. He never recovered from the experience and so his malaise and his wife's frustration fed on each other for the next decade until his son John showed up with a new wife and Jim realized what his life had been missing.

Labels: comedy, drama, period, romance, rom-drama-faves 
Internet Movie Database 6.7/10
MetaScore (critics=58, viewers=71)
RottenTomatoes Averages (critics=58, viewers=64)
Blu-ray
James Berardinelli review