Review of Love & Friendship (2016) by Dawdlingpoet — 26 Nov 2021

This is the sort of period drama I would have found utterly boring as a teenager and certainly as a child but nowadays I'm certainly more keen on. It features a very gentle sense of comedy - its by no means uproariously funny but I did smile/smirk on ocassion. I liked the way the characters interacted with each other, the twists within the plot and of course the visual elements - the fancy costumes and beautiful setting. Its a nice piece of escapism, showing a very genteel society. This film features a good cast and indeed the performances are decent, I'd say. Its not the sort of film I'm likely to want to watch again or will think of much but I can't say it wasn't good and I didn't enjoy it at all, I did. Its a somewhat thought provoking watch I suppose, if you were to imagine yourself as one of the featured characters in the time the film is set in. Also, it is very dialogue heavy, so if your not keen on that then this won't be for you.

I wasn't aware of the original story, so I can't comment in terms of how accurate the film is to the original Jane Austen novella its based on (entitled 'Lady Susan'). I thought this was a relatively decent film that will interest fans of period dramas and so I'd recommend it on that basis but I can't say it isn't at all slightly dull or bland at times, so I acknowledge it won't appeal to everyone, hence my overall rate (7/10).