Friday, February 27, 2009

Festival Reviews for Easy Virtue

"Easy Virtue" has screened in numerous international festivals. Each time it does, the festival provides an independent review of the film to be printed in their programme.

The film first screened in front of a commercial audience when it premiered in Canada at the Toronto International Film Festival The festival's director, Cameron Bailey, summed up his feelings about the film by saying, "Crafty direction, snappy dialogue and a delightful cast take this comedy of manners far beyond the confines of the typical romantic comedy. What results is a film that is as clever and hilarious as it is artfully crafted"

Several weeks later, "Easy Virtue" was invited to the second Middle Eastern International Film Festival held in Abu Dhabi, and a few days later the cast and crew walked the red carpet of the London Film Festival. Although the weather was gloomy, the response to the film was warm: "Things move along at a sparkling pace, and there's an idiosyncratic and very welcome touch in the musical choices, mixing up period gems and recent pop. Noel Coward and Prince? Elliott makes it feel like a match made in heaven."

The reception at the Rome Film Festival was tumultuous with Reuters predicting that: "Easy Virtue," a bubbly comedy based on Noel Coward's play about English high society in the 1920s, has emerged as a hot favorite to win the best film award at the Rome festival, which winds up on Friday." Although the film failed to take that prize, it was rewarded with seven weeks in the Italian Top 10 Box Office.

Most recently, on March 1st, 2009, "Easy Virtue" was invited to close the Adelaide Film Festival. In their programme, they described the film's director Stephan Elliott as "a director who appreciates the theatrical possibilities of cultural clashes and he’s back to his sparkling best in this delicious confection."