In "Easy Virtue", Noel Coward created a thoroughly modern story about passion and hypocrisy. Stephan Elliott's beautiful new film starring Jessica Biel, Ben Barnes, Colin Firth and Kristin Scott Thomas picks up those themes in a complex, moving and at times hilarious movie. Produced by Barnaby Thompson for Ealing Studios, and co-written with Sheridan Jobbins, "Easy Virtue" elicits discussion long after the last image has flickered away.
The prestigious Broadcast Film Critics Association which is culled from the most senior reviewers around the United States is currently rating "Easy Virtue" at a high of 77. This is a culmination of terrific reviews which began back in Toronto with high praise from the three major industry magazines: Variety, Screen Daily and The Hollywood Reporter.
With the release of the film over the Memorial Weekend (May 22nd, 2009) in Los Angeles and New York, other great critics have waded in in support of the film.
In the L.A. Times, Betsey Sharkey writes that "There are probably no better hands to entrust virtue o any sort to than those of writer-director Stephan Elliott... [He has] created a wonderfully rich battle for propriety in "Easy Virtue." The humor might sting, but the pain is worth the pleasure."
In USA Today, senior reviewer Claudia Puig says "Easy Virtue goes down as light a fizzily as a flute of Champagne tossed back in an airy drawing room."
Ella Taylor at The Village Voice described it as "deliciously cheeky" with a "uniformly great cast."
Rex Reed at in the The Observer writes, "The stifling repression endemic to the British class system is so impeccably preserved that it connects with modern audiences, and young people allergic to period pieces are likely to embrace the message about the need to break from the shackles of the past and open a window to a brave new future." ... "Easy Virtue is romantic, clever and artfully crafted. All told, a sparkling, classy and ultimately satisfying experience."
Also New York Times critic Stephen Holden made it the pick of the week with four out of five stars. "The film uses ingenious visual symbols - curved oval mirrors and stuffed animals - to suggest the Whittakers' warped Victorian values and the deadness of a culture Larita finds unendurable"
Perhaps best of all for a film which is designed to attract a younger audience as well as the traditional demographic for period drama - Rolling Stone Magazines' reviewer, Peter Travers in his pithy review sums up with: "Stephan Elliott uncorks a rare vintage of laughs tinged with heartache."
"Easy Virtue" continues to screen on all of its cinemas as it enters it 6th week in Australia. Excellent reviews, tremendous box office and great word of mouth have all buoyed the films cache as is now prepares to open in France (on May 6th), the US (May 22nd) and New Zealand (May 28th). [Advertisement from SMH, Saturday 11th April, 2009]
Prior to those release dates, there will advance festival screenings in the US. The Tribeca Film Festival - has invited 'Easy Virtue' to be a part of their 'Spotlight' section. It will have it's first American screening at 6pm on the 28th of April, (BMCC cinema) and again at 4.15pm the next day (at AV7-07) and 9.30pm on Friday the first of May (AV7-04).
Tribeca Film Festival: Program Notes say: "Based on the Noel Coward play, Easy Virtue is reworked and revitalized in Stephan Elliott's (The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert) triumphant adaptation. Class-conscious Brits the Whittakers meet their son's (Ben Barnes) gorgeous and scandalous bride, Larita (Jessica Biel) with hesitation and subsequent disgust. She is a wily American race car driver with all the flair of a young Dietrich, but her carefree and liberal attitude does not go over well with the in-laws' old-world values and stuffy traditions. Larita's biggest naysayer is Mrs. Whittaker, wickedly played by Kristin Scott Thomas. Her husband (Colin Firth) is the offbeat recluse of the bunch, who adds wonderful comedic relief in tense moments. As the mother-in-law and new world daughter duke it out in hilarious fashion over the course of the couple's stay, we can't help but cheer on the shake-up.
"Elliott sticks to the heart of the Coward play by digging into the hypocrisy of priggish aristocrats refusing to roll with the times, and he and fellow screenwriter Sheridan Jobbins inject each scene with delightfully witty dialogue. Easy Virtue mesmerizes and tickles with great performances and good old-fashioned laughs. A Sony Pictures Classics presentation. --written by Genna Terranova"
Their review of the film says: "The director of The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert returns after a nine-year absence with this randy update of the classic Noel Coward Jazz-Age play, giving it a jaunty 21st-century swing while retaining all its original barbs and charms. It’s the mid-1920s in stuffy old England, and the snobbish family of wealthy trophy-boy John Whittaker wouldn’t mind if time stood still forever. Imagine their consternation, then, when John brings home impromptu new bride Larita (Jessica Biel), who’s not only a modern woman with modern charms (and legs), but is also a successful auto racer (gasp!) and an American (even bigger gasp!). While John’s lackadaisical father (Colin Firth, perpetually perched between slumber and scruff) doesn’t seem to mind Larita’s presence, his overbearing mother (an icily regal Kristin Scott Thomas) certainly does, and soon a battle of wits and wills rattles through the family’s crumbling estate, as two strong women—one of the past, the other of the present—battle for the future. Director Stephan Elliot infuses the play’s already toxic social commentary with some unexpectedly modern fashions and pop hits (“Sex Bomb,” “Carwash,” etc.), but his wisest decision is to just let his cast loose on Coward’s notoriously cutting dialogue. All barbed-wire niceties and ice-water kisses, Thomas embodies a social scion of a very certain class, while Firth counters her chill with a dishevelled warmth all his own. It’s Jessica Biel, however, who delivers the truly astonishing performance, her bohemian beauty polished by a spirited, razor-sharp wit."
Mornings with Kerrie Ann Kennerley had this to say about "Easy Virtue". In some respects - it speaks for itself. In others:"It's the most enjoyable film I've seen in the last six months" and "...sometimes you just want to walk out of the cinema with a big smile on your face - and that's why this film worked for me."
Andrew Mercado ****1/2 stars!
On the other hand - this is also about the wider review. The Australian public voted "Easy Virtue" their per screen number one:The upshot being: "Elliott’s Easy Virtue topped the limited release charts".
The most senior Australian Film Critics, Margaret Pomeranz and David Stratton of At The Movies have both given 'Easy Virtue' the thumbs up. "The surprise of the film is how well Jessica Biel matches her stalwart British co-stars. She’s beautiful and, more importantly, she’s talented. She is delicious. It’s potentially a creaky old yarn but Elliott, working with screenwriter Sheridan Jobbins, has imbued the film with an energy and a beauty that is beguiling." says Margaret.
In a typically curmudgeonly exchange, David admitted it's one of the few films which has made him laugh out loud in recent times.
DAVID: Once or twice I laughed out loud, and I don't do that very often these days in the cinema.
MARGARET: Oh, you old sourpuss.
Margaret Pomeranz **** David Stratton *** 1/2
At The Age newspaper, Phillipa Hawker opens her review by writing: "Easy Virtue is an unexpected pleasure, a deftly presented comedy of manners that takes a few turns into sharper satirical and emotional territory. Essentially, however, its intention is to amuse: it is a sure-footed, entertaining period piece, a revamp of a Noel Coward play from the '20s that never takes itself too seriously, yet never treats its source material with contempt."
Philipa Hawker *** 1/2
Sandra Hall, the senior reviewer for The Sydney Morning Herald summed up her glowing review by concluding: "honesty finally trumps hypocrisy and the pacey ending sends you out on a high."
Sandra Hall *** 1/2
Richard Wilkinson *** 1/2 "This is an absolute joy. Lovingly shot and beautifully directed. Easy Virtue! Fabulous darlings.
Over at Urban Cinefile Andrew Urban summarised his opinion of Easy Virtue: "The often outrageous Steph Elliott is a surprising choice to make a Noel Coward adaptation, and a surprise it is for us too, in the best possible way. Elliott injects two special ingredients: a naughty sense of edgy fun ..and a splendid soundtrack" and Louise Keller said, "With a delicious zest for life and a casual disdain for the upper middle class, Stephan Elliott's happy return to directing is piquant joy."
I was unable to find an on-line link to Rob Lowing's review in the Sun-Herald, so I'll write it out in full here. It was on Page 15 of the "S" entertainment section, in the Sun-Herald on March 15
"It is a bit of a shock to realise this immaculately produced and cast, and very British-feeling, drawing-room comedy is directed and co-scripted by Australian Stephan Elliott, he of The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert fame.
While the tone is still occasionally saucy, this 1920s-set clash of cultures is reined in by the conventions of its source material: The play by Noel Coward. (This was previously made into a tougher-edged 1928 movie by Alfred Hitchcock, who was in a typically more death-obsessed mood.)
Elliott's approach is softer but not necessarily woollier, thanks to star Firth in a rare sombre role and Scott Thomas who, since extracting ecstatic reviews for her I've loved You So Long and pretty much saving this week's Confessions Of A Shopaholic, can do no wrong.
The story is tailor-made for those who want escapism but can't tolerate the stale, dumb jokes of most modern Hollywood comedies.
Easy Virtue delivers memorable, arch banter among well-bred British, intercut with romantic angst and a dead body or two (here, a mistakenly dispatched pet dog, a possibly murdered husband and an absent fiance.)
Scott Thomas is perfect as the outraged and cash-strapped mother who discovers that her young son (Chronicles Of Narnia: rince Caspian heart-throb Barnes) has married a shady, older and penniless American rather than the well-to-do lass she had earmarked for him.
The shady lady is played by Biel, who is slightly strident and too young but better than expected.
Mum gets no support from her jaundiced and distracted husband (Firth), who has never recovered from the horrors of WW1. Lending a hand - or not - are the daughters of the house and a perky butler (Love Actually charmer Kris Marshall).
Combating the artificiality is director Elliott's smart decision to set key scenes outdoors or by windows that frame the gorgeous countryside, the historic houses are also drool-worthy.
Elliott is noted for his soundtracks and Easy Virtue is a corker, with traditionally presented Coward tunes as well as jazz-baby versions of Sex Bomb and more.
Julie Rigg at ABC National conducted an extensive interview with director Stephan Elliott and co-writer Sheridan Jobbins. In the 'e-mail' section, she sums up the film by saying: "The most surprising entertainment of the week - a remake of Noel Coward's 1924 play Easy Virtue. It's delightful entertainment - and it's directed, of all people, by Stephan Elliott. What?"
Fiona Sewell, reviewing 'Easy Virtue' for ABC Radio said: "It's no Priscilla but there are plenty of drama queens! There's also lots of witty dialogue, good performances and sumptuous costumes. This is good fun, with some serious moments thrown in. The soundtrack is terrific, with plenty of Noel Coward and Cole Porter, and a wonderful version of Sex Bomb."
Giles Hardie at the Sydney Morning Herald's on-line website said that "With a combination of Noel Coward's witty one-liners; great performances from a terrific ensemble; and inspired directing by Australian Stephan Elliott - this is a thoroughly enjoyable comedic and fun film. What's more - with genuine conflict between strong characters in a lavish setting there is both humour and drama to spare."
'Easy Virtue' was the closing night film at The Adelaide Film Festival. In reviewing the festival, several journalists also swept 'Easy Virtue' into their net of praise:
Michael Body writing for The Australian: "It's an adaptation of Noel Coward's Easy Virtue, that has Elliott back in the main game. It's a breezy and well-received film starring Kristin Scott-Thomas and the unlikely Jessica Biel."
Andrew Fenton at The Adelaide Advertiser: "Elliott's adaptation retains some of the tone and themes from the original play but it's considerably lighter and funnier, with a triumphant ending that transforms quite a dark scene into an audience pleasing, feel-good moment. "
And The Age's Paul Kalina wrote in a lengthy summary: "The star-studded Noel Coward adaptation Easy Virtue was the perfect choice for closing the festival on Sunday night. For starters, it brought the house down at its two concurrent, capacity screenings. Secondly, it is co-written and directed by Stephan Elliott, one of Australian cinema's most successful talents, despite not having even worked here for 12 years since Welcome to Woop-Woop.
Elliott, who adapted the Coward play with Sheridan Jobbins, takes a screwball approach to the material, a raucous period-set comedy in which the son (played by Ben Barnes) of a fading aristocratic family brings his new wife home to meet the mostly mortified family. She is, after all, older than him, a racing-car driver, an American and a divorcee whose name has appeared in the scandal sheets.
Kristin Scott Thomas, Jessica Biel and Colin Firth are pitch perfect in their respective roles, while the script deftly draws out the stinging attacks on upper-class values and marital codes. If anything, Elliott's perspectives as an outsider serve him well here. It's blisteringly funny at times, even when it resorts to a semi-slapstick routine involving an unfortunate Chihuahua."
Sister Blogger and brother WordPress I salute you - out there tapping away in the electronic Morse Code of naughts and ones. Publishing, publishing, publishing.
Here are a select few of the serious cinefile bloggers:
Andrew UrbaN: "Like Oscar Wilde, Coward used wit to prick the balloons of pomp and hypocrisy. But behind the wit lies seriousness of purpose: the crushing of personal identity for the sake of conformity. This is an eternal and universal theme - but if we can have fun unravel it, all the better."
Louise Keller: "With a delicious zest for life and a casual disdain for the upper middle class, Stephan Elliott's happy return to directing is piquant joy."
Cinematical wrote: "I don't know what attracted [Stephan Elliott] to this project, but I'm glad that something did. The material may seem almost purely verbal, all clever turns of phrase and sardonic interjections (what Americans think of as "Britishness"), but Elliott is constantly concerned with how the movie looks and sounds. Fittingly, he manages to give it a curious, otherworldly feel."
Harry Knowles : "It's been a while since I've laughed this loudly in a movie ... I can bestow upon it the only real sign of success: it's a film for people who wouldn't normally see such a film. Now see it."
Helen O' Hara: "It's to everyone's credit that this loose, screwball adaptation of a Coward melodrama works as well as it does, and emerges as something strange but fresh."
Thomas Caldwell "This is an excellent adaptation of Coward’s play and Elliott’s skills as a director are beautifully on display." ***1/2
John Bale: "Elliott has succeeded in his cheeky upgrading of the Coward play without going into high camp like Priscilla. I’m sure many younger people not familiar with Noel Coward’s work will enjoy this sparkling night’s entertainment."
Neal Anthony: "An iconoclastic re-imagining of Noel Coward’s Easy Virtue - a period film for those who don’t like period films."
Flower.Ink"It's really a funny movie worth watching."
User comments have also been providing some one-on-one review action. Over at imdb.com we have this little gem from gerrystakes: "From the flamboyant director of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, this sublime adaptation of Noel Coward's tragic-comic play zings with dazzling wit and impeccable timing delivered by acting of the highest order. Who knew Jessica Biel could be so delicious as the American interloping fallen woman? Among the British stars, Colin Firth provides the counterpoint gravitas as a WWI surviving member of the "lost generation" who turns the tables on his insufferable wife (Kristin Scott Thomas) and besotted son. Easily one of the most entertaining movies of the past several years, it deserved the genuine spontaneous standing ovation at the world premiere screening I attended at the Toronto film festival. Scott Thomas is devastating in a totally different French-speaking role in "I've loved you for so long", for which she deserves an Oscar nomination. But see this for arch Brit humor at its finest."
A Comedy of Manors "Set in the late 20's early 30's it's what happens when a beautiful bride with a past marries into a family with no future. Jessica Biel and Ben Barnes are the star crossed lovers... Kristin Scott-Thomas and Colin Firth are the stars that they cross... The casting is brilliant, the acting superb, and the story - (based on a Noel Coward play) is sharp, funny and at times (go figure this) heart breaking. Add to that direction from the maverick and iconic Australian Stephan Elliott (Priscilla Queen of the Desert) and you also get great music, witty coverage and some of the funniest moments I've had in a film which is thoroughly suitable for a family aged 13 plus. Seriously - how long is it since you've seen a film which stays with you - with an ending you can talk about afterwards?"
There are also a couple of fan sites which have been enthusiastic in their reception for their chosen star:
"Easy Virtue" premiered in Italy at the Rome Film Festival under the title "UN MATRIMONIO all'inglese". There were several reviews during the festival from Reuters - in particular this one, which said; "ROME (Reuters Life!) - "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.
Italian daily Corriere della Sera called the film, a British production directed by Australian Stephan Elliott, "a little gem" and gave it 3-1/2 stars out of four -- its highest marks for a movie screening in the main 20-title competition.
La Repubblica newspaper also tipped the film as a winner for its witty dialogues, praising actress Jessica Biel's performance as a glamorous and free-spirited American woman storming into the lives on an old-fashioned English aristocratic family."
It opened wide to rave reviews - the most spectacular of which was in La Repubblica on the 9th of January 2009. Now, my Italian is not nearly good enough to translate - so you'll have to take my word on this: It's very, very good.
NELLE SALE / Dopo il successo al Festival di Roma, arriva la commedia "Un matrimonio all'inglese": protagonista, una Biel più scatenata che mai... Jessica la sexy emigra in Inghilterra tra gag, humor e risate intelligenti
di CLAUDIA MORGOGLIONE
UN MATRIMONIO all'inglese è una bella cura cinematografica contro il malumore, la depressione, le brutte notizie che arrivano dal mondo. Perché è brillante, divertente, ricco di gag, di intelligenza, di humor, di personaggi irresistibilmente simpatici. A partire dalla protagonista, Larita, oggetto del desiderio di tutti i maschi del film e causa di scompiglio in un sonnacchioso villaggio inglese a causa del suo matrimonio con un nobile rampollo del luogo. E a incarnarla, in tutto il suo sex appeal, è la diva americana Jessica Biel. Che qui, forse per la prima volta, mostra di essere non solo bella, ma anche brava.
Ambientato all'inizio dei ruggenti anni Trenta, in una campagna britannica immobile eppure affascinante, il film - diretto da Stephan Elliot, noto soprattutto per il cult Priscilla la regina del deserto - prende le mosse proprio dal ritorno a casa del giovane e ingenuo John Whittaker (Ben Barnes) nella residenza di famiglia. In cui imperversa la sua insopportabile madre (Kristin Scott Thomas), mentre il padre (Colin Firth) sembra relegato a un ruolo marginale. Il problema è che il giovane non si presenta da solo, ma con una moglie nuova di zecca: Larita, appunto. Misteriosa ragazza americana, reduce da una gara automobolistica, anticonformista e insofferente alle regole. Tutte caratteristiche che la fanno odiare dal primo istante dalla suocera, che scatena contro di lei una guerra senza esclusione di colpi. E dalle conseguenze imprevedibili.
Una vicenda raccontata con un senso dell'umorismo, del dialogo intelligente e ironico, come raramente si vede al cinema. E che, del resto, ha origini nobili: il film è tratto infatti da una piéce giovanile del commediografo inglese Noel Coward. Già trasposta sullo schermo, in gioventù, da Alfred Hitchcock. Ma il regista ha negato che la sua opera, malgrado la sua accuratissima ambientazione d'epoca, possa essere considerata in qualche modo datata: "Non volevo girare una pellicola in costume - ha dichiarato - ma un film moderno, per un pubblico moderno". Un risultato raggiunto, almeno a giudicare dagli applausi ricevuti durante l'ultimo Festival di Roma.
Quanto alla Biel, si tratta di una interpretazione a tutto tondo, che la lancia alla grande come attrice. E lei ne è consapevole: "Come interprete ho trovato molto eccitante il personaggio di Larita - ha detto - perché la capivo. Anche se io nella realtà sono più dolce: proprio per questo, è stata una bella sfida".
The current incarnation of "Easy Virtue", adapted from the original Noel Coward play, and starring Jessica Biel, Colin Firth, Kristin Scott Thomas and Ben Barnes, opened in Britain on November 7th, 2008.
Helen O'Hara at Empire, the major cinema magazine in Britain, summed up the film by saying that it had "a welcome sense of whimsy often missing in the costume genre."
Over at Channel 4, James Mottram opens his review by saying, "Coward's dark tale of an uptight family of British aristocrats - written when he was just 23 - is far removed from the wit-soaked comedies the elegant playwright became known for. Thus, Elliott plays fast and loose with the original, ironically turning it into something far more Coward-like along the way."
While the Daily Mail effused: "Like a vintage bottle of champers, Noel Coward’s deliciously funny comedy of manners has lost none of its sparkle in the 80-odd years since it was written. Fizzing with droll humour, pithy observations on the class system and some brilliantly acidic one-liners, it’s wall-to-wall wit on a grand scale."
There were numerous television reviews which incorporated interviews with their incisive and highly positive assessments of the film.
ITV 4 had this to say:
GMTV also gave the film a rave review, with this additional plug for the soundtrack
"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."
The film, "Easy Virtue", directed by Australian Stephan Elliott, had its first public screening in the Elgin Theatre at the Toronto International Film Festival on the 7th of September, 2008. It was met with a standing ovation by the 1,500 people in the audience and the next day received excellent reviews in all the trade papers.
The Hollywood Reporter described it as: "An old Noel Coward play rediscovered and refurbished in a splendid production from Stephan Elliott."
Variety, that old doyen of the entertainment industry, felt that "A fine cast makes sure Noel Coward's champagne remains bubbly in "Easy Virtue," an effervescent entertainment that marks a welcome return for "Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert" director Stephan Elliott after a nine-year absence."
While relative newcomer, Screen Daily, lavished it with praise: "Handsome production values, a class-act cast and nimble direction from Elliott all combine to make the most of the material, transforming it into a surprisingly elegant, entertaining period piece."
The prestigious Broadcast Film Critics Association which is culled from the most senior reviewers around the United States is currently rating "Easy Virtue" at a high of 77. This is a culmination of terrific reviews which began back in Toronto with high praise from the three major industry magazines: Variety, Screen Daily and The Hollywood Reporter.
