Love and Friendship

Love & Friendship

Love & Friendship is a sharply witty period comedy based on Jane Austen’s early novella Lady Susan. Directed by Whit Stillman, the film offers a lively and elegant portrait of manipulation, charm, and social ambition in 18th-century England.

At its center is Lady Susan Vernon (Kate Beckinsale), a recently widowed woman of beauty and cunning who moves through polite society with dazzling intelligence and unapologetic self-interest. Far from the gentle heroines of Austen’s later novels, Lady Susan is a master of persuasion—an observer and strategist who uses wit and allure as her primary means of survival in a world defined by wealth and marriage.

Stillman’s adaptation sparkles with quick-paced dialogue, subtle irony, and the kind of dry humor that transforms social decorum into verbal fencing. The film revels in the theatricality of Austen’s world, where appearances matter as much as sincerity, and reputation is a delicate game played with precision. With Beckinsale’s razor-sharp performance anchoring the film, Love & Friendship becomes both a satire of romantic conventions and a celebration of intelligence unrestrained by convention.

Beneath its period trappings, the story feels strikingly modern—examining power, gender, and self-determination with Austen’s trademark wit and Stillman’s distinctly contemporary sensibility. The result is a film that is both mischievous and sophisticated, capturing the humor and audacity of a woman navigating the limits of her time with unmatched grace and cleverness.

Screening With:

God Is Love

Canadian Shorts Showcase

God Is Love follows a growing number of people fighting for the full inclusion and acceptance of all people within the Presbyterian Church In Canada.

11 Mins
Canada, 2016
Dir. Alex Fensham
Language: English