LOVE & FRIENDSHIP in Irish cinemas today
Whit Stillman's glorious comedy of manners Love & Friendship which stars Kate Beckinsale, Chloe Sevigny and Stephen Fry opens in Irish cinemas today.
The deliciously scheming and manipulative Lady Susan has come to Churchill, the estate of her in-laws, to wait out the colourful rumours about her dalliances circulating through polite society. Whilst ensconced there, she decides to secure a husband for herself and for her eligible but reluctant school-girl daughter Frederica (Morfydd Clark). The waters are troubled by the arrival at Churchill of the handsome, eligible Reginald DeCourcy (Xavier Samuel) and silly but cheerful - and very rich - Sir James Martin (Tom Bennett). Chloe Sevigny, who starred with Beckinsale in Whit Stillman's The Last Days of Disco (1998) plays Lady Susan's friend and confidante Alicia Johnson, with Stephen Fry as her husband, the "very respectable" Mr. Johnson.
Based on the Jane Austen novella ‘Lady Susan' and set in the 1790s, the film shot on location in Ireland last year with the Royal Hospital Kilmainham, Russborough House, Newbridge House and Howth Castle among the locations featured. Whit Stilman was warm in his praise of his experience shooting in Ireland, describing it recently as the ‘best place to shoot a film'.
Love & Friendship was an audience success when it premiered at Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. On its opening weekend at the US box office the film achieved a screen average of over $33,000, which was one of the year's highest.
What the critics have said:
★★★★★ - The Guardian
‘a refreshing and invigorating delight'
★★★★ - Irish Times
‘fizzles with wit, intrigue... A delight'
Love & Friendship will open in the following cinemas this Friday:
Cineworld Parnell Street
Diamond Navan
IMC Dun Laoghaire
Irish Film Institute
Light House Cinema
Movies@Dundrum
Movies@Swords
Omniplex Cork
Queens Film Theatre (Belfast)
Love & Friendship was produced by Katie Holly, Whit Stillman and Lauranne Bourrachot. Production companies were Blinder Films, Westerly Films, Chic Films and Revolver Amsterdam. It was funded by IFB, Arte France Cinema, Protagonist Pictures, Netherlands Film Fund, Soficinema 11 and Cineimage 10.