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Thursday, August 31, 2017

Love & Friendship: the aftermath

On Tuesday night, I hosted this year's Watch-Along of Love & Friendship, to go along with our Lady Susan group read.  Unlike movies we've watched in the past, this was my first viewing -- and though it looked riotously funny, I wasn't entirely sure what to expect. (I mean, Pride & Prejudice &Zombies—both the book and the film—seemed like they were going to be hilarious, but both were actually pretty shaky.)

I definitely had my pros and cons (and prons, as I did with PPZ), but I mostly enjoyed it, and it certainly made for some interesting conversation. AND it has me mulling over some Austen stuff that I don't think I've mulled before, and I've mulled it all. I attribute this more to the conversations we were having around the movie, rather than the movie itself, which is why I love having these twitter chats (and why you should join in next year!)

Presented below, for those of you who missed it, is some of the highlights of Tuesday night's discussion. If you've seen the film, or just have LADY SUSAN THOUGHTS, please weigh in in the comments!





I don't know if I have expressed this here before. I may have alluded to it in our Janeite chats about worst characters and situations, and such, or any time I've talked about Mary Musgrove, but I really, truly think Jane Austen's real genius lies in rendering absolutely horrible people.



As for the movie itself, my biggest complaint was that I found it to be rather disjointed.
I wasn't alone in this.


Though that said, I LOVED the cast. . .



and did like some of the clever "adaptationy" things. . .



There are moments of pure brilliance. . .

If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more...


But the real revelations of the night, that made me grow a little sympathy for Lady S., and look at the story a bit differently, were conversations like this:



and mostly THIS, which is a topic I VERY MUCH want to explore with you in the future. . .


In all, I'd definitely recommend the movie (even if you haven't read Lady Susan), and I wish I'd seen it before writing my discussion questions for the book. I would SO have included a question about mental health and personality disorders.
I'm kinda kicking myself for that.

Ah, well. Next year!

Please, do let me know your thoughts in the comments, and if there was anything about the book or film that stood out to you, that you think bears talking about!

And if you have recommendations or requests for next year's movie night, let me know! I think I want to do more than one film next year. =D



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2 comments:

  1. Your comments on mental health really got me to thinking after that night, too.

    ReplyDelete
  2. great discussion; wish I'd been able to join the group screening. I loved this movie, and it would be hard to imagine a more perfect writer/director/Janeite than Whit Stillman to adapt Lady Susan. Which was no small feat--an epistolary novel with a pretty unsympathetic anti-heroine. I am in awe of what he accomplished. I laugh just thinking about the actor playing James Martin.

    Thanks for sharing the highlights of your discussions! And thanks for another fabulous Austen in August!!!

    ReplyDelete

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