Friday, June 5, 2009

Movie review and talent interview: Easy Virtue

By Alex Bentley

One can be forgiven if you dismiss Easy Virtue after the first 20 minutes or so as just another stuffy film about the British upper class. After all, it has a slew of the classic trappings of such a film, including an estate in the countryside, talk of fancy balls and fox hunts, and, of course, the presence of veddy British actors like Colin Firth and Kristen Scott Thomas.

But a funny thing happens right around that time, and it's not just the fact that Jessica Biel is hanging around. No, it's around this point that director/co-writer Stephan Elliott and co-writer Sheridan Jobbins decide to turn the story, based on a Noel Coward play, on its head. They do this through the inclusion of period-inappropriate music such as “Car Wash” and “Sex Bomb,” only instead of being sung by the original artists, the songs are played by “the Easy Virtue Orchestra.”

It's an audacious, risky move, reminiscent in a way of Moulin Rouge!, but much like in that film, it pays off. There are two big reasons it works: first, the film's use of a jaunty ragtime-like score misses the mark for the most part. Even though the film is semi-farcical, the filmmakers do it no favors by ramping up the soundtrack to overemphasize humorous moments. By injecting different music styles, it helps to break up that indulgence. Second, and perhaps more important, is that it forces the audience to sit up and pay attention to a film that had started to edge toward soporific.

English aristocracy can be so welcoming to newcomers.

Thankfully, the film gets the jolt of energy it needs, and no one should be more grateful than Biel, who turns in her best performance to date. She plays Larita Whitaker, the new (American) wife of John Whitaker. John has brought her back home to meet his family, including his parents (Firth and Scott Thomas), and sisters Hilda (Kimberley Nixon) and Marion (Katherine Parkinson). Though Hilda is initially ecstatic over Larita's presence due to the fact that Larita had just won the Monte Carlo Grand Prix, the females of the family (especially Mrs. Whitaker) gradually grow to disdain her for her outspoken ways and her general American-ness.

Larita doesn't give an inch, however, constantly showing up to events in jaw-dropping outfits and continuing to press that she and John must move to London despite the objections of the family. She is not just a rude American “sex bomb” detonated in the middle of prim and proper British society, however. She demonstrates her intelligence at every turn, whether through a witty rejoinder or ability to befriend the right people, such as the butler Furber (Kris Marshall), who helps her out of more than a few jams.

Gentlemen, please remove your jaws from the floor.

The role of Larita requires just the right touch so that she's neither overbearing nor weak-willed. Prior to this film, it was hard to imagine Biel capable of such nuance. She's tried to stretch in films such as The Illusionist and Home of the Brave, but was undone through the presence of better actors and the lack of good material, respectively. But she carries Easy Virtue every step of the way, leaving even respected actors like Firth and Scott Thomas in her wake. And that's saying something, since they do phenomenal jobs themselves.

Easy Virtue is proof positive that it's still possible to make interesting films about the British aristocracy (and good Noel Coward adaptations, for that matter). You just have to be willing to think a little bit outside of the box.

I sat down for a one-on-two interview with director/co-writer Stephan Elliott and co-writer Sheridan Jobbins at the Rosewood Crescent Hotel in Dallas on May 4. The duo has worked together before (though this is their first feature film together), so their friendly rapport was immediately obvious. The interview is definitely not safe for work, though, as Elliott is refreshingly not prone to censoring himself (prepare yourself for a profanity right off the bat). Also, forgive the various interruptions -- cell phones and unlocked doors are the enemies of conversations. Listen to the 20-minute interview for the following highlights (SPOILER ALERT - the interview contains discussion of specific plot points):

* Why a horrific skiing accident was the main reason Elliott decided to make the film

* How, despite writing the film together, they disagree on what the ending of the film means

* Why getting the individual cast members involved a lot of stalking

* Why a puppy-cide was Jessica Biel's best comedic moment of the film

* Why the inclusion of anachronistic music was a deliberate attempt to appeal to the younger crowd

* How they changed Coward's play from a melodrama into more of a comedy

* How their cameos almost changed the film's rating

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