Directed by Stephan Elliot
Award winning Australian director Stephan Elliot (Priscilla, Queen of the Desert) has made another lavish film. Based on the Noel Coward play of the same name, it is set in a number of magnificent stately homes in the United Kingdom and recreates the extravagant lifestyle that existed at the end of the 1920s for those who could afford it. At the beginning of the film, John Whittaker (Ben
Barnes) is enjoying all the excesses of the Monte Carlo Grand Prix when female racing car driver Larita (Jessica Biel) catches his eye. She is glamorous, sexy and American, and unlike anything he has come across before. It is not long before the impetuous couple marries and John takes Larita home to meet his mother.
Kristen Scott Thomas is marvellous as the aristocratic mother who takes an instant dislike to the American import. Her daughters Marion (Katherine Parkinson) and the impressionable Helen (Kimberley Nixon), however, are fascinated by Larita and the ripples that her presence is making in the house. The war-weary Mr Whittaker (delightfully played by Colin Firth) is also fascinated by his son’s new bride and keeps out of the way when the sparks begin to fly between the two alpha females in the house. At first Larita tries to fit in, but fails to tiptoe through the minefield laid by her mother-in-law and engineers sassy counter attacks of her own. Of course, secrets will be revealed (on both sides) at critical times in the battle and it doesn’t take long before polished facades are scratched away in this prize bitch-fight.
Locations and costumes are sumptuous and first-class acting brings this entertaining story to life. Of course as we reflect on what lies beneath the characters’ facades, we can have a slight chuckle at the early attempts of America to infiltrate British culture.
Lezly Herbert
