Signis

Easy Virtue

(JPEG) (UK, 2008, d. Stephan Elliot)

Many of Noel Coward’s comedies seem slight, light and even frivolous. This is true of Easy Virtue, written in 1924 and reflecting aspects of the flapper age and how American verve impacted on stiff upper lip snobbish Britain. It was filmed by Alfred Hitchcock in 1928.

Easy Virtue is reminiscent of Coward’s Relative Values, set in the 1950s and filmed in 2000. Jeanne Tripplehorn was the alleged American gold-digger of ’easy virtue’ who was judged to have intruded herself into an aristocratic family presided over by Julie Andrews. Her role as the matriarch seems like Mary Poppins compared with Kristin Scott Thomas as Mrs Whittaker, the haughty authority figure whose daughters have imbibed her prejudices and whose husband, a psychological victim of World War 1 fatalities (Colin Firth, who was also in Relative Values), observes the goings on with some detached irony.

The gold-digger is Jessica Biel. She is Larita, a racing car driver who wins but is then disqualified in Monte Carlo. However, she notices John Whittaker (Ben Barnes, who was Prince Caspian) and, in a whirlwind romance, she marries him and goes to his English ancestral home - and feels insulted and stifled. All this is presented with the Coward detached humour and arch one-liners. Australian director, Stephan Elliot (Priscilla, Queen of the Desert) takes a cue from Moulin Rouge and has characters burst into snatches of song as well as having songs in the background. Many are from Coward’s repertoire and from Cole Porter, but a number of them are from later times and moods.

Not everyone has an empathy for the wealthy (some about to be impoverished) landocracy of the 1920s and their inward-looking problems. However, there is enough Coward and his talent to amuse. The acting is very good with Jessica Biel both glamorous and convincing, especially when her dark past secret is revealed. Kristin Scott Thomas is adept at this kind of icy and controlling mother. Colin Firth is pleasingly surprising as he brings some deeper humanity to the family and a sympathetic ear to Larita. Kris Marshall obviously enjoys himself as a quizzically-eyed butler.

Pleasant while on screen but not likely to remain in the memory.

Peter Malone