Easy Virtue: A Heterosexual Dramedy of Wildean Proportion

Interestingly, one of the best aspects of new British comedy, Easy Virtue, is the fact that it's director, Stephan Elliott was able to direct it. In 2004, Elliott nearly died in a tragic ski accident, but after nearly three years in physical therapy, he's back in action. However, Elliott, best known for that gay operatic feature that titanically looms as a great in any conversation concerning queer cinema, The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994), had already sworn off the film industry after the tragically received Aussie comedy, Welcome to Woop Woop (1997) and the universally panned Ashley Judd espionage thriller, Eye of the Beholder (1999). I'm not sure that I remember the plot of Eye, but I do remember thinking it was a hell of a lot better than her typical suspense/thrill fare that was populating the cineplex's in the last 90's, early 00's -- like those awful pictures known as Double Jeopardy (1999), High Crimes (2002), and Twisted (2004). Needless to say, Elliott's newest picture is receiving the most positive reviews since his 1994 landmark film. Easy Virtue is based on the magnificent Noel Coward's play (which had never been a success for him) and is a remake of the 1928 silent Alfred Hitchcock film (which is also considered a flop for him). That in mind, it's no surprise that Easy Virtue has also been receiving some flack, but it's mostly hypercriticism of it's lead, Jessica Biel, starring as Larita Whittaker, an American race-car driver in 1920's Monaco who falls in love with and marries a younger Brit, only to be viciously (in a proper British sense) maligned by his hypercivilized family, including his lap-dog like sisters and his viperous mother, played by the wonderful Kristin Scott-Thomas. What results is a motion picture that plays like an intelligent dramedy that a heterosexual Oscar Wilde could have penned---however, the film falls more into the drama category as the tension thickens and Biel's husband (the bird-like Ben Barnes) sides with his family, while his father (British romantic staple, Colin Firth) starts to side with the bride (though the film points to this from the get go, as Firth's character is so dismally depressed you just know his character was written to do something more integral than mope around). The criticism Biel seems to be receiving is about as logical, in my opinion, as the vicious, bitchy, British women's treatment of her character in the film. Biel does an excellent job portraying an outsider in circumstances where she is clearly not wanted. One of the more beautiful of Hollywood's young starlets (she reminds me of an elongated Scarlett Johansson) Biel sports some surprising depth and charm to support her beauty, and never for a moment is she not believable. Certain critics have commented on Biel's body, stating it would have been "scary" to see a woman with such a toned body in the 1920's. Well, I'm almost certain that there were muscly, beautiful, big-breasted blondes somewhere in the Western hemisphere in the 1920's--and as men are men, and will always be predictable, I'm sure the only people toned women scared were homely housewives. Biel is supposed to look, speak and act differently, while also being glamorous---thankfully they picked a younger actress that could at least achieve the latter. Scott-Thomas adds depth to her role as a bitchy matriarch, but it's really nothing new for her. If she receives awards attention for this role, it would indeed be due to her shut out at the Oscars for her brilliant turn in last year's I've Loved You So Long. The most irritating aspect of Easy Virtue may also be it's most realistic--the siding of one's family over one's partner. To me, anyone that would make a loved spouse/partner suffer through the barbed wire of bitter in-laws needs to have their head examined---and Biel's last monologue concerning what it means to love hits the nail on the head. As to Mr. Elliott, it's good to have you back.