![]() ![]() Stillman’s focus on external signs not only enlivens the humour of Austen’s novella but also insulates the viewer from experiencing the savagery, frustration and brilliance of Lady Susan first-hand. The result is a cinematic perspective that most closely resembles the one Austen creates in her juvenilia, most notably in Love and Freindship. Stillman removes the letters almost entirely and uses auditory and cinematic techniques to create a detached, ironic perspective. Their narratives generate a sense of immersion, one that discourages laughter and clouds the object of Austen’s satire. In Lady Susan, the epistolary form aligns the reader’s point of view with those of characters whose experience of events is neither detached nor ironic. So, what is the understanding of Austen to which Stillman lays claim? We answer this question by exploring the intersection of humour and satire in Austen’s work, its relationship to an ironic perspective and the ways this perspective is constructed through form. However, to paraphrase Austen, the comic spirit that suffuses the film is lighter, brighter and far more sparkling than in the original. ![]() In 2016, Whit Stillman’s Love & Friendship was celebrated by critics for its comic spirit and its fidelity to Jane Austen’s Lady Susan. ![]()
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