Easy Virtue (2008 film)

Coward's play was adapted to the screen by Stephan Elliott and Sheridan Jobbins but hardly any feature of the original play remains besides the main characters, and even they do not greatly resemble Coward's cast.

In his autobiography, Present Indicative published in 1937, Coward describes his object in the play as being "to compare the déclassée woman of to-day with the more flamboyant demi-mondaine of the 1890s." He goes on to say, "The line that was intended to establish the play on a basis of comedy rather than tragedy, comes at the end of the second act when Larita, the heroine, irritated beyond endurance by the smug attitude of her 'in-laws', argues them out of the room."[8]

Although the play was made into a silent film in 1928, directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Isabel Jeans and Franklin Dyall, this film is not mentioned in Coward's autobiography. The 2008 version of the film is favourably reviewed by the Noël Coward Society.

Filmmaker Stephan Elliott instructed Kristin Scott Thomas to play Mrs. Whittaker as a "mustache-twirling... Disney witch." Initially, the actress responded by suggesting this is the worst direction she had ever received, but later embraced her character's wickedness and somewhat haggard appearance and unflattering wardrobe.

The film was shot in studio at the Ealing Studios in London, and on location at:

• Flintham Hall, Flintham, Nottinghamshire (Whittaker estate)
• Wimpole Hall, Cambridgeshire (Hurst estate)
• Englefield House, Berkshire (Monte Carlo)[9]

The score for the film was produced by Marius de Vries and the film's director Stephan Elliott. It features several songs by Cole Porter and Noël Coward. It was performed by the Easy Virtue Orchestra—which was assembled specifically for the film. Jessica Biel makes her musical debut singing two tracks which are featured on the soundtrack album. Ben Barnes sings several songs on the sound track, including "Room with a View", while Colin Firth makes a guest appearance on the closing track.

Featured in the closing credits is a cover version, in 1920s faux-jazz style, of "When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going" (c. 1986), performed by Colin Firth, Ben Barnes, Jessica Biel, and Andy Caine. The song was written by Billy Ocean, Robert John "Mutt" Lange, Wayne Brathwaite, and Barry Eastmond.[10] The British jazz renditions of the songs "Car Wash" and "Sex Bomb" were also included.[11]

A soundtrack album was released on 3 November 2008 in stores and on iTunes.[12]

Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a 52% approval rating based on 126 reviews with an average rating of 5.8/10.[13] Metacritic gives the film a score of 58% based on reviews from 28 critics.[14]

Colm Andrew of the Manx Independent gave the film 7/10 and said it was "a frothy affair but the source material is good—the script is workmanlike but at least it doesn't try to be clever and the quality of the acting makes sure the lines resonate soundly".[15] Some critics felt that the movie's insistent jazz-age lilt is ultimately at odds with a play written in 1924 that attacks the hypocrisy, smugness and benighted values of the English landed gentry between the wars. The screenplay includes scattered Coward bons mots, but the witticisms do not come as thick or as fast as in his later plays.[16]

Broadsheet and national British reviews were generally mixed or negative. Film Four's praised the casting of Biel and noted that, though Firth's and Thomas's casting was "hardly radical thinking, both offer something different from their previous period work".[17] Philip French of the Observer wrote that the film was "well enough designed and photographed, but witless, anachronistic, cloth-eared, lacking in both style and period sense",[18] while Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian attacked its script for "undermin[ing] the material by slipping arch modern phrases and gags into everyone's mouths".[19] The critic of the Times awarded it only one star out of five,[20] whilst Nicholas Barber of the Independent wrote that "every one of Elliott's straining efforts to turn Easy Virtue into a zany, risqué farce only makes it seems stuffier and starchier".[21] Stella Papamichael of digital spy added that British jazz renditions of "Car Wash" and "Sex Bomb" used in the film were totally distracting.[11]

The film earned US$18,463,608 worldwide.[2] It was released in the US in May 2009,[22] where it enjoyed some commercial success. Sony Pictures Classics paid an estimated US$1 million to acquire the film's distribution rights in the US, Latin America and South Africa.[23] The film went on to gross US$2.5 million in limited theatrical release in the US.[2] The film earned US$2,656,784 in Canada and the US; Sony Pictures Classics paid an estimated US$1 million for distribution rights in the United States, Latin America and South Africa.[23]