Tagline: Let’s misbehave.
A young Englishman marries a glamorous American. When he brings her home to meet the parents, she arrives like a blast from the future – blowing their entrenched British stuffiness out the window.
The twenties have roared… the thirties have yet to swing. John Whittaker, a young Englishman, falls madly in love with Larita, a sexy and glamorous American woman, and they marry impetuously. However when the couple returns to the family home, his mother Mrs Whittaker has an instant allergic reaction to her new daughter-in-law.
Larita tries her best to fit in but fails to tiptoe through the minefield laid by her mother-in-law. Larita quickly realizes Mrs Whittaker’s game and sees that she must fight back if she’s not going to lose John. A battle of wits ensues and sparks soon fly. Mrs Whittaker manipulates every situation to undermine her, while Larita remains frustratingly calm and engineers sassy counter attacks. Before long, Mrs Whittaker’s manipulation starts to work on John and Larita feels their love is in danger of slipping away. In a grand finale, where the secrets from Larita’s past are revealed, she finally makes a break for freedom from the suffocating house.
Easy Virtue, the lavish adaptation of Noel Coward’s play, was completed in seven weeks of principal photography at the end of February 2008, and was shot entirely on location in the UK in magnificent stately homes which include Flintham Hall in Nottingham, Englefield House, near Reading in Berkshire, and Wimpole Hall in Cambridgeshire.
Easy Virtue stars American actress Jessica Biel playing Larita, the avant-garde young woman who takes the Whittaker family by storm; Colin Firth as the war-weary head of the household Mr. Whittaker; Kristin Scott Thomas as the stoic but neurotic wife Mrs. Whittaker, and Ben Barnes as Larita’s new husband John Whittaker. The film also features Kris Marshall as Furber, the Whittaker’s butler; Katherine Parkinson as eldest daughter Marion and Kimberley Nixon playing the youngest of the family, the impressionable Hilda. Easy Virtue is directed by Australian Stephan Elliott, and is produced by Barnaby Thompson, Joe Abrams and James D. Stern. Easy Virtue is written by Elliott and Sheridan Jobbins, based on the Noel Coward play of the same name.
Read the Full Production Notes
Easy Virtue
Starring: Jessica Biel, Ben Barnes, Kristin Scott Thomas, Colin Firth, Kimberley Nixon, Katherine Parkinson, Kris Marshall
Directed by: Stephan Elliott
Screenplay by: Stephan Elliott
Release Date: May 22nd, 2009
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for sexual content, brief partial nudity, and smoking throughout.
Studio: Sony Pictures Classics
Box Office Totals
Domestic: $2,653,621 (15.8%)
Foreign: $14,189,044 (84.2%)
Total: $16,842,665 (Worldwide)