USA – Historical DRAMA:
Lady Susan [Kate Beckinsale] is a scandalous heroine, somewhat predatory yet enigmatic, dressed very becomingly in full mourning black. A widow with beauty and a distinguished name, but no financial means, thus entitled to sympathy and in need of money: a dangerous combination. She has already left one aristocratic house in some disorder, having apparently exerted her charms, and has set her cap at her sister-in-law’s handsome brother Reginald [Xavier Samuel], much to the horror of his parents. Lady Susan also has the task of marrying off her wayward daughter, Frederica [Morfydd Clark] to a wealthy blockhead called Sir James Martin [Tom Bennett], or “the David Brent of Georgian England’.
“What audacity, what elegance! Here is a hilariously self-aware period comedy polished to a brilliant sheen.” – Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian