American Cinematographer - June 2016 - 28

Costumed Comedy
By Patricia Thomson

If ever there were a perfect match, it
would be Jane Austen and Whit Stillman.
Both possess a droll wit, a mastery of clever
repartee, and a bemused view of romance
in the genteel class. All these fine traits are
on display in Love & Friendship, Stillman's first
feature in five years, after a side trip into
episodic drama with Amazon's The
Cosmopolitans.
The film is an adaptation of Lady
Susan, a novella written by Austen circa age
20 but left unpublished until five decades
after her death. Using the epistolary form
popular in the 18th century, Austen sketched
out a comedy of manners that centers on an
unscrupulous flirt, Lady Susan Vernon
(played by Kate Beckinsale). Newly widowed,
she arrives uninvited at her brother-in-law's
castle to let a scandal blow over and to snag
husbands for herself and her daughter,
Frederica (Morfydd Clark). The novella, being
both obscure and short, served Stillman well:
He wouldn't be paring down a beloved
tome, but fleshing out something new to the
Austen film canon.
The Irish-Dutch-French co-production
called for a Dutch director of photography,
and Richard van Oosterhout, NSC, SBC got
28

June 2016

the job. "When I read the script, I was eager
to do it," says the two-time Golden Calf
winner. "It's funny, modern, and the
dialogue is so witty."
Van Oosterhout came to
cinematography in his late 20s and got his
break in 1998 as director of photography on
Rosie, directed by his wife, Patrice Toye.
Today he is a member of the NSC board
and the European Film Academy, and he's
served as co-editor of the 2012 book
Shooting Time: Cinematographers on
Cinematography.
When interviewing for Love &
Friendship, van Oosterhout had one big
advantage: He'd just shot The Legend of
Longwood at Howth Castle, the same
location that would serve as Churchill, the
estate of Lady Susan's relations, in Stillman's
film. Just as important, he knew how to
handle a tight 28-day schedule - during
which, on a single day, the production would
shoot a dance scene with extras, a wedding
and reception, a tête-à-tête inside a church,
and an establishing shot of the DeCourcy inlaws. "It was really a tough day, yet he
managed to get that lit," says Stillman. In
fact, Love & Friendship finished a day early.
"I was trained in Holland," van
Oosterhout notes. "Budgets and time are
really an issue there. All the Dutch
American Cinematographer

[cinematographers] are trained in working
fast and being forced to be very creative." He
adds that he takes Robert Bresson's credo to
heart: "'Simplicity and lucidity.' Sometimes
it's not necessary to come up with 10 trucks,
to control everything and every moment. If
you only have one light, you can make a
whole film. If you can shoot a scene without
any lights, then shoot it!"
Van Oosterhout came to Love &
Friendship relatively late and without time to
do much more than a makeup and wardrobe
test with Beckinsale and co-star Chloë
Sevigny. But, the cinematographer says, that
was okay. "I like to work using my intuition,"
he notes. "If you have a lot of prep, you think
and rethink. I like to work in the moment."
The only visual references Stillman
provided were his earlier films: Metropolitan,
Barcelona, The Last Days of Disco (AC June
'98) and Damsels in Distress. He wanted this
one to be as "gorgeous" as possible, with
camera subservient to the actors and the
atmospheric Georgian mansions in and
around Dublin. Love & Friendship was shot
entirely in these practical locations, including
Newbridge House, "a real hero location,"
says Stillman.
Though wickedly funny, Stillman's
dialogue-heavy script made van Oosterhout
gulp. "You think, 'Oh my god, how are we

Love & Friendship photos by Bernard Walsh, courtesy of Amazon Studios and Roadside Attractions.

Newly widowed
Lady Susan
Vernon (Kate
Beckinsale,
right) confides
in her friend
Alicia Johnson
(Chloë Sevigny,
left) as colorful
rumors swirl
about them
both in Love &
Friendship, the
feature
adaptation of
Jane Austen's
novella Lady
Susan.

American Cinematographer - June 2016

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