My good friend Livy has been lucky enough to find herself at the Toronto International Film Festival for the past few years. This year she was able to get tickets to see Easy Virtue. She was kind enough to write an exclusive review for us. Enjoy!

I was lucky enough to see the second screening ever of Easy Virtue at the Toronto International Film Festival. Easy Virtue is based off a very dark play by Noel Coward and was first adapted for the screen by none other than Alfred Hitchcock. The story follows an American (played by Jessica Biel) fresh from a divorce and struggling with a dark past who marries an Englishman (played by Ben Barnes!) in France on the spur of the moment. When it is time for her to go and meet the family, they all hate her. What I expected to be a darker period piece (especially when you consider the source material), actually was a highly entertaining, hilarious film with a rock star flair. The laughs were constant and the characters likeable. The only thing that bothered me was Jessica Biel’s forceful performance. She appears to try too hard and oftentimes came across as pretentious, which I don’t think was the intention for the character. Ben Barnes was positively charming as a young, naive boy struggling in his efforts to become a man and love and support his new wife despite his family’s obvious contempt for her. He was the perfect choice and gave one of the films better performances. Colin Firth and Kristin Scott Thomas also were in top form. The large house in England that they filmed in, complete with a massive conservatory, was beautiful and might as well have been another character. This is definitely a film worth seeing if you like British humor, and of course, that necessary ingredient of being a Ben Barnes fan!! Trust me when I say he is far better in this than he was in Narnia. Here, we really see him stretching his acting chops.

As a side note, the director of the film, Stephan Elliot, was on hand to answer questions afterward. I can’t remember the specific question, but someone asked about Ben Barnes role in it. He said that Ben was fantastic to work with, wise beyond his years, and a natural performer. He was working on Prince Caspian at the same time and they wouldn’t allow this production to cut his hair so they always had to tie it at the back of his neck and put a wig on, all of which he was very tolerant of. The director thought highly of Ben’s performance. Always good to hear, right?