A witty script with Lady Susan deftly moving the other characters around seemingly to her will like chess pieces. Susan is impeccably played by Kate Beckinsale with plenty other fine performances, standouts perhaps Chloe Sevigny and Tom Bennett. A short and sweet treat.

I always like Period drama. This movie is just average. It's just too fast and too many characters to follow. The old English language is a little hard to grasp. I admit that my English is not that good unfortunately. I would have to watch it again to fully appreciate what's going on.

I don't usually consider to leave midway through a film in the cinema, a lesson learned from "Lucky Number Slevin" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0425210) which, in case you haven't seen yet rush to do so."Love & Friendship" though, had me seriously thinking "what am I doing here?" halfway through. Heck, I am sure that even the film title was decided based on the fact that it's hard to understand what it's about.Early on, it is hard to follow, as it throws names and faces to you (in a cute, supposed-to-be-funny manner) and you eventually realize that you actually DO have to remember all these names and faces.The plot unravels very slowly: you soon have the impression that "something will happen". And it never does.In my humble opinion, Kate Beckinsale is not fit to play the cunning lady Susan. She is an elegant yet cute (if not hot) presence, that doesn't come through as a manipulative widow.All in all, I would say that transferring a novel to the big screen is not merely using nice costumes and scenery. Cinema is a different art - aiming to stimulate different feelings. It shouldn't feel like someone is reading dialogues to me.

Spoiler included possibly.I can't believe Austen had ever written Lady Susan such a character. This piece is different from any others of her work, romantic is minimal. There would be more about moral conflicts and real woman living situation apply to the film.This character, Lady Susan is fascinating, so charming in so many ways. She is beautiful, talkative, men just easily fall in love with her. She has a low moral standard, making lies, flirtatious and careless to her own daughter. However, I still was seduced by her although none of her morality can be count as a good quality. But I still admire her intelligent in so many ways.The movie makes me recall Macbeth by William Shakespeare. Macbeth's wife, Lady Macbeth is known as evil because of her anachronous ambition. She overpowered her husband in the beginning, yet unfortunately, she is not strong enough and became weak at the end. I still remember the line from Macbeth that what Lady Macbeth said she would have plucked her nipple out of a smile baby's mouth and smashed its brains out against a wall if she needs to do. She said such heartless words to Macbeth, tempted him to kill his king. But herself ends up of being scared and suicided in the story.However, Lady Susan is another story, she never regrets, she is fearless to make up a falsehood even it can be exposed in a minute. She always turns the bad to her good. Lady Susan is a wonderful strategist born in the wrong era. If she born in nowadays, I have no a doubt that she would be a billionaire.Men conquer women by conquering the world, while women conquer the world by conquering men. Who is master of the world among alls?