Easy Virtue [PG]

It’s a most scandalous affair when Larita Filton divorces her husband: photographers, reporters, and gossip simply refuse to leave her alone. So she seeks refuge on the tolerable shores of the Mediterranean. For a while she lives in peace and it seems that her shameful past will simply fade out of memory, but then she falls in love with John Whittaker and they marry. Unwilling to tell him of her past, Larita tries desperately to fit in with his family, but his mother is suspicious right from the start and becomes even more so when she slowly begins to recognise Larita’s face. 

Although I adore Hitchcock and practically all that he’s done, there inevitably comes a film where you even have to take a jab at those whom you most admire. Easy Virtue I just found to be boring. I understand the intrigue, the threats, and the scandal, it’s a good play on society life: those days when divorce was a most scandalous thing like murder or adultery, but ultimately I just could not seem to get myself interested in what was going on and I just felt bored all the way through. 

It’s a most scandalous affair when Larita Filton divorces her husband: photographers, reporters, and gossip simply refuse to leave her alone. So she seeks refuge on the tolerable shores of the Mediterranean. For a while she lives in peace and it seems that her shameful past will simply fade out of memory, but then she falls in love with John Whittaker and they marry. Unwilling to tell him of her past, Larita tries desperately to fit in with his family, but his mother is suspicious right from the start and becomes even more so when she slowly begins to recognise Larita’s face. 

I found the story to be relatively weak without any real sort of intrigue or suspense. As I said I understand the severity of the divorce and everything, but I just didn’t find that to be such a strong plot by which to drive the film. 

As far as film technique goes, there are some very good signature Hitchcock styles and tricks that are at work here. We’ve got a section of the film being shot from behind a monocle and there is a great court scene early on where the characters are shot from side profiles cut together very quickly so it’s almost like this high-powered game of tennis. 

Starring Isabel Jeans, Franklin Dyall, Eric Bransby Williams, Ian Hunter, Robin Irvine, Violet Farebrother, Frank Elliott, Dacia Deane, Dorothy Boyd, and Enid Stamp-Taylor, Easy Virtue is a pretty plain movie really filled with scandal, court scenes, romance, and ‘suspense’. You know, it’s probably because I just can’t really understand the severity of what divorce meant back in those days that made this movie so boring and unbelievable for me. I’m sure there are people out there who are a little more open-minded and will be able to see the brilliance behind this film (because it’s Hitchcock so there’s sure to be some), but I just really couldn’t.