When John Whittaker (Ben Barnes), a handsome Englishman, brings his beautiful, modern-thinking American bride Larita (Jessica Biel) back to the stately home, his snobbish mother (Kristin Scott Thomas) is horrified and a war of words and wills ensues. Set in the 1920s, this adaptation of Noël Coward’s play by the director Stephan Elliott (Priscilla, Queen of the Desert) is a period film that likes to think it’s not another period film. It’s fair to say that Elliott has cut the clipped delivery we associate with Coward and brought in some modern music, but its primary pleasures are still of the “country house, chic outfits and class” variety. More frothy than sparkling, Easy Virtue has a surprisingly good performance from Biel, but, alas, no bite.

PG, 97 mins

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