Stillman's period piece with a contemporary mood and energy

Whit Stillman's Love & Friendship, based on the Jane Austen (unfinished?) short novel Lady Susan, is a little baffling at first as Stillman intros a slew of titled characters (doing so in a campy way, with the characters in pose with names and titles beneath them) but it gets under way as once the eponymous Susan, rumored to be the biggest flirt in England, played very well by Kate Beckinsale, takes the screen and completely holds our attention and engagement as she plots and schemes and manipulates everyone, especially the men, in the movie - a cruel woman, indifferent to her suffering daughter, heartless to all, willing to sacrificed love, friendship, anything to serve her selfish needs - in other words, not exactly a typical Austen heroine. The acting - an all British cast save for Chloe Seveigny as an exile from Connecticut (whose husband threatens to send her back to Hartford - to which Susan archly remarks: You could get scalped!). There are some really funny scenes, especially involving the suitors - Tom Bennett? - for Susan's daughter who's considered a bit of a "rattle," in other words, a kook. Not sure how many liberties Stillman took with Austen's prose or with the plot itself, but the film set in period feels lively and contemporary, with each of the characters vivid and distinct. The one flub, I think, was the annoying soundtrack, much of it medieval motets about 200 years out of synch w/ the narrative period (though nice use of Mozart/Figaro I think at the conclusion as couples awkwardly and surprisingly pair off).