Diplomatic Relations

After an LA night last night, it’s the Aston 10k this morning. LA is low alcohol of course, LF never quite seems to happen. L doesn’t seem so keen on the race but of course she can’t let me get one up on her.

They’ll be no distractions during the race because ‘the view’ is quite familiar to me, I grew up around there, so I have the advantage that I won’t be tempted to look at it. L will let me know if it’s changed. I came ninth here last year. No pressure.

Two fit looking types, one in a triathlon strip disappear out of sight almost immediately. Taking with them the lead woman, so no chance of beating all the girls today. That apart the race goes well. I’m floundering back in ninth again at one point but in the last third I manage to catch up the chap in front, hoping he’ll run with me so that we can help each other along but he just wants to follow me. So I have no choice but to try and drop him. Which I’m pleased to say I successfully do.

My father is out on the course again; unfortunately it’s the wrong course. Which is partly my fault and partly the organisers fault. I printed him off a map from the race website; unfortunately it was the map of the route three years ago... He had hoped to see the race in three places but in the end only managed to see us once.

A brief rain shower doesn’t disrupt things too much and I come in 8th, one up on last year but in exactly the same time, to the very second.

Once across the line the heavens open. I dive for cover, thinking I’m glad I’m not still out there. Ah, then I realise L still is. I try and talk the dogs out of the boot, neither are keen but eventually we all go off to cheer home their mistress. Although MD finds a rather interesting gatepost and misses it.

After a pub lunch and a few very satisfying Derby Brewery Double Mash's, its home for some maths revision. This goes well for a while until I accidently (honestly) give Daughter an unsolvable equation. Oops. She retreats upstairs where tensions and the volume of the Prodigy seem to rise with every passing second. I take shelter in the bunker, well the bedroom, with the newspaper.

Once diplomatic relations have been restored, we decide to watch a DVD of one of L’s favourite films of last year, ‘Easy Virtue’. This seems the perfect film to lighten the arithmetical mood. Yet as we watch it we are constantly reminded why we prefer the cinema. Firstly you may get annoyed by the popcorn munchers in the cinema but I have never had a collie standing with his ears and tail blocking most of the screen as he tries to get you to throw his ball for him. This is Doggo’s party trick. Not to outdone, MD comes in from the garden and thrusts his head into my lap. I assume he just wants some fuss but as I tickle his ears I realise that he has come to show me the impressive collection of dung and other assorted yucky things that are hanging from them. Gross. We have to pause the film whilst I sponge him down.

Then of course we also have to pause the film when we get to the tricky bits in the algebra revision. A necessary evil, its GCSE maths tomorrow. I’m feeling confident that I could pass the exam, unfortunately it’s not me who’s taking it.

Funnily enough tonight’s film has a few parallels with last night’s Cheri. Again it’s a case of the male lead falling in love with the ‘wrong girl’.

Easy Virtue is based on a 1920's play by Noel Coward but I assume it's a fairly liberal adaptation. The male lead is John Whittaker (Ben Barnes), who marries a thoroughly inappropriate girl, the glamorous Larita (Jessica Biel), a racing driver whom he met in France. Naturally he's thrilled to have landed himself such a delightful catch but he should have kept her to himself. His mistake is taking her home to England to meet his family.

The first words his mother (Kristin Scott Thomas) utters to her new daughter-in-law are ‘Oh, you're American’ and it's all downhill from there. She immediately resents Larita's presence as part of the family and proceeds to be as vindictive as possible towards her. This is all before she finds out that Larita has been married before, to a man who died in suspicious circumstances.



John’s mother believes in upholding the traditions of the aristocracy whilst Larita has no intention of fitting in with that sort of lifestyle. Unfortunately for Larita, she is also poor and the Whittakers desperately need their son to marry into money so that they can maintain that lifestyle. It’s post World War One Britain and the status of the gentry is fading fast. His mother had hoped that John would marry his childhood sweetheart Sarah, the daughter of a wealthy neighbour.



The polar opposite to his mother is his father, the wonderfully sardonic Jim (Colin Firth). Firth is simply fantastic as the father. A man so disengaged from the family and all it stands for that he spends most of his time in his workshop. He's a World War One survivor, dresses down, unshaven and shuns the traditional country pursuits. He approves when Larita objects to fox hunting on moral grounds and then when asked ride with the hunt, does so on a motorbike. He likes Larita and sees her as a soul mate.



Easy Virtue is a romantic comedy and then some. There’s some great visual ‘gags’ some of which are so quick they’re easy to miss which means it doesn’t work too well on the small screen and would be better at the cinema on a bigger screen. That said there's nothing subtle about the 'traditional' can-can which doesn't endear Larita to John's sister or the nasty end that became of the Chihuahua (dog lovers should look away). There’s also the subtlety of songs such as ‘Car Wash’ and ‘Sex Bomb’ redone in period style.

Ultimately though, it isn't just a comedy. The brilliance of the film is how it explores the relationships between the various family members. There are some great exchanges between John’s Mother and Larita, who can give as good as she gets. Thrown into the mix are John's sisters, who don't know what to make of Larita at all, and some interesting staff members. Larita could have been a breath of fresh air blowing away the entrenched stuffiness of the family but is seen as more of a cold wind demolishing it.



As well as Firth, there are great performances by Biel and Scott Thomas and well most of the cast.

In the end, Larita whirls out in much the same fashion as she whirled in, realising that she’s totally wasted on John, advising the daughters to run away and destroying the Venus de Milo.

The final scene is interesting too. If this was the way the original play finished, then it would have been greatly subversive for its day. ‘Easy Virtue’ is a bit off the wall, which is probably why I liked it a lot.