Forget swooning heroes and fairy-tale romances. This brilliantly self-aware British gem transforms the Austen world into a delicious battlefield of manipulation, ambition, and social warfare, where a stunning widowed aristocrat uses charm, wit, and calculated deception to ensnare wealthy suitors while leaving scandal and confusion in her wake. The result is less a traditional costume drama and more a razor-edged comedy of manners that feels startlingly modern
What audacity, what elegance! Here is a hilariously self-aware period comedy polished to a brilliant sheen. Whit Stillman was probably born to direct a Jane Austen movie. But he has…