In the early 1930s, John Whittaker, a young handsome Englishman married Larita, a sexy glamorous American race driver. After they went back to the countryside, Mrs. Whittaker, John’s mother, had an instant allergic reaction to her daughter-in- law while the two Miss Whittaker, John’s left-over sisters also unfriendly boycotted the new comer. Trapped in the depressive conflicts, Larita tried to persuade her husband to go back to the city but failed. Mr. Whittaker, a retired veteran, kept watching his daughter-in-law’s fight against his conventional family silently and finally ran away from the prudish cage with the lead character.
Maybe the produce wanna tailor Larita to an independent, intelligent and brilliant woman. Her affection for wild animals made her sick of the traditional entertainment of hunt. In order to keep her words, Larita drove a motor instead of riding a horse to join the hunting game, which did testified her intelligence. Passionate for cook, Larita toasted a turkey on herself for the Thanks Giving Day, which broke the notion of leaving the manual work to lowlife and meanwhile showcased her brilliance. Despair at the mundane living environment, Larita gave up her wealthy married life definitely to peruse the freedom of a peer, which displayed her independence.
However, the grandeur of the lead character should never be overestimated. To realize her dream of freedom, Larita always tried to leave the village to build her own core family. Yet as the heir to the big family, her husband had to shoulder the responsibility of maintaining the estate in the countryside. That was the boundary she could neglect but he could never cross over. Meaninglessly sitting on the Chihuahua and suffocating her mother-in-law’s favorite pet, Larita buried the corpse with no regret. Hatred for the dog could never be the excuse of lying. That was the boundary she could neglect but many others could never. Although sentenced innocent, Larita implied she did inject poison to help her dying ex-husband to end up the torture of cancer. As euthanasia was still an issue under controversial, she crossed over the boundary of legislation while many others could never. Surviving World War I and losing all his brothers, friends and staff, Mr. Whittaker returned like a walking flesh with no soul until Larita’s appearance sparked fresh hope of the future. She never hid her appreciation and adoration towards her father-in-law and frankly accompanied him to flee away from the countryside. That was the boundary she dared to cross over while many others could never.
Generally speaking, Easy Virtue was shot as a comedy and thus its plot had no reason to be over criticized. The delicate costumes, marvelous scenic settings and sweet-sounding music were all value added. As remarked in the script, people were universally similar when their guard was down. Anyway, it was inviting to watch a movie with such an outstanding and different lead character.
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