Black-belt performances from Claire Foy and Richard E Grant inject much-needed energy into this raucous, one-note period romp set in the bewigged and disease-ridden 18th century. Written and directed by American filmmaker Peter Glanz, the film features candlelit interiors reminiscent of a knockoff Barry Lyndon and periodic orchestral stabs borrowed from Amadeus as furious costumed characters storm down corridors. But Grant and Foy are always present, selling the material with conviction, and there are a few witty lines.
A Tale of Social Climbing
They play Sir Chauncey and Lady Savage, who reside in a vast, crumbling country estate. He is a parvenu and adventurer who loves the new Hanoverian order and despises Jacobites, but is fundamentally a social climber who married for money and took his wife's noble name. She was initially charmed by his roguish ways and forgave him everything, but now carries on an affair with the footman, Halifax (Jack Farthing), while he dallies with the maid, Dorothy (Bel Powley). Richard McCabe and Vicki Pepperdine portray two ghastly neighbors with rotten teeth—the only people willing to associate with the Savages.
Social Desperation
Just when it seems the Savages are beyond the social pale, they are thrilled to learn that the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire have invited themselves to dinner as part of a quasi-royal progress. The Savages' social stock skyrockets, and they borrow ruinously to make their home worthy of their guests' imminent arrival. The slide toward calamity begins. It is all a bit strenuous, but Foy and Grant are such class acts that they make the film watchable.
Savage House screened at SXSW London and is released on 5 June in the UK and US.
