Film shot at stately home billed as next Saltburn

A new film about a lonely, narcissistic aristocrat set in a Suffolk stately home has been hailed as "outrageous" as the award-winning British movie Saltburn.

Lady has been shot at Somerleyton Hall, near Lowestoft, and tells the story of a woman who persuades a struggling filmmaker to document her every move before her obsession with attention takes a strange turn when she starts disappearing.

The real owner of the hall, Lady Lara Somerleyton, 45, said it was "a real privilege" to host the cast and crew.

The film goes on national release this week, with Somerleyton Hall holding a special outdoor screening in September.

The mockumentary-style dark comedy has been described by Guardian critic Peter Bradshaw as "outrageous... like Saltburn on shrooms" in a four-star review.

Saltburn, another dark comedy which dealt with envy, class and desire, was similarly set in a stately home, in Northamptonshire.

Lady was directed and produced by first-time feature film-makers, who are long-time friends of Lara Somerleyton.

She said she had agreed to the filming at her home after being told its premise and learning lead actor Sian Clifford, who appeared in BBC series Fleabag, was to star.

Somerleyton said she was a "massive fan" of the actor.

The fictional film was shot entirely at the 5,000-acre (2,023 hectare) estate over three weeks.

Somerleyton said it was "wonderful watching this creative process and seeing it unfold in front of your eyes", and that the house was "almost like a character in the film itself".

She added the family's pet raven was often on set, and so a part was especially written for him, with the fictional estate even being named Ravenside Hall.

Asked if she was concerned viewers might think Lady was based on herself, Somerleyton said: "I think when they watch the film, hopefully they'll realise it's definitely not.

"Because... she's a total narcissist, and clearly a little bit unhinged, but it's really funny."

Somerleyton Hall has been used for filming in the past, and doubled as Sandringham Estate in the Netflix series The Crown about the British royal family.

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