Orlando

Not wishing to take anything away from Virginia Woolf, whose The Waves is one of the most brilliant and defining novels of all time, Potter's film version is nothing less than a work of art.

As other reviewers have indicated, when the Orlando character, who was based on Woolf's friend and lover, Victoria (Vita) Sackville-West, crosses gender to become a woman, she automatically loses the right to own the very same property that, as a man, she/he had owned for eons. Even as a socio-political commentary, (see also Woolf's A Room Of One's Own) this speaks volumes about a patriarchal society in which the lowliest, most moronic male had infinitely more rights than the most brilliant and gifted female.

Our society is still dealing with the legacy of the tyranny of gender and the legacy of the Inquisition, in which nine million women were murdered for being women.

Yet despite the dark insanities that underly the film's pivotal transition, Potter's modern classic is a rich and joyful romp, filled with love, hope and transcendence, with a simply breathtakingly beautiful closing section.

A rare and inspired work of genius, in which the production direction and casting cannot be faulted.


Not your ordinary film   December 19, 2004
Mourning Light (Nashville TN United States)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful

If you like the extraordinary, the thought-provoking, the tantalizing and artsy, then you may find this an enjoyable film. You won't feel like you've seen it before, or think it resembles any other film you've ever watched - definitely one of a kind. It's a very imaginative story. It took a minute to get "into" but once I did, I really enjoyed it.


"Never grow old. Never die."   July 9, 2006
Christopher Curcio (colorado springs, CO United States)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful

Original, gorgeous, eternal. A sumptuous feast! Orlando proves that cinema can rise above mediocrity and become art. Tilda Swinton is amazing. Probably the most versatile actress on the planet.


A landmark of the 90s   December 26, 2000
5 out of 5 found this review helpful

First off, I've never been able to finish Virginia Woolf's high-camp novel, with its uneasy attempt to blend love letter and politicosexual analysis, but that doesn't matter. I saw "Orlando" in the cinema when it first came out and it was one of the few films around that made me feel glad to be alive.

Negative criticism of Tilda Swinton's cool performance is beside the point. Her calm and control is perfect; Orlando has to go from being a naive boy to a mature woman, and by the end of the film, even though Swinton has hardly broken a sweat, her long stare into the camera makes her seem truly iconic. It's one of the best film performances of the 90s. But Swinton has been too striking and unnerving an actor to ever be a big star, even if she wants to be, which seems unlikely.

Woolf's "Orlando" strikes me as overwritten and silly. Potter's "Orlando" is glorious, with some hilariously exaggerated costume design (from Sandy Powell, who cut her teeth with the even more left-field Derek Jarman), gorgeous music and striking performances from, amongst others, Billy Zane as Orlando's dashing lover and Heathcote Williams as a snide, money-hungry poet. It's an essay in contemporary sexuality, which almost makes me appreciate the music of Jimmy Somerville.

I can't think of many more haunting moments than the last five minutes; essays could be written on Orlando's Gaze. Swinton spends much of the film looking at people, searching for clues, trying to take it all in; by the end she seems to found it, and made it her own, and this is why her impassive stare and slight smile are so moving. I'm biased cause I'm a fan.


A Fascinating Work of Beauty   September 5, 2002
Sharon Angelina (Porter, in United States)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful

Whether it was a mystical experience to watch because it pulled me out of the boredom of a dreary Sunday morning when it appeared on IFC, or whether it really is one of the most fascinating and hauntingly photographed films ever made...well, the jury is still out, and in fact it's probably both reasons. But I quickly obtained my own copy and have waited to watch it again because I so badly want to share this movie with someone. But it's a rare breed that will appreciate the story of a man who over time turns into a woman---a human being who tells a story of pain and obsession, heartache, war, and finally fulfillment in the truest love possible, across five centuries of different lives/same soul. A beautiful and artful rendition of the novel. I can't wait to unwrap mine one day and share it with the right friend... Could become an underground intellegentsia cult classic. (If it hasn't already and I'm really out of the loop.)