Orlando
Virginia Woolf's abstract novel Orlando
is impressively brought to life in director Sally Potter's film.
Despite gaping episodes of vagueness, Orlando is one of the most
exquisitely realized films ever made, with a visual richness
and haunting atmosphere. The art direction, photography, and
costumes are nothing short of luscious (which is all the more
amazing, considering the film's modest budget).
Tilda Swinton plays the title role of Orlando, a young 17th-century
nobleman who is charged by Queen Elizabeth (played in a bizarrethough
aptchoice of casting, by Quentin Crisp) to never grow old. Orlando
goes on to live for centuries, never aging, and the story follows
the protagonist's adventures through the Elizabethan, Jacobean,
Georgian, and Victorian ages (its final scenes set just beyond
the present).
While the story is often silly and over-obvious in its examination
of androgyny, it is more effective in its depiction of the treatment
of women over the centuries. The icy Jacobean episode portrays
Orlando's cruel spurning of his bride-to-be in favor of a Russian
princess. However, it is during Orlando's 18th-century assignment
as ambassador to the East that he awakens one morning to find
that he has become a woman. Upon her return to England, the full
reality of the institutionalized misogyny in 18th-century society
comes crashing down on Orlando. It is not until the Victorian
age that the protagonist finds a suitable lover (who appears
in the Bronte-esque form of Billy Zane astride a stallion).
Whatever the social messages, they are, for better or worse,
ultimately eclipsed by the film's more impressive visual and
aural achievements. Orlando is ultimately a film of atmosphere.
Its imagery is arresting and indelible, and director Potter (who
also wrote the screenplay and co-wrote the score) proves herself
a gifted and resourceful artist. The film's statements about
gender, while not subtle, fortunately keep from slipping into
heavy-handedness, thanks to the distraction of the production's
beauty and style.
Paul Andrew MacLean
Shelton CT 06484 USA
(800) 232-2224 voice
(800) 775-2729 fax
LadyJanet@RenaissanceMagazine.com