1992 Directed by Sally Potter
In 1600, nobleman Orlando inherits his parents' house, thanks to Queen Elizabeth I, who commands the young man to never change. After a disastrous affair with Russian princess Sasha, Orlando looks for solace in the arts before being appointed ambassador to Constantinople in 1700, where war is raging. One morning, Orlando is shocked to wake up as a woman and returns home, struggling as a female to retain her property as the centuries roll by.
Tilda Swinton Billy Zane Lothaire Bluteau John Wood Charlotte Valandrey Quentin Crisp Heathcote Williams Dudley Sutton Peter Eyre Kathryn Hunter Ned Sherrin Jimmy Somerville Roger Hammond Simon Russell Beale Toby Stephens John Bott Elaine Banham Anna Farnworth Sara Mair-Thomas Jerome Willis Anna Healy Viktor Stepanov Mary MacLeod Barbara Hicks Toby Jones Alexander Medvedev Sarah Crowden Oleg Pogodin Thom Hoffman Show All…
The British, they just don't seem to make films like this anymore. These manicured, composed, intricate films used to be the backbone of the British film industry (Peter Greenaway, anyone?) and now they are sorely missed, by me anyway.
I love the esoteric quality of Potter's adaptation. I love its symmetry. I love its archness.
Observe:
Shelmerdine: You are hurt, ma'am?
Orlando: I am dead, sir.
Shelmerdine: Dead? That is serious, can I help?
Orlando: Will you marry me?
Shelmerdine: Ma'am, I would gladly but I fear my ankle is twisted.
The cast is almost as beautiful as the mise-en-scéne: Tilda Swinton's black eyes are haunting and used to brilliant effect with the numerous, third wall breaking glances at the…
"If the comedy in that chapter was laced with an inner feminism, such undertones are brought to the surface after Orlando, suffering a crisis of masculinity after refusing to serve in a war, suddenly wakes up to find that he has turned into a woman. The shifting social roles are immediate and the gender binary is made abundantly clear with the character’s dress and perspective. Orlando goes from having power to being powerless, and upon returning home from a battle he never took part in, she’s learned that her unidentifiable gender has cost her the property that belonged to her when she was previously male. This unraveling of gendered hierarchies offers a parallel to transgender experiences and transgender cinema. The confusion, difficulty and humor in finding out what it means to be one gender or another is prominent in Orlando, making it an important picture towards an often-neglected area of filmmaking."
more here
moviemezzanine.com/tilda-swinton-essay/
Sally Potter's high camp take on the Virginia Woolf novel is a tale of a gender-bending androgyne who lives for centuries; underneath the film's glossy artifice, though, there's a tragic core. It's like a slightly less gay Highlander, basically.
Tilda Swinton is superb, and whose incredible face looks like something you would normally find gazing out from an Elizabethan portrait. S/he carries the film, but it is also about the sumptuous costumes and art design, with any sense of precious artiness undercut by a Gilliamesque sense of irreverence and humour. Wonderful.
Film #17 among my 52 Films by Women 2017
How did I not see this before? It stars Tilda Swinton in a gender bender, two aspects of cinema I almost always enjoy, plus it's based on a feminist classic, the 1928 novel by Virginia Woolf. How could I miss this? And why didn't anyone warn me that it would blow me away?
Swinton plays the title character, starting out in 1600 as a young nobleman under the reign of Elizabeth I, who is portrayed in exquisite drag by Quentin Crisp. In the film's first chapter, "Death," while serving as a page at the Elizabethan court, androgynously handsome Orlando becomes the favorite and "mascot" of the elderly Queen, who instructs him…
as an asian i am granting tilda swinton a pardon for doctor strange because i adored this so much. use your free pass carefully, tilda.
Tilda Swinton is transformative (literally) as Orlando. Start to finish, there is a story arc that brings Orlando through hundreds of years. I liked the way the film played with gender, my favorite line is when Orlando is looking at herself as a woman in the mirror she-states she’s the same person, even though she’s a different sex. And besides having to deal with her property in different ways, as a woman she remains fiercely independent, and stays true to her poetic art.
That end scene was almost perfect when Orlando is in the field with her daughter, who has found her own art through the lens of a camera. Orlando stares up at the sky with a tear falling…
Probably my 5th or 6th viewing, but first ever in 35mm from a glorious international print (it didn't start with Sony Pictures Classics logo - so not sure where it came from, but holy hell it was lovely).
This is the movie that made me aware of Tilda Swinton and it remains a brilliant performance that only she could have ever pulled off. Simply stunning in every respect.
aka queer British Forrest Gump
This is so British that I'm sure most of Potter's cultural and literary references went straight over my head, but Quentin Crisp as Elizabeth I, Jimmy Somerville as a literal angel, and Billy Zane's awful wig? Universal.
Die Idee, eine Geschichte über Geschlechteridentität ins Viktorianische England zu verlegen, ist stark: Gab es wohl nie eine Zeit, in der Geschlechterrollen noch artifizieller, noch stärker formalisiert waren. Tilda Swinton ist in ihrer Androgynität perfekt gecastet und trägt den Film, unterstützt von Sally Potters starker Filmsprache.
Leider vergisst Potter aber das Geschichtenerzählen. Ich habe mich zu Beginn noch gefragt, warum der Twist bereits auf dem Cover verraten wird. Aber bald merkte ich, dass das daran liegt, dass die Regisseurin einfach keinerlei Interesse hat, irgendwas mit ihrem Film zu erzählen. Sie findet zwar immer wieder schöne kleine Momente, die die Absurdität von Gesellschaft und Konventionen verdeutlicht. Aber da nie irgendwas wirklich bewegendes passiert, nichts eine wirkliche Konsequenz hat, bleibt der Film letztlich seltsam hohl.
Loved the costumes, the humor and the subject of the movie. I can’t tell how much it comes from the book (probably a lot) but the principle of the story is simple and yet very smart... and god Tilda Swindon is perfect for this !
An incredibly odd choice of book to adapt. Virginia Woolf is a dirty feminist who write a beautiful novel about sex and sexism and society which holds true to this day and I love her always. I can't wait to watch the new movie about her lady love.
This is the gayest possible movie: the epitome of I want to be her and be with her.
Marry a man?! NO WAY I'D RATHER BE A SPINSTER AND MARRY THE GROUND.
The future is female- oops no its freedom.
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