Orlando [PG]

Meet Orlando. He, for there can be no doubt of his sex, is a normal androgynous-looking young man who promises to never grow old and live a long life pursuing his passions for love and poetry. His position as a man grows subject to question as he continuously fails in his endeavours and pursuits… and then he dies. Waking up again as a woman, Orlando’s perceptions of the world change and she, for there can be doubt of her sex, now suffers the societal constraints of the gender. 

Sally Potter’s adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s novel is a most clever and wonderfully engaging film. The brunt of the fascination that this film boasts comes in the casting choices, which I believe you can never underestimate or take for granted really because it plays just as key a role as the screenplay, the costumes, or the soundtrack. There is so much about this movie that really makes it stand out as something really artful, almost a masterstroke. It’s not so much about how it looks, but how it makes you feel as an audience and the jarring and melancholy soundtrack blended with beautiful period costumes and of course fascinating casting choices, make Orlando a most beautiful film. 

Meet Orlando. He, for there can be no doubt of his sex, is a normal androgynous-looking young man who promises to never grow old and live a long life pursuing his passions for love and poetry. His position as a man grows subject to question as he continuously fails in his endeavours and pursuits… and then he dies. Waking up again as a woman, Orlando’s perceptions of the world change and she, for there can be doubt of her sex, now suffers the societal constraints of the gender. 

As I said, the real star of this film is the casting choices. Tilda Swinton stars in the title role, playing both genders and delivering a wonderful performance. There is a certain level of obviousness to this casting choice of course as Tilda is already fairly androgynous, but on a higher level the physical appearance of Tilda in period men’s fashions still has this incredible elegance that is quite feminine. Despite the femininity of the period costumes, Tilda as the male Orlando is actually wholly convincing and seems strangely, really normal as though we are watching a male onscreen. Tilda’s performance itself is completely captivating from the get go and the sudden change in sex does nothing to obstruct the steady flow in which she moves along in this film. Potter also cast Quentin Crisp as Queen Elizabeth. For those who don’t know, Quentin Crisp was an English writer and raconteur, outwardly gay. Although it seems a bit screaming to cast him as one of the most well known queens in history, his playing Elizabeth brings this wondrous extra layer of breadth to the piece and stands as a delicious side comment on sexuality and gender roles, which the story is rife with. Another tasty example of this is the continuous appearances of Jimmy Somerville as the falsetto at the beginning and the angel at the end. With his incredibly high-pitched voice, the long held scenes of him just singing bring this further level of sexual comment to the film and it’s wondrous. 

Despite the film’s dramatic and period setting, a wonderful level of comedy and metafiction comes into the mix, manifesting itself in the form of Tilda’s constant interaction with the camera and thus, the audience. Throughout the movie, she looks directly at the camera and sometimes speaks directly to us. This clever little technique triggers that glorious feeling of inclusion: the audience aren’t just watching a movie; they are part of it, a friend that Orlando can vent to and confide in. I loved that particularly. 

The soundtrack is something special too because it’s jarring and melancholy all the way through and although it conflicts with some of the scenes in terms of setting or content or whatever, it creates this atmosphere of diffidence and melancholia and confusion and it reflects the themes of the story remarkably well. 

Starring Billy Zane, John Wood, Roger Hammond, Simon Russell Beale, Matthew Sim, Charlotte Valandrey, Toby Stephens, and Toby Jones, Orlando is a really stirring and engaging film filled with sexuality, drama, romance, art, and comedy. It’s a movie that will really stay with you; there is just something about it that imprints in some part of the emotional anatomy and sticks. It’s wonderful.