Orlando

Stunning picture based on the Virginia Woolf novel about an immortal youth who sees the world from both sexes through the course of four centuries of change. Elegant in all areas especially in the costume design, which is handled by Academy Award winner Sandy Powell (Shakespeare in Love) and decadent design of the whole production. In the title role, Tilda Swinton is strikingly beautiful and brings energy and passion to the character in every scene. Although in a small role, this is Zane's best screen work as Sheimeidine, the "pursuer of liberty." Other stand out performances include Valandrey as a luminous woman whom Orlando adores and Crisp, exceptional early on in the film as Queen Elizabeth I.

Being a huge fan of Virginia Woolf, I was apprehensive about the film adaptation of the novel, especially one which lends itself so easily to the printed word (it seems natural to accept Orlando's change in gender within the constructs of Woolf's pastiche of the historical novel, mostly due to her presentation of Orlando's personality as outside of social gender constructions).

I was pleasantly surprised! The central performance from Tilda Swinton, seemed tinged with the awkwardness the male form of Orlando has, which, when Orlando becomes a woman, seem resolved.

Structually the film is strong, making the transitions over the four hundred years more solid than the novel's more subtle approach. The film is also stunning visually. Despite a few moments which seem to ground the film very firmly within the early nineties (Jimmy Somerville as an angel...?!) overall the film is an interesting and fulfilling adaptation of an interesting novel.

"Orlando" is a curiously ravishing series of essays built around an the title character's travel through four centuries and two genders. The film's critical acclaim and awards in contrast with the luke warm IMDB user rating is testimony to the esoterics and queer plot of the film. "Orlando's" artful and elegant presentation features a wonderful performance by Swinton, sumptuous costuming, lush locations, and a screenplay rich in comedic overtones and serious undercurrents. Not for everyone but a wonderful film for the jaded.

Tilda Swinton was born for this role. She IS Orlando. But that preoccupation aside, the first striking aspect of this film is the costumes! It opens on a scene with Orlando in Elizabethan finery, and moves through several historical periods, not least of them 18th Century literary England. That's something to see. The film is, as you would expect, very literary. You don't need to have read the book, but a working knowledge of typical euro-centric history and literature is helpful, I guess. Quentin Crisp plays a perfect Queen Elizabeth, the grotesque Institution herself, opposite Swinton's birdish Orlando. The photography is clear and even luminous at times, and the story moves along quite well--I consistently wondered what would happen. The exploration of gender, while it was obviously "the point", was not overdone, in the last analysis. Our freakish Orlando turns out to be quite human, which is a relief. The film is very well done; Swinton is a rare bird, never boring, and not to be missed.

Simply put one of the best movies I have ever seen. The cast is amazing and deliver in their performances, the stunning visuals and beautiful music combine to create a dreamy atmosphere through which S. Potter uses Orlando as a medium to make subtle and elegant commentaries about life, the human condition and the struggle of the sexes to understand each other when they are basically two aspects of the same coin. As opposed to some of the other reviewers here I did not find the movie slow or boring at any time. Nor is it just about Orlando; there are multiple layers. It flows simply and quietly but with great intensity and an underlying irony at every moment. This film must be Potter's masterpiece.