Orlando (1992)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

Sally Potter

Writers:

Sally Potter (writer)
Virginia Woolf (novel)

Release Date:

9 June 1993 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

Young nobleman Orlando is commanded by Queen Elizabeth I to stay forever young. Miraculously, he does just that...

Plot Keywords:

Sex | Queen | Nobility | Love | England

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 12 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Tilda Swinton	...	Orlando
Quentin Crisp	...	Queen Elizabeth I
Jimmy Somerville	...	Falsetto / Angel
John Bott	...	Orlando's Father
Elaine Banham	...	Orlando's Mother
Anna Farnworth	...	Clorinda
Sara Mair-Thomas	...	Favilla
Anna Healy	...	Euphrosyne
Dudley Sutton	...	King James I
Simon Russell Beale	...	Earl of Moray
Matthew Sim	...	Lord Francis Vere
Jerome Willis	...	Translator
Viktor Stepanov	...	Russian Ambassador
Charlotte Valandrey	...	Princess Sasha
Mary MacLeod	...	First Older Woman

Runtime:

93 min | Argentina:95 min

Country:

UK | Russia | France | Italy | Netherlands

Language:

English | French

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Iceland:L | Singapore:PG (cut) | Singapore:M18 (re-rating) (2007) | South Korea:15 | Argentina:13 | Australia:PG | Finland:K-8 | Spain:13 | Sweden:7 | UK:PG | USA:PG-13

Filming Locations:

Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England, UK

Company:

Adventure Pictures

Trivia:

As Orlando progresses throughout the years, during each new incarnation actress Tilda Swinton's eye color changes.

Quotes:

Archduke Harry: I'm offering you my hand.
Orlando: Oh! Archduke! That's very kind of you, yes. I cannot accept.
Archduke Harry: But I... I am England. And you are mine.
Orlando: I see. On what grounds?
Archduke Harry: That I adore you.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Alternative Queen's Message (1993) (TV)

Soundtrack:

WHERE'ER YOU WALK

Exquistie and lush movie with an brilliant performance by Tilda Swinton

Orlando (Tilda Swinton) is a young noble man in the 15th century under Queen Elizabeth I (Quentin Crisp) reign. He's one of her last favorites and leaves him with great wealth. But he had to promise her to stay young. And impossible as it seems, he doesn't age and moves on from one century to the other, changing his sex and learning how unprivileged women are, as she looses her property as women are not allowed to own estate (And, as she's told by a lawyer, she's presumed to be dead).

Based on Virginia Woolfs novel, it captures very well her anger about the sexual discrimination of women in society as well as the sexual ambiguous and ironic tone of the novel. Other things, like Woolfs dislike and criticism of the Victorian society as well as her satire on classic biographies (the novel contains pictures, a register and of course a foreword) are lost. That's because though the book is rather thin, it tells a lot of stories and the elapse of time is much easier to describe in the book. That's one of the movies most obvious flaws: Director Sally Potter has great difficulties to show the ongoing time and the change of the centuries, especially at the end the transition is unsatisfactory.

Otherwise the movie is beautiful, the photography is exquisite, as are the costumes, many of the shots look like paintings, full of strange moods and meaning.

The film is full of sexual dubious characters and relations. Quentin Crisp, the man who inspired Sting to write "An Englishman in New York", plays a marvelous Queen, Charlotte Valandrey plays a young woman, who dresses like a man and Lothaire Bluteau as a Khan with whom Orlando has a friendship that has it's share of gay undertones.

I've read, that some critics objected, that Tilda Swinton is not believable as a man. I don't share their opinion, from the start I was fascinated by her androgynous appearance, by her grace and wit, she's perfectly cast and is simply brilliant.