Rating: 
Summary: A Surreal Masterpiece.
Review: 'Orlando' has extremely rare qualities found in a great movie. The cinematography is beautiful, the storyline is at times very funny and at other times moving and sad... the music fits 'Orlando' like a glove - throbbing electronic pulses give the scenes character... 'surreal' is probably the best word to describe this movie (check out the white sheets wrapped around the castle in the final scene!). The reason why I couldn't give this movie five stars is the in very end (skip this paragraph if you haven't seen this movie before) when Orlando was gazing up at the 'angel'. It pops out of nowhere and somewhat ruins the storyline. However, despite its one misunderstood flaw, 'Orlando' is a very fine film. Highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: the first "free" book
Review: ...because Woolf is able to be liberated and liberating despite the heavy shadow of her time. outstanding.
Rating:
Summary: "You're here as a casualty of love."
Review: As a fan of Virginia Woolf novels, I anticipated "Orlando" with mixed feelings. We have all experienced the disappointment of seeing favourite novels translated to the screen, and yet, in spite of this, I couldn't help but be curious to see "Orlando" on film. I saw the film when it was released, and it remains one of my favourite novel-to-screen productions. "Orlando" begins in the year 1600. Orlando is a young man--heir to a magnificent estate--when his anxious parents thrust him at an elderly Queen Elizabeth I. Queen Elizabeth, a woman who always favoured handsome young men, embraces Orlando's beauty, and tells him "do not fade. Do not wither. Do not grow old." And from that moment on, Orlando never ages--but remains forever young. Tilda Swinton was the perfect choice for the role of Orlando. There is something about the blank look to her features that lends itself perfectly to the role of Orlando--a Elizabethan male who eventually transforms into a twentieth century woman. I cannot imagine anyone else in this role. There were several pivotal moments in the film when Orlando/Swinton gazes directly at the camera. It is as though a secret, sympathetic exchange occurs between the viewer and the character of Orlando. In an interesting twist, Quentin Crisp plays Queen Elizabeth with a great deal of panache. The film was true to the novel, and just as the novel was somewhat problematic in parts, so is the film. Orlando's romance with the American, Shelmerdine (Billy Zane) is perhaps the weakest part in the film. Visually, the film is stunning--the barges at night on the river--the sumptuous banquet scene--the dancing on a frozen river Thames--the magnificent maze. Woolf fans will enjoy "Orlando" for director Sally Potter obviously created the film with a great deal of respect for the author and her work--displacedhuman.
Rating:
Summary: "You're here as a casualty of love."
Review: As a fan of Virginia Woolf novels, I anticipated "Orlando" with mixed feelings. We have all experienced the disappointment of seeing favourite novels translated to the screen, and yet, in spite of this, I couldn't help but be curious to see "Orlando" on film. I saw the film when it was released, and it remains one of my favourite novel-to-screen productions. "Orlando" begins in the year 1600. Orlando is a young man--heir to a magnificent estate--when his anxious parents thrust him at an elderly Queen Elizabeth I. Queen Elizabeth, a woman who always favoured handsome young men, embraces Orlando's beauty, and tells him "do not fade. Do not wither. Do not grow old." And from that moment on, Orlando never ages--but remains forever young. Tilda Swinton was the perfect choice for the role of Orlando. There is something about the blank look to her features that lends itself perfectly to the role of Orlando--a Elizabethan male who eventually transforms into a twentieth century woman. I cannot imagine anyone else in this role. There were several pivotal moments in the film when Orlando/Swinton gazes directly at the camera. It is as though a secret, sympathetic exchange occurs between the viewer and the character of Orlando. In an interesting twist, Quentin Crisp plays Queen Elizabeth with a great deal of panache. The film was true to the novel, and just as the novel was somewhat problematic in parts, so is the film. Orlando's romance with the American, Shelmerdine (Billy Zane) is perhaps the weakest part in the film. Visually, the film is stunning--the barges at night on the river--the sumptuous banquet scene--the dancing on a frozen river Thames--the magnificent maze. Woolf fans will enjoy "Orlando" for director Sally Potter obviously created the film with a great deal of respect for the author and her work--displacedhuman.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely breath-taking!
Review: By far the best costume designs, scenery, and dialogue I have witnessed in a long time. A wonderful adaptation of Virginia Wolfe's play. It stimulates the mind and captivates the audience heart.
Rating:
Summary: One of my favorites.
Review: Finally got this one on DVD after nearly wearing out my VHS copy. Sally Potter is one of the best directors and of course Tilda Swinton in the title role is mesmerizing in every way. Although a sharp departure from Virginia Woolf's source material, it retains the spirit and scope of the novel. Orlando's tranformation from man to woman half way through is a beautiful moment. Swinton proudly naked and observing herself in the mirror looks directly into the camera and says "no difference really, just a different sex" it brilliantly blurs the line between what it means to be a man and woman. And when I say blur, I mean it in a good way. The gender, sexual orientation and race lines all need to be blurred until they disappear. Orland is a good salvo in that war.
Rating:
Summary: A charming farce of androgynous exploration....
Review: First let it be said that while I love the film Orlando it is simply impossible to get all the themes and events of the novel into one movie, so I strongly urge all viewers, whether they loved or hated this movie, to read the book, Virginia Woolf's unique love letter to Vita Sackville-West. The inevitable failings involved in translating a book into a film aside, 'Orlando' is visually exsquisite, the costumes and locations sumptuous and splendid, fully evoking the decadance and contrasting squalor of the centuries in which Orlando lives his/her life. The score perfectly compliments the surroundings, the atmosphere and the themes of each scene, and is beautifully composed and performed. Though some have expressed doubts over Tilda Swinton's ability to play Orlando, the aristocrat born as man who turns into a woman half way through his/her life, I thought she was the perfect choice. I believe knowing she is a woman initially taints people's ability to find her convincing as a man; to me she played the part with great charm, amiability and empathy, and became even more charming as a woman - the character of Orlando at this stage in 'her' life becoming more rounded, more sympathetic, more knowledgable and Swinton captures that well. This film does not follow the 'rules' of the 'real' world - besides changing genders, Orlando lives for 400 years and does not age a day. It is the story of a pursuit for life, for meaning, by one individual determined to discover what that means. Accept it, and enjoy. In its attempt to capture the most important of the book's events the film does have a slight recurring bump in continuity, it seems, and will no doubt be pretentious and boring to some, if not many. Nonetheless, Orlando is a sometimes humorous, sometimes haunting movie, thought provoking and richly realised.
Rating:
Summary: Blurring the line
Review: First of all, I have to say that I have not read Virginia Woolf's book on which this film is based. Ms. Woolf is not an "easy read", as her style tends to ramble a bit, and from what I understand, one could not literally translate "Orlando" to the screen. I commend Sally Potter for her adaptation of Woolf's novel. "Orlando", to me, is about a person's journey of self-discovery. As the lead character says, "The same person-just a different sex." There is a wonderfully sly mixing-up and playing with gender here. Orlando, an effeminate male poet who later becomes a woman, is beautifully underplayed by Tilda Swinton. I admire her performance, as it is played with a very subtle wit. Queen Elizabeth I is portrayed by that grand unwilling champion of gay rights Quentin Crisp, and the beautiful Billy Zane is treated as the "love object" in two scenes of lush sensuality. "Bronsky Beat"'s Jimmy Somerville, with his famous falsetto voice is here too, as a singing angel at the film's finale. His song, "Coming", is wonderful, stating that gender doesn't really matter here-"I am coming, I am coming, here I am, neither a woman nor a man." The art direction is breathtakingly beautiful, and Sandy Powell's costumes are remarkably accurate, spanning the centuries from Elizabethan thru Jacobean thru Rococo thru Victorian to present-day. Some may find the pace of this gorgeous film a little ponderous, but I found it to be an intriguing 90 minutes. We are all humans, individuals-why all this fuss about what a "woman's" role in society is, or what a "man's" role in society is? Virginia Woolf, I understand, based "Orlando" on a meeting she had with an Italian noblewoman who bemoaned the fact that she was denied her inheritance due to the fact that she was born a woman. Almost unbelievable, isn't it?
Rating:
Summary: Blurring the line
Review: First of all, I have to say that I have not read Virginia Woolf's book on which this film is based. Ms. Woolf is not an "easy read", as her style tends to ramble a bit, and from what I understand, one could not literally translate "Orlando" to the screen. I commend Sally Potter for her adaptation of Woolf's novel. "Orlando", to me, is about a person's journey of self-discovery. As the lead character says, "The same person-just a different sex." There is a wonderfully sly mixing-up and playing with gender here. Orlando, an effeminate male poet who later becomes a woman, is beautifully underplayed by Tilda Swinton. I admire her performance, as it is played with a very subtle wit. Queen Elizabeth I is portrayed by that grand unwilling champion of gay rights Quentin Crisp, and the beautiful Billy Zane is treated as the "love object" in two scenes of lush sensuality. "Bronsky Beat"'s Jimmy Somerville, with his famous falsetto voice is here too, as a singing angel at the film's finale. His song, "Coming", is wonderful, stating that gender doesn't really matter here-"I am coming, I am coming, here I am, neither a woman nor a man." The art direction is breathtakingly beautiful, and Sandy Powell's costumes are remarkably accurate, spanning the centuries from Elizabethan thru Jacobean thru Rococo thru Victorian to present-day. Some may find the pace of this gorgeous film a little ponderous, but I found it to be an intriguing 90 minutes. We are all humans, individuals-why all this fuss about what a "woman's" role in society is, or what a "man's" role in society is? Virginia Woolf, I understand, based "Orlando" on a meeting she had with an Italian noblewoman who bemoaned the fact that she was denied her inheritance due to the fact that she was born a woman. Almost unbelievable, isn't it?
Rating:
Summary: A landmark of the 90s
Review: First off, I've never been able to finish Virginia Woolf's high-camp novel, with its uneasy attempt to blend love letter and politicosexual analysis, but that doesn't matter. I saw "Orlando" in the cinema when it first came out and it was one of the few films around that made me feel glad to be alive. Negative criticism of Tilda Swinton's cool performance is beside the point. Her calm and control is perfect; Orlando has to go from being a naive boy to a mature woman, and by the end of the film, even though Swinton has hardly broken a sweat, her long stare into the camera makes her seem truly iconic. It's one of the best film performances of the 90s. But Swinton has been too striking and unnerving an actor to ever be a big star, even if she wants to be, which seems unlikely. Woolf's "Orlando" strikes me as overwritten and silly. Potter's "Orlando" is glorious, with some hilariously exaggerated costume design (from Sandy Powell, who cut her teeth with the even more left-field Derek Jarman), gorgeous music and striking performances from, amongst others, Billy Zane as Orlando's dashing lover and Heathcote Williams as a snide, money-hungry poet. It's an essay in contemporary sexuality, which almost makes me appreciate the music of Jimmy Somerville. I can't think of many more haunting moments than the last five minutes; essays could be written on Orlando's Gaze. Swinton spends much of the film looking at people, searching for clues, trying to take it all in; by the end she seems to found it, and made it her own, and this is why her impassive stare and slight smile are so moving. I'm biased cause I'm a fan.
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