Lee Eisenberg I didn't know anything about Sally Potter's adaptation of Virginia Woolf's novel when I rented it, and that made "Orlando" even more of a treat. In a way, it predicted the era when gender definitions would be less defined, as Tilda Swinton's title character undergoes a significant change over the course of the movie. The changes that the eternally young Orlando personally experiences are as significant as those in society over the centuries.I wouldn't call it one of the greatest movies ever made, but I like how it shows the protagonist accepting who she is. Were "Orlando" more famous, it might now be an iconic movie among the people who don't conform to the gender binary spectrum.Anyway, it's a fine piece of work. A particularly impressive scene is Orlando running through a room full of works of art, having to move her dress from side to side to avoid hitting them. Those dresses must have been a pain to wear.Also starring Billy Zane (Titanic), John Wood (WarGames) and Toby Stephens (Die Another Day).

dimtrav-1 As someone who knows nothing at all about Virginia Woolf and her writing career, I found this film rather vacuous. Sure the costumes and sets were great, I do love much of those eras clothing styles, but that hardly makes a great film. Hollywood has this thing with books and IMHO if you need to know the book prior to seeing the movie then the movie is at fault either the screenwriter or director failed to make a film that can stand on its own. Maybe it was an impossible task I don't know since I haven't read the book.Too much seems to depend upon knowing the author and her relationship with her friend but without that foreknowledge it loses any irony or bite.Tilde Swinson simply cannot make a convincing male and for 2/3 of the movie that simply got in the way.

Ted Sally Potter's Orlando is a clever and ambitious dissection of love and gender that defies culturally sexed expectations in both content and form. The film owes much of its narrative experimentalism to Virginia Woolf, who first conceived the story of immortal, androgynous Orlando as an exploration of societal prejudice and conduct, satirizing naively patriarchal feelings of romantic ownership and the laughably self- important status of masculine art. Potter deserves credit, however, for translating the story into a Brechtian subversion of traditional viewership modes: the film's drag casting, fourth wall disruption, titles and music all remind us to be conscious and critical of how we engage the film. Orlando is anchored by a charming performance from Tilda Swinton, and some stunning costume and set design. It is a smart film that challenges the sexed gaze, and it genuinely earns the sense of hope it ends on. -TK 10/12/10

OutsideHollywoodLand What would happen if we could live a series of past lives, strung together like pearls, with full cognition of them all? Orlando, written and directed by Sally Potter, explores this theme, but then also weaves another few strands along the way. The title character, played by Tilda Swinton, plays Orlando like a skittish school girl, who remains confused and emotionally isolated from herself, those dearest to her, and the world at large.While visually fascinating, Orlando bounds helter-skelter through 400 years of history and politics to make some fuzzy social commentary on gender, sexism, and love. The score is perhaps the most interesting element in a film that fails to connect with this viewer. It travels well through Orlando's four centuries, complimenting Swinton's movements with vibrations that haunt our senses. Like most art house period pieces, the sets are sumptuous creations, if a bit overblown with fabric and muted color.I kept asking myself was Swinton's restrained performance purposely done---or just purposeless? Well, with art house cinema, we'll be debating that for many centuries ourselves!