Review of Orlando (2007) by Alyssa N — 02 Aug 2008

This film is very interesting as a social commentary on gender roles and relations throughout history. It's fascinating to watch Tilda Swinton's seamless transition from one era to another, or from one sex to another, and the movie is rife with clever observations and symbolism.

However, even though movies don't usually compare to the books they're based on, it's a bigger problem when the movie fails to convey ideas and events that are described articulately in the text.

By rushing and skipping over so many key details, the story is left with an incomplete feel. Still, Woolf's original plot is so skillfully incongruent that to even try to turn it into a movie was extremely ambitious and I doubt anyone could do better.