Review of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) by Devon B — 01 Mar 2010

Real life (at the time) couple Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor star in this cynical send-up of not just marriage, but the human race in general. Burton plays George, an aging history professor who's married to the daughter of the university president, Martha.

George, at first glance, appears to be a henpecked and harried husband, whereas Martha is loud and "braying" as he describes her. They both seem to be (somewhat) functioning alcholics, and they both seem to loathe one another on some deeply fundamental level.

It's not only that they loathe one another, they can't even be bothered to pretend at the pleasantries of marriage anymore. The film begins as George and Martha arrive home (at approximately 2am) drunk from a party and begin to bicker.

Martha then tells George she's invited the new professor and his wife over for drinks and they should be there at any moment. When the young couple arrives, it's clear to George exactly what the new professor's motivations are, especially when he begins to butter up Martha.

From then on, it's an escalating war of words and painful diatribes as everyone's weaknesses are brought to the fore. It's not the twist at the end that's so shocking when compared to the other twist that it's really George and Martha who truly love one another, and the young couple whose marriage seems more out of convenience than genuine affection.

The viciously well-written play by Edward Albee is excellently adapted to the big screen by Mike Nichols ("The Graduate"). Taylor and Burton seem to delight in ripping into each other, and even when the second half begins to meander along (including the unsatisfying and bizarre ending), it doesn't really dull the blistering impact of the first.

Modern sensibilities might be more shocked by the venom than the taboo subject matter, which I'm sure was ground-breaking at the time.