Review of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) by Jon P — 03 Aug 2017

This gorgeously ghastly drama is a must-see masterpiece, unparalleled in its haunting delivery of manic, mounting tension and its harrowing explosions of drink-infused bitterness and insanity.

Mike Nichols' spellbinding film drops all-time acting greats Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton right in the middle of a Shakespearean-grade study of alcoholism. Burton and Taylor spit daggers at one another, each sharper and shriller than the last - the sense of history and sheer bitterness between their characters evoking an air of authenticity seldom seen on screen.

But Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is much more than a showcase for some of cinema's best acting and bitterest dialogue. In fact, the note-perfect coupling of Taylor and Burton is but a bonus factor in a film that offers an eerie exploration of the link between drunkenness and insanity, punching as opposed to poking the creaky boundary between the two at every opportunity.

On the surface, Nichols' film is a piercing theatrical melodrama. Underneath, it is a psychological thriller, a ghost story, a black comedy, a brutal romance and more. In fact, one might argue that the film offers one of the richest, most honest and resonating commentaries on the age-old concept of true love that the screen has ever seen.