Review of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) by Shane S — 05 Apr 2012

This is a doozy in every sense of the word.

One of the bleakest films ever made, this over-sexualized black comedy about the facades people live under in order to convince themselves that their lives are definitely worth something and the befuddled state of relationships in the modern era helped change Hollywood for the better, transforming it from a garbage dump of forgettable and saccharine films (with gems somewhere along the way) into a face-to-face competitor with France, Japan, Britain, and any other film industry that didn't try to censor mixed race relationships, LGBT issues, and (most importantly) profanity. Throughout these two hours, the viewer is pelted with some of the most abrasive use of dialogue that hasn't been matched by any other film (not even "Pulp Fiction"), pure emotions, and every single thing under the sun. Except for nudity. Mike Nichols wasn't that crazy yet.

George (Richard Burton) and Martha (Liz Taylor) are a middle-aged couple who hold parties and play the image of a happy, successful, and passionate household in order for people not to investigate into their lives. One Saturday night (or really early Sunday morning), Martha invites a couple (Sandy Dennis; George Segal) over for some harmless fun and games. Unbeknownst to any of them, this would be a night that will change their lives forever. Thanks in part to some insanely frightening and sadistic party games (like "Get the Guests," where you torture the guests by relaying sordid elements of their past), these couples are stripped bare of any adult qualities, now writhing around on the floor and crying like little children.

What makes the film (and the play) so powerful is how wickedly humorous it can get while pulling the heartstrings. It's the antithesis of the romantic comedy - we're not looking at husbands who strive to be better than Alvy Singer. Instead, we're looking at the dissolution of the traditional family unit, from the parents all the way down to the children. The whole film is steeped in insanity and comedy, from scaring party guests with a fake shotgun to making snark about their private lives. To be honest, it's not just about couples and living life without illusions - it's also an allegory on the generation gap and how people don't really change (despite being younger and having different ideas on how things work). We get behavior vs. observation here. We get young vs. old. We get man vs. woman.

This play (or album or film or whatever) is a transition piece that shows how tough it was to change from one set of ideas to another during the turbulent '60s. It's a film that wants to document how life was behind these curtains of success and happiness - and what people did in order to make themselves feel happy. It's a film that brought about the era of modern filmmaking. It's also a film that showed us that profanity could be used not as an exploitation of sordid elements of our culture, but a way to liven things up - to make the party more exciting. In summary, it's a modernized Warner Bros. epic.