Review of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) by Chris W — 21 Dec 2012

Mike Nichols made his directorial debut with this adaptation of Edward Albee's play about a delusional, dysfunctional middle-aged couple who invite a young couple over for drinks and casual conversation, only to draw them into their path of destruction.

I must say, this is one of the most unpleasant, awkward, and uncomfortable movies I've endured. It's emotionally exhausting, brutal, cynical,and a real downer. Here's the thing, though: there are people like this who really exist in real life. It's painful, but honest.

The film garnered much controversy (as did the play) for the language and sexual content. It's rather tame by today's standards, but the viciousness of the verbal abuse and vitriol still stings. The insults and badgering in this movie are quite venomous at times, and I was somewhat unnerved by it all. Polanski's movie Carnage is comparable, but that one at least started off mildly pleasant before descending into savagery, whereas this one is uncivil from the start.

This really isn't a film I want to endure very often, if ever again. There is a point to it all, and while it is good to experience stuff like this from time to time, you'd have to be a little off to think this warrants frequent rewatches.

Besides the unpleasantness, the film is overlong and somewhat repetitive, but what makes it all worth it are Haskell Wexler's excellent cinematography, and, most of all, the excellent performances from a cast where all four main players got Oscar nods, with two of them winning. That's easily the biggest redeeming factor here. This is a real master classic in acting, especially from Taylor and Burton.

It's overrated, grueling, and really joyless, but if you want to see excellent acting, and how dark relationships can get sometimes, then give this a watch.