Orlando Details

Director Sally Potter achieves the near-impossible task of bringing Virginia Woolf's complex tale to the screen in a series of burnished and glittering images that dazzle the eye. The film tells the story of young nobleman Orlando — a member of Queen Elizabeth's court presented with his parents' estate provided he fathers heirs and never grows old — who lives for 400 years and mysteriously changes into a woman during the 18th century. As the hero/heroine, Tilda Swinton moves passively through the romantic, dramatic and intriguing events that befall Orlando, and there's an excellent supporting cast that includes Billy Zane, Lothaire Bluteau and, best of all, Quentin Crisp as Elizabeth I. The film, like the novel, is sometimes puzzling and boring, but unforgettably sumptuous, ornate and atmospheric, nevertheless.

"...[Swinton is] a stunning found object: She looks so much like a painting of English nobility come to life that she helps root the film in a mythical historical past..."