Orlando

A film about a character who lives four hundred years. Orlando is a young noble in the sixteenth century. Queen Elizabeth I grants him an estate on one condition: he must not grow old. He complies. The film follows him century by century: the first section at court, the frost fair on the frozen Thames, years as an ambassador in Constantinople, eighteenth-century salons and the twentieth century. At one point he wakes from a long sleep and wakes as a woman. For the character this is not a crisis; the narrative passes it in a single line. The real matter is what follows: although she is the same person, her right to the property is opened to dispute, her word no longer carries the same weight and she is spoken to differently in rooms. The film often looks at the camera and addresses the viewer directly. The source is Virginia Woolf's novel. Tilda Swinton plays Orlando; Quentin Crisp plays Queen Elizabeth. Billy Zane and Charlotte Valandrey are also in the cast. Sally Potter directed. It was Oscar-nominated for costume and art direction; part of it was shot in Russia and Uzbekistan. An original production for anyone who likes literary adaptation and formal experiment. For a viewer expecting a straight narrative, the film is made of sections and plot is in second place.