Vita and Virginia: A story of the romance between Vita Sackville-West (Gemma Arterton) and Virginia Woolf (Elizabeth Debicki). Both were novelists and though Vita outsold Virginia she envied her literary standard. The vulnerable Woolf and the flamboyant West made for a troubled relationship. They first meet at a party where Virginia is dressed in male Elizabethan costume, bringing to mind Tilda swinton in Orlando. Their growing friendship is related through letters where the actors speak to camera, when problems de coeur occur, one of them will remain tight-lipped. Virginia was regarded by many as just being mad but her illness was central to her genius as the film so richly illustrates. The novel Orlando by Woolf was inspired by her affair and friendship with Vita. Director and co-writer Chanya Buttons delivers an interesting snapshot of a period in Woolf's life, the Bloomsbury set and the decadence of the British Ruling Class in the 1920s. 8/10.
Review of Vita & Virginia
