Sally Potter's "ruthless distillation" (her own words) of Virginia Woolf's imaginary biography slash historical novel slash literary criticism slash mash note on the poetic spirit in the Sackville family. (You'd never guess from the movie that it had anything to do with that.) At first it seems most concerned with the giddy delights of gender-bending in general and cross-dressing in particular. Tilda Swinton starts out playing the immortal Lord Orlando circa 1600 ("There can be no doubt about his sex," the narrator assures us, a necessary precaution in the face of so delicate and feminine a figure), while none other than Quentin Crisp is playing Queen Elizabeth (a drag queen indeed!). Somewhere over the next four centuries, the Lord changes magically into a Lady, and some intelligible feminism begins to assert itself. Swinton maintains a deft touch throughout, not always an easy thing when she's making eye-contact with, and confidential asides to, the audience: "Interesting person," "Terrific play," "Ah, poetry!" and the like. With Billy Zane, Lothaire Bluteau. (1993) — Duncan Shepherd
This movie is not currently in theaters.