I’ve been meaning to watch Sally Potter’s Orlando (1992) ever since my zany grade 11 art teacher described it to me as a strange movie about an androgynous, ageless, gender fluid noble, who moves through hundreds of years of history in the span of 90 minutes. I remember at the time I couldn’t wrap my head around how something like this could even unfold on film. For some reason, I waited two decades to watch Orlando but I’m really glad I did.
Orlando is kind of like a gender queer Barry Lyndon. Before writing that sentence, I Googled “Orlando Barry Lyndon Movie” to see if anyone else has said that, but I couldn’t find anything. Probably because it’s a huge stretch. I guess the only real similarity is that much like Barry Lyndon, Orlando is a story about human existence as told through the life and experiences of one person.
The story begins in the 1500s, shortly before the death of Queen Elizabeth. Orlando is introduced to us as a young, noblemen (played perfectly by Tilda Swinton) and the Queen’s “favourite”. On her deathbed, the queen promises Orlando acres of land, a castle and a pile of money, but only if he agrees to her last command: "Do not fade. Do not wither. Do not grow old."
Through the rest of the film, we follow as Orlando moves through several centuries, first as a man, later as a woman. Halfway through the movie, Orlando wakes up from a deep sleep, looks in the mirror at her new self (now a woman) and says: “The same person, not different at all, just a different sex.”
Orlando experiences great love, and great loss, moments of triumph, defeat and embarrassment. One scene that really stuck with me was between Orlando and Sasha (Charlotte Valandrey), a Russian princess that he is completely infatuated with. Orlando feels such happiness in Sasha’s embrace that it makes him deeply sad. He already knows that this happiness is temporary.
“Nothing thicker than a knife’s blade separates melancholy from happiness”. Phew…too real. In a way, the story of Orlando (which is loosely based on the novel by Virginia Woolf), is about impermanence. Everything around us can change, our environment, our position in the world, our gender and all its trappings can change, but what always remains is our essential existence and who we are inside.
I don’t think Orlando is available on any streaming platforms, but you can rent Orlando on iTunes or borrow the DVD from the library. It’s a fairly light and easy watch, cleverly directed with beautiful cinematography, and incredible sets and costumes. Enjoy!