Speaking of the British female writer Virginia Woolf, more people may be happy to discuss her deranged spiritual world, her wobbly sexual orientation, and her suicide like a witch sacrifice than her genius (at least when she was in school).
Although Woolf's life is so worth speculating and speculating, there are not many film and television works related to her, the most famous of which is naturally the "Moments" that gathered the three major films of Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore and Nicole Kidman.
Woolf, played by Nicole Kidman in All the Time
This film, which takes "Mrs. Delovise" as a clue and focuses on the role that women have been forced to play in society for a long time, officially sent Nicole Kidman to the throne of the Oscar queen, and Kidman's image of Woolf with his "false nose", although still controversial, has also become a screen classic.
Despite her presence, there are still attempts to continue telling Woolf's story on the big screen, such as "Vita and Virginia," directed by British female director Chanya Burton and based on a 1993 screenplay by the famous British stage actress Irene Atkins.
Poster of Vita and Virginia
<h1>The same-sex love between a human wife and a female writer</h1>
To understand Vita and Virginia, you must first understand Woolf's relationship with the Bloomsbury Group.
Bloomsbury Group Character Relationship Diagram
In the seventeenth century, the salon culture among European celebrities began to rise, and countless aristocrats, politicians, literati and scholars appeared between different salons, which had the meaning of "talking and laughing with Hongru, and there was no white ding".
In the centuries when salon culture prevailed, the Bloomsbury group in Britain at the beginning of the twentieth century undoubtedly left a heavy mark, and many people believe that the "Crescent Society" represented by Xu Zhimo, Hu Shi and others in China is a direct imitation of the Bloomsbury group.
Oil painting "Crescent Society"
The original Bloomsbury group was more like a Cambridge university classmate, but after the cultural elite continued to join, it gradually became an avant-garde, free, unruly and deviant intellectual group, and one of the core figures of this group was Woolf.
In Vita and Virginia, we can see many scenes of Bloomsbury group gatherings, among which I can identify Woolf's sister Van Ezra Bell, and the painter Duncan Grant.
Vanessa Bell (right) and Duncan Grant (left) in Vita and Virginia
Duncan Grant self-portrait
Bloomsbury Group Gathering in Van Ezra Bell's Painting
It was at the Bloomsbury group gathering that Woolf met another of the film's heroines, the writer Vita Sackville West.
The Bloomsbury group in Vita and Virginia
Woolf (left) and Vita (right) in Vita and Virginia
Two women who are both wives and writers have given birth to a same-sex lover relationship under such an opportunity, and it can be seen from the film "Vita and Virginia" that this relationship may be just one of her many affairs for Vita, but for Woolf, it gave birth to her immortal masterpiece - "Orlando".
<h1>The erotic hunter under an open marriage</h1>
The Dobroomsbury group espoused anti-tradition and authority, and Van Ezra Bell wrote in her memoirs that "the days were exciting, full of wonder and joy." We have to inquire about life, and we are glad that we are free to do all this. ”
Van Ezra Bell (left) and Virginia Woolf (right)
In fact, Woolf himself once had the audacity to pretend to be Prince Mendax with his friends to visit the British Navy and receive a warm and generous reception, when the joke was unveiled, the government and the opposition were shocked, and the British military was also in an extremely embarrassing situation.
The "extramarital affair" story in "Vita and Virginia" can happen in the context of the open marriage relationship between the two that still seems avant-garde even today.
Vita was a prominent aristocrat from a prominent background, her husband was diplomat Harold George Nicholson, and the two had their own homosexuals in their marital relationship.
Vita Sackville West
In reality, vita has many lovers, all over her relatives, friends and social circles. Apart from Woolf, the most famous is undoubtedly her same-sex relationship with novelist Violet Trevos, the two have "eloped" many times, and Vita always wears men's clothes, which Vita's mother talks about in the film.
Interestingly, although Vita and her husband are seeking pleasure, their emotional interdependence is unbreakable, and they divide lust and emotion into clear lines.
Vita and her husband in Vita and Virginia
Woolf's relationship with her husband is more harmonious, and even after developing a lover relationship with Vita, her husband Leonard Woolf still cares for her.
In reality, in order to support Woolf's writing, Leonard specially purchased a printing press and created the famous "Hogarth Press" in the basement of his home, publishing all of Woolf's works. (Later, he also published works by Catherine Mansfield, Freud and other writers.)
Woolf and her husband in Vita and Virginia
Under such an open marriage relationship, the story of Vita and Virginia becomes a more primitive erotic chase.
Vita appears to be active and strong in her feelings, from the beginning of her reckless entry into Woolf's world, to the "empathy and love" after the two have a relationship, Vita has always been a restless hunter's posture, in a way, it can be said that it is a "scum woman scum".
Stills from Vita and Virginia
Woolf is sensitive and fragile in this relationship, from the initial resistance and dazedness, to the subsequent investment and indulgence, to the final pain and reconciliation, she used her creation to redeem herself in this passionate and rapidly changing relationship.
Woolf's dissection of Vita at the end of the film can be described as a textbook "scumbag/female quotation", suggesting that you can take a small book to record it:
Your heart is filled with countless candles, burning, you are like an exploding star, the light shines throughout the universe, but it also means that you can't focus your light on one person, one thing.
Replace the "you" in this paragraph with "I", do you know how to use it? (How come at this point, the story has a feeling of dog blood lily text?) ）
<h1>Stunning performances and controversial techniques</h1>
While "Vita and Virginia" tells us a unique story about Woolf, as far as the film is concerned, whether it landed at the Toronto Film Festival last year or officially met the audience this year, it received less than ideal reviews.
The first is the script. The director tries to create a standard three-act structure of the story, but the scenes of the two trying to probe each other and get close to each other are too full, and the sharp turn after the relationship is too urgent, so that the final reconciliation is also understated and lacks strength, making the whole story appear bloated and top-heavy, and the key points are unclear.
In terms of lines and expression forms, the director often has to face the task of "de-dramatizing" the original script, but in the end, the expression of the two people's "empty reading" that appears frequently appears is sloppy and monotonous, and the line part, Vita's expression of being too direct and expressive and Woolf's chewing words will be more or less out of place.
In terms of soundtrack, it was created by composer Izzerbel Waller-Bridge, and it is worth mentioning that her sister is Phoebe Waller-Bridge, the star of the British drama "London Life".
Phoebe Waller-Bridge in London Life
The score produced by Izebel Waller-Bridge for Vita and Virginia unexpectedly uses a lot of electronic elements, which makes the desire and emotion expressed in the film more prominent, but it is not in harmony with the film's age texture and picture style, and also produces a certain destructive effect, which has become the film's biggest controversy.
Finally, it must be mentioned that the actor Elizabeth Debitzki, who plays Woolf in the movie, has a stunning performance.
After Nicole Kidman won the Oscar with "All the Time", no matter who played Woolf again, there was no doubt that he would be under great pressure, and Debitzki, a French girl with a height of one meter and nine meters, almost perfectly completed this task.
Most people first notice Elizabeth Debitzki from the great Gatsby starring Little Plum, and her jordan Baker is more impressive than Daisy in my opinion, and later more people notice that she should be the rich priestess in "Guardians of the Galaxy 2".
Jordan Baker in The Great Gatsby
Golden Priestess in Guardians of the Galaxy 2
If Woolf, played by Kidman, is trapped in hallucinations and entangled under exhaustion, then Debitzki captures woolf's most essential kind of keen wisdom and spiritual pain with a low voice and sad eyes.
Debicsky's long body and emaciated body give the character a rather suitable morbid beauty, she behaves softly and walks elegantly, like a fragile swan, which is unforgettable; and Debitzki is equally excellent in the control of details, and there is a scene of Woolf's emotional collapse in the film, which is extremely delicate by her, which is one of the most wonderful pictures in the whole film.
Even if the story of the film itself is not so natural and smooth, the image of Woolf created by Debitsky is fascinating enough to take the audience to the unknown territory of dangerous relationships with curiosity.