MRS DALLOWAY

    Mrs.Dalloway is a very well-written and performed adaptation of theVirginia Woolf novel.Kudos to screenwriter Eileen Atkins for her faithfulness to the original story.The double casting of the central characters is realistic and makes the flashback scenes easy to follow.Every actor was completely believable in his/her role.But the most brilliant performance of all was Rupert Graves as Septimus Warren Smith,the tragic young war hero suffering from delayed shell shock.(For the full impact of his inner torment, try watching this movie with a combat veteran).In general,it is a quality movie which can't be forgotten.

ORLANDO

    Tilda Swinton was born for this role.She is Orlando.But that preoccupation aside,the first striking aspect of this film is the costumes! It opens on a scene with Orlando in Elizabethan finery,and moves through several historical periods,not least of them 18th Century literary England.That's something to see.The film is, as you would expect,very literary.You don't need to have read the book, but a working knowledge of typical euro-centric history and literature is helpful,can be guessed.Quentin Crisp plays a perfect Queen Elizabeth,the grotesque Institution herself,opposite Swinton's birdish Orlando.The photography is clear and even luminous at times, and the story moves along quite well-making to wonder what would happen.The exploration of gender,while it was obviously "the point",was not overdone,in the last analysis.Our freakish Orlando turns out to be quite human,which is a relief.The film is very well done;Swinton is a rare bird,never boring,and not to be missed.

A ROOM OF ONE'S OWN

    Virginia Woolf's "A Room of One's Own" has had an epic impact on civilized minds since its publication in book form 62 years ago.

   A vivid theatrical thunderbolt of common sense,passionate irony and flashhing wit,the work survives in strength, humor and beauty as a clarion call to women of the world to declare their love and labor,controlling their own destinies,yet realizing necessary communication on all levels between men and women.

    The brilliant British actress Eileen Atkins in an unforgettable portrayal,has now made "A Room of One's Own" an unforgettable achievement of her own.

WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?

    Play in three acts by Edward Albee,published and produced in 1962.The action takes place in the living room of a middle-aged couple,George and Martha,who have come home from a faculty party drunk and quarrelsome.When Nick,a young biology professor,and his strange wife Honey stop by for a nightcap,they are enlisted as fellow fighters,and the battle begins. A long night of malicious games,insults,humiliations,betrayals,painful confrontations,and savage witticisms ensues.The secrets of both couples are laid bare and illusions are viciously exposed.When,in a climactic moment,George decides to "kill" the son they have invented to compensate for their childlessness,George and Martha finally face the truth and,in a quiet ending to a noisy play,stand together against the world,sharing their sorrow.

THE WAR WITHIN:A PORTRAIT OF VIRGINIA WOOLF

    "An extraordinary moving portrait of one of the giants of twentieth century literature."-American Film Institute.

    This definitive documentary was shot in England at Sissinghurst Castle with its world-famous garden;the 365-room Knole mansion;the rooms at Cambridge where Virginia gathered material for "A Room of One's Own";London and Richmond,Charleston and Monk's House,legendary locations in Bloomsbury history.

    Among those interviewed on camera are Virginia's niece and nephew,Angelica Garnett and Quentin Bell;Vita Sackville-West's son Nigel Nicolson,and Bloomsbury notables like Frances Partridge and poet-novelist Stephen Spender.

    With archival footage,paintings of the period,and haunting family photos of a Victorian childhood of both beauty and abuse,the film interweaves the personal story of Virginia Woolf's life and loves with the turbulent times she lived in.Rare documents,never filmed until now,include the document in her handwriting used to establish the League of Nations, newly-discovered letters to her beloved Vita,and the Gestapo list where she and Leonard were marked for arrest.

    The voice of Virginia Woolf in "The War Within"is that of famed British actress Anna Massey; the voice of Vita Sackville-West belongs to Vita's grand-daughter Juliet Nicolson.The narrator is Ian Redford.

    The film was scripted by John Fuegi and directed by Fuegi and Jo Francis.Cinematographer Morten Bruus and editor Niels Pagh Andersen have both had films nominated for Academy Awards.