Orlando on Film
Woolf’s novel has enticed filmmakers, as if Orlando’s themes of transition and transformation are so compelling that the novel itself is begging to be transformed. By exploring some of those chambers in Orlando’s being, three particular films summon Woolf’s work by embracing the sheer variety of bodily differences, from old carnival sideshows to a wide range of trans-identifying people today.
Julia Sirmons
Something Intricate and Many-Chambered: On Adapting Virginia Woolf’s “Orlando”
In the linked LA Review of Books article, Julia Sirmons compares three adaptations of Virginia Woolf’s Orlando: Freak Orlando, Orlando, and Orlando: My Political Biography.
Watch
Trailers and clips for the films referenced in the article
Sally Potter's Orlando (1992)
A clip from Ulrike Ottinger's Freak Orlando (1981)
Paul B. Preciado Orlando: My Political Biography (2023)
Published October 2024