Independent filmmaker
Sally Potter's
gender-bending epic, which views four centuries of sexual politics
through the eyes of a sex-switching main character, is based on the 1928
novel by Virginia Woolf. The androgynous title character is played with
delicate quietude by
Tilda Swinton. The story begins during the reign of the aging Queen Elizabeth I (
Quentin Crisp, in a droll turn recalling his
The Naked Civil Servant).
Queen Elizabeth takes a shine to the attractive young Orlando and seeks
out his sexual favors. In return, Elizabeth grants him a large estate,
commanding him, "Do not fade, do not wither, do not grow old." Orlando
takes the queen at her word and doesn't. When Elizabeth dies, Orlando
becomes attracted to Sasha (
Charlotte Valandrey),
the daughter of a Russian diplomat, but she rebuffs his advances.
Crushed, Orlando accepts an ambassadorship to Constantinople. After
witnessing the killing of a man in battle, Orlando undergoes a change of
sex, becoming a woman and returning to England, where she hobnobs with
18th-century geniuses like Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope, and John
Addison. Walking through a garden labyrinth, the time frame shifts to
the 19th century, and Orlando falls in love with a handsome American (
Billy Zane). Now in the 20th century, Orlando gives birth to his child and continues on.
