Virginia Woolf’s bold second novel Night and Day is joyfully adapted for the big screen by producer and screenwriter Justine Waddell and director Tina Gharavi. The novel, which was published in 1919, sits on the cusp of change following the end of World War I, and the film, set a few years before it, follows the headstrong Katharine Hilbery, played with fierce spirit by Haley Bennett, as she navigates a changing world and fights for her right to education and independence.

Virginia Woolf’s Night & Day screens emotion in powerful subtlety, providing space for Katharine’s frustration with Edwardian societal restrictions to build up and release through the film’s moments of artistry, using silence and visuals to express what the protagonist is otherwise unable to.

The film’s feminist undertones are as clear as (night and) day. In one metaphorical moment, Katharine attempts to free a pram containing, not a baby, but her educational supplies, whilst refusing help from the man who offers assistance. Bennett offers a dreamy performance as the self-taught astronomer Katharine, alongside a cast of big names including Sally Phillips, Jack Whitehall, Lily Allen, Timothy Spall, and Jennifer Saunders. 

Woolf’s novel is brought beautifully to life by screenwriter and producer Justine Waddell under the direction of Gharavi, with a wistful score by Simon Goff that echoes Katharine’s longing for a different world.

“What emerges is a wayward, unworldly fantasia, a four-leaf clover of a film – or even five-leaf; rather beautifully designed and photographed, flavoured with a wistful, unexpectedly Germanic kind of romanticism. …It is such a sweet story and guilelessly eccentric – a butterfly fluttering just beyond the wheel of realism”. Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

“Period detail is lovely, with production designer David Hindle capturing the energy and noise of pre-war London and costuming from Esther Waltz both leaning into and playing with genre tradition. It’s rare to see women in suits and trousers in a film such as this, and Katherine and Mary make for striking figures in theirs”. Nikki Baughan, Screen Daily