Sally Potter’s dreamy adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s canonical novel, Orlando, was ranked as the 157th greatest film of all time in the 2022 Sight and Sound poll. Since the film’s release in 1992, it has remained, much like the book, a core text of gender and sexuality studies. Inspired by her lover and muse, Vita Sackville-West, Woolf’s novel is a fascinating interpretation not just of Vita, but of life and English historiography.

The film begins in Elizabethan England where Orlando, an androgynous nobleman, is commanded by Queen Elizabeth I: “Do not fade. Do not wither. Do not grow old”. And so begins Orlando’s journey through time as they embark on a philosophical quest of personal discovery, creating an enchanting, poetic and unforgettable film.

Tilda Swinton stars as the film’s lead, her performance a tour de force. Swinton collaborated with director Sally Potter before a script had even been written. During the creation of the film, Swinton was photographed wearing rented costumes from Bermans & Nathans in London. This shoot inspired shots of Tilda as Orlando in the film, giving looks to the camera and asides to the audience.

‘A dreamy, swoony reverie of shapeshifting sexual identity … it has a trance-inducing strangeness and Swinton is insouciantly magnetic at all times’ – Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian.

‘Directed with sly grace and quiet elegance by Sally Potter, it is not about a story or a plot, but about a vision of human existence’ – Roger Ebert.