Stay Updated

We're excited to keep you in the loop on all things Frameline (with no spam - ever!)

You're viewing the Frameline43 (2019) archive held in 2019. Explore this years festival

Vita & Virginia

Directed by Chanya Button2018Ireland/UK110 mins

Sensational star turns by Elizabeth Debicki (Widows) as Virginia Woolf and Gemma Arterton (Quantum of Solace) as Vita Sackville-West bring to dazzling life one of the great lesbian love affairs of the 20th century in this erotic blend of literary biography and romantic intrigue that had audiences at the Toronto International Film Festival raving.

Already a successful popular novelist herself, Vita wants desperately to associate herself with the prestigious Woolf, but pursuing the introverted writer becomes heated and personal once she spies Virginia’s sinuous dancing at a party. It is a clash of opposing worlds and personalities: the lives of Woolf’s bohemian clique chafe against Sackville-West’s upper-crust milieu, with no one more horrified than Vita’s stern, disapproving mother, played with aplomb by Isabella Rossellini.

For Virginia, the relationship liberates her sexuality and sparks a surge of creativity, as her androgynous new lover becomes the muse for one of her masterworks, Orlando. The writers’ love letters, read directly to the camera, reveal the profound nature of this unique, passionate coupling: an intense affair that is as much of the mind as the body.

Quick links
Sponsor
Director
Chanya Button
Year
2018
Country
Ireland, UK
Running Time
110 mins
Language
English
Premiere
Bay Area
Section
Opening Night
Program Note Writer
Pam Grady
Community Partners

Stay Updated

We're excited to keep you in the loop on all things Frameline (with no spam - ever!)