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Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) watch along
🕑 Added 2025-03-21 15:00:14 +0000 UTC#67 on the AFI list!!
🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨SPOILERS BELOW!!!!⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️
Not going to lie! This movie's ending perplexed me, A LOT but I got there in the end...HA! I was blown away by the direction and performances in this one! The dialogue is so complex (I do wish I had subtitles on) LOL! Or more time with the material. It’s a lot of heavy stuff to digest. BUT, I was so enamoured by Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, whom I may have called Robert!! The MVP award (for me) goes to Sandy Dennis, who played Honey. Perfect casting.
HOLY HELL though! What a heavy-ass movie! I always love that dark stuff, but how they were able to shoot this was incredible! The set and camera work moved so fluidly with the actors. The blocking in this must have been worked on because it was just so precise. I also just learnt that these two were a couple, married twice, soooo that makes sense with the type of "chemistry" they had with each other. Some of these monologues are NOT easy to do, and I give these actors so much praise for the work they put into this. So much was underneath what they were saying!! So, not a lot of chit-chat from me, just little inserts today as I figured out this whole mess! Like I was navigating this relationship with them. I think this is something that gets better upon more rewatches!
This movie is a masterclass in acting, writing, and direction. It’s bold and really pushes boundaries with its raw emotions and the way it shows how messed up relationships can get. It digs into themes like deception, mental instability, and how fragile "dreams" are or what we are intended to be like in society. It still feels so personal and gripping today. For 1966, this was way ahead of its time. The way it showed human vulnerability and conflict, especially in a Marriage, was MOST likely a game-changer in film--especially nearing the end of the Hays Code... I really haven't seen much like this from this era... seems like it raised the bar for what movies could do, for the time in 1966--what a boundary-pushing film!, and that’s why it’s on the AFI list!
The AFI, again, with another amazing movie.
Let me know your thoughts down below!!
xx
ames
Comments
Amalia Wolf
That list is on the list to do!!!! Thanks for joining!!welcome!
Chris Warner
I just subbed and you watching the AFI 100 was one of the main reasons, also The Before Trilogy of course. I think an issue some movie reaction channels can have when relying solely on polls and recommendations is it can be mainly movies from the mid 80s to the mid 2000s, which admittedly is the era I fell in love with movies too. However so many great movies get missed out that way. I hope when you complete the AFI list you consider a list such as the most recent Sight and Sound list, a lot of the american movies you will have seen but it would be a great way to find great non US movies.
JM63
I watched it twice yesterday, I definitely think it improves with multiple viewings. The main theme seems to be the lure of believing illusions instead of facing reality. I also think there's an allegorical layer underneath about the "sterile" culture of the United States during the postwar era of conformity (the main characters' names are George and Martha... maybe a reference to George and Martha Washington?) I imagine watching the play was incredible in the early 60s. This film has quickly become my latest obsession!
Clay F
Wow, that movie was mesmerizing. "This movie's a trip." I didn't think about it until you said it-- but the movie is like a "roller coaster." You were communicative (talking, facial expressions, body languague) in your reaction -- you were invested. I like the way the movie had regular close-ups of faces. The dialogue is incredible. "sad, sad, sad" "Hump the hostess." "house boy or stud?" To me, the "get the guests" part was one low point for George. Elizabeth Taylor blew me away. Richard Burton did excellent -- I've never quite seen him like that. In terms of analysis, that is above my pay grade. I will do a rewatch. The movie seemed darker to me the last 1/3 compared to the first 2/3. The ending scene was tender. As much as I was into the movie and wanted it to keep going, I also was ready for it to stop. Taylor "is nothing less than brilliant as the shrewish, slovenly, blasphemous, frustrated, slightly wacky, alcoholic wife of a meek, unambitious assistant professor of history at a university, over which her father reigns as president." Surely the movie pushed the envelope in 1966. I bet the play was good.
