Vita & Virginia (2018) Movie Review

By Newguy

Director: Chanya Button

Writer: Eileen Atkins, Chanya Button (Screenplay) Virginia Woolf, Vita Sackville-West (Letters)

Starring: Gemma Arterton, Elizabeth Debicki, Isabella Rossellini, Rupert Penry-Jones, Peter Ferdinando

Plot: It’s the fascinating true story about the love affair between socialite and popular author Vita Sackville-West and literary icon Virginia Woolf.


Tagline – The Love Story That Inspired Virginia Woolf’s Orlando

Runtime: 1 Hour 50 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Vita & Virginia starts when author Vita Sackville-West (Arterton) has become interested in getting to know Virginia Woolf (Debicki), with her have her own lesbian desires, her husband Harold (Penry-Jones) has his own homosexual secrets, with their marriage being more for show for the time.

As Vita and Virginia start to get closer, the pair both know they must continue their public image, family image, needing to keep their affair in the shadows, being the motivation for many of their books.

Thoughts on Vita & Virginia

Final Thoughts Vita & Virginia is a story that looks at the secret, well not so secret relationship Vita Sackville-West and Virginia Woolf had in a society that frowned upon any sort of homosexuality, where the men, their husbands could be involved with men, while the women were considered wrong for their decision to be involved. We see how the two women must first look to break away from what they are being told, to explore their desires, with the performances from both Gemma Arterton and Elizabeth Debicki being wonderful to watch. This does get the message of the how society has changed over the time, with one of the most iconic figures in woman literary history.