Mrs. Dalloway Review
by Jon Popick (jpopick AT sick-boy DOT com)October 22nd, 1999
PLANET SICK-BOY: http://www.sick-boy.com
I’m not going to lie to you. Just the very thought of Mrs. Dalloway sent shivers down my spine. It’s a period costume drama (Strike One). It stars Vanessa Redgrave (Strike Two). It’s based on a Virginia Woolf novel (Strike Three). Still, I kept my mind relatively open.
The title character, played by Redgrave (Julia), is a snooty old socialite. She wakes up on the morning of her big party and won’t frigging shut up about it for a second. Then, she finds out that Peter, an ex-suitor from about 100 years ago, happens to be in town on the very same day. Apparently, Dalloway has always questioned her decision to marry her current husband instead of this Peter. The trouble is that they’re all a bunch of corpses now, so who really gives a crap?
There is also another story line about a shell-shocked war hero who perpetually thinks that he is seeing a guy named Evans blown to bits right in front of him. That’s right. Explosions. Smack dab in the middle of this frighteningly boring story. My guess is that the explosions were put in to wake the sleeping viewer and, I’ll have you know that my neck snapped up so hard that my glasses almost flew off. That’s powerful filmmaking!
The only bright spot radiated from Natascha McElhone (The Devil’s Own), who played the young Dalloway in a series of mind-numbing flashbacks. It was still hard to enjoy her, knowing that she would grow up and become the annoying bird that can only seem to fixate on her party and how any number of uncontrollable sources could effect its success. And you just know there’s going to be a big dance scene. YAY!
So, I’m basically saying that I really enjoyed Mrs. Dalloway and that the people who are responsible for making it should not be killed or harmed in any way. Or something…
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
