Just returned from watching the movie "Orlando" which is one of the featuring film in the HK Lesbian & Gay Film Festival.
Adopted from the original story by Virginia Woolf, it's a story about Orlando, a very handsome boy in the Queen Elizabeth era. The story starts from the "command" from the queen that Orlando has to remain handsome and never grow old. Then the story runs through 4 centuries - all about Orlando's sexual confusion.
When he was young, although he was married, he met a French boy and fell in love with him. He planned to run away with the boy but he didn't show up. This is the 1st century of the story.
Then in the next century, Orlando went east and realized even with a body of the opposite sex, Orlando is still Orlando. This is the time when Orlando realizes sex is not a matter at all.
The 3rd century. Orlando was then a lady, she met an American man and she asked him to married her, but instead, he asked her to go to America with him. Now, it's Orlando who could not let go. If she left the country, she would have nothing. And if she doesn't have an heir, she would have nothing as well. This was the time Orlando was confused by the sex - to be a man or to be a woman. While she was pregnant, she walked to the 4th century, to the day today.
Orlando is a writer, bringing her child from the 3rd century to the 4th. IN this century, she finally can let go - it doesn't matter whether Orlando is a he or a she.
The story is a bit boring, but quite interesting. And indeed, very Virginia Woolf.
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