"Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?": Plot and movie reviews. And who is Virginia Woolf afraid of?

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Edward Albee's play "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" made a splash when it was first staged on Broadway. American moralists were terribly indignant at the fact that family troubles were put on public display. In the middle of the 20th century, the relationship between spouses was supposed to resemble a glazed candied fruit pie. Even the slightest hint of any disagreement was strictly condemned.

The title of the play was no less surprising - not many understood what the English feminist writer was doing in it. Some wits even came up with an attack in response: who is Virginia Woolf afraid of? In fact, the truth floats on the surface, but it is available only to those who are able to see the causes behind the visible effect.

"Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?": An Analysis of the Relationship Between a Man and a Woman

The action of the play takes place one evening when a husband and wife, returning from another boring reception, bring guests to the house - a young couple whose relationship, it seemed, had not gone beyondthe limits of mutual admiration. They unfold a whole spectacle before their eyes, quarreling and showering each other with insults, revealing the shocking details of their life together and at the same time trying to seduce the spouses who have gone crazy from such pressure. It seems that the relationship between Martha and George (the main characters) has long been cracked at all seams, revealing to the world mutual contempt and hatred. However, with a deeper analysis, it turns out that behind all this lies a sophisticated psychological game, and even, oddly enough, a deep and tender feeling.

Screening of the play

In 1966, the film adaptation of Albee's play "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" The film, starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, whose family life was also very turbulent, made no less of a splash than the original. He received 5 "Oscars": he was awarded both female roles, cameraman, artist and costume designer. But absolutely all the actors were nominated for the award, which had never happened before. Interestingly, the film was director Michael Nichols' super debut. For its time, it was so full of explicit scenes that for the first time in the history of cinema, it was awarded the remark "From 18 and older."

What does Virginia Woolf have to do with it?

The title of a work of art is its roadmap, the shortest guide to the meaning and the main idea. This is how we used to think, brought up on the greatest books. "The Brothers Karamazov", "Master and Margarita", "Romeo and Juliet" immediately describe on which charactersyou need to focus your attention. "The Cherry Orchard", "Arc de Triomphe" is an allegorical reference in which the interior turns into an independent character. But what is the meaning of the title "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"? The performance and the film released later so stunned the audience that no one even thought about the presence of the fifth character in the work (except for Martha, George and their two guests). But the English writer invisibly illuminates the entire course of action.

Literature of the 20th century, keeping up with other art forms, was constantly looking for new ways of expression. The mixture of psychoanalysis, reflection and aesthetic contemplation of life is called the "stream of consciousness". The epic sagas of Joyce, Proust, Eliot have become the bible of a new generation. In this environment, Virginia Woolf took her rightful place.

The inner world of Mrs. Dalloway's author

From early childhood, Virginia was haunted by severe depression. At the age of 13, her own cousins tried to rape her, then she survived the death of her mother. This pain, inflicted at a tender age, never healed throughout life, leaving a rough imprint on the psyche. She devoted her work in literature as a writer, publisher and critic to bringing women out of the shadow of male pride. Books by Virginia Woolf entered the golden fund of world modernism. She was the least interested in the plot and the characters of the characters, she was constantly engaged in the study and close examination of what she herself called the "elusive personality".

Who is Virginia Woolf afraid of?

All her life the writer suffered from headaches and bouts of hallucinations. Even a supremely happy marriage to Leonard Wolfe, based on mutual respect and support for each other, did not save her from slipping into madness, which ended in a plunge into the cold waters of the River Ouse. Through her heroes, she painfully tried to reconcile reality with her inner world, but the final reunion never happened. If you ask yourself who Virginia Woolf is afraid of, then the answer will lie in the depths of her shattered consciousness - herself.

Movie reviews

Of course, the first thing that strikes in the film is the acting. Both viewers and critics simply did not recognize this fury raging on the screen in the recognized beauty with violet eyes. An indescribable intensity of passion keeps the viewer in constant tension cleaner than any thriller. Moreover, the performers of the supporting roles turned out to be on top, creating the necessary background for the struggle of two characters torn by contradictions.

The cinematography also deserved a lot of rave reviews. The film has a huge number of close-ups, and they are all different. The facial expressions are not repeated in any frame, the camera sensitively follows the work of each mimic muscle. This creates an impression more real than the effect of presence. It seems that the viewer is invited not even into the room where the action takes place, but into the very soul of the characters.

True, there are some viewers who do notappreciated the dramatic intensity of the film "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?". Reviews in which the family drama is presented as nothing more than empty chatter are few, but still present on the forums. Most likely, the film could not please those who in their family life deny even the possibility of an open expression of feelings. After all, many are accustomed to hiding their problems under the guise of external well-being and learned smiles. And someone does not try to understand a partner so much that it would never occur to him that there may be some cracks in a joint life.

For its time, the film became a spit in the direction of the puritanical public, which imposes an obligation on family life to be happy and cloudless. He showed that the marriage of real, living people is very far from the ideal universe of Ken and Barbie. But at the same time, he also raises a serious question: is it possible to avoid such a situation when two loving people begin to play dangerous games with their feelings, putting them to the test of strength? Is it because of boredom? In order to indicate to readers where to look for a clue, the author of the play introduced a non-existent character - a writer who devoted her whole life to the search for hidden mental motives of behavior. Who is Virginia Woolf afraid of? The answer, as mentioned above, is obvious: their inner world, which is capable of destroying the fragile real world. The literal translation of the play should have sounded like "I'm not afraid of Virginia Woolf", that is, I'm not afraid to look into myself and accept the challenge of myself-real-me-fictitious.