"Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" (1966)

Oh boy. this is another tough one; but one of my all-time favorites. i love it to death. it's so relentless and malicious and you feel like you yourself are being attacked. this is what created the evil MPAA who put restrictions on the films i wnat to see in theaters but that is another story. many were shocked- even i was shocked and i saw it in 2008. from the opening scene i knew that this woudn't be pretty. i actually thought the film was a biopic on Virginia Woolf but i knew Woolf was British and Elizabeth Taylor had an American accent in the fim. then i had to pause the film and go to IMDb again to see what the hell was going on-and then i got it. we have a topic that had not been explored in this manor: realtinships & marriage. real marriage. what we saw in film before this were cute little Jimmy Stewart or Grace Kelly in some romantic comedy with smiles the whole time and seperate beds all though they are married. yeah well, sorry to say but that was bullshit. im not condeming the films because its was not their fault. the studio execs would not allow much anything like this. well it takes certain people to make a realistic film for the 60's. we are given grueling insight on an aging couple about to take the most rocky 3 hrs and 11 mins of their lives. Mike Nichols, the director was a newcomer at the time who would have an incredibly proseperous career ahead of him. well without this film, we nay not have "Carnal Kowledge", "The Graduate", "Closer", "Silkwood" which are favorites of mine (especially "Closer" and "The Graduate"). everything phisically (cinematography, costume, set, makeup) is expertly done but i think we all know the true gift of the film: the performances which i will rave about later.

The entire film is done in real time (for the most part). We meet our bitter aging couple coming home from a party. they have already had PLENTY to drink but trust me, there's more to come. So both are drunk as a skunk and when they get home we see what they are like. Martha played by Elizabeth Taylor is vulgar, loud-mothed, sloppy, obnoxious and demeaning towards her husband George played by Taylor's real husband Richard Burton. after more to drink Martha breaks the news that she has secretly invited guests who were at the party as well. George works as a college teacher in the History department and Martha's father is the owner of the college. The man of the young couple Martha invited teaches in the Biology department although Marth swears he is in the Math department. his wife is a quirky little thing who changes drastically as the film proceeds. George knows from the second they walk in Martha is attracted to Nick (George Segal), the young man. the young woman, Honey is played by Sandy Dennis in a performance only she and Geraldine Page could master. drinks are drunk, stories are shared, and things happen and come up that usually wouldn't in a regular little get together. the ending is an emotional twist that i surely never expected. i was not even expecting a twist ending out of i film like this. there are only 6 actors-including extras-in the entire film. George, Martha, Nick, Honey and the diner owner and his wife who hardly even speak in the famous diner scene. this film had as much power and drama with 4 principal actors as "Magnolia" which had about 13 (not that it is a bad film-it's definatly not). this shows what we can really make use of with four regular people.

Now back to the performances. they were nothing short of ingenious, astonishing and shockingly uninhibited. Taylor had to go through an amazing transformantion for her role. she gained weight, put on (or took off) some makeup and had a raven-haired wig. now Taylor cursed like a sailor anyway so that was not the problem. it was getting one of the most strinking women in the world to look like trash. that took skill. below i have posted a comparison. Taylor was tough, brutally honest and thank GOD she won the Oscar. Richard Burton should have won too. he was exactly like a college history teacher would be: always speaking in riddles, telling stories as if they were out of a book etc. George Segal was the weakest out of the four but for him, that does not mean much. he probably would have stood out if the other actors were not as good. Snady Dennis was beyond just cooky. when she got drunk, she got DRUNK!! she was wild and the husband saw a side of her that was much more resilient and even shocking compared to her sober. i think it takes a certain type of director to bring out these kinds of performances. i dont know what Nichols did but i would love to know. the cinematography was brilliant. there were no unimaginable tracking shots but the character of the shot were brilliant. the use of out-of-focus shots signified how much George and Martha did not understand each other as the did at the end of the film. Everything was done right! there was nothing conventional, orthodox, overused, overstated, insufficient or insubstantial. that is what makes this film so good: hold nothin' back.

                  Can you believe that they are the same person?

Academy Awards, USA
Year	Result	Award	Category/Recipient(s)
1967	Won	Oscar	Best Actress in a Leading Role Elizabeth Taylor Elizabeth Taylor was not present at the awards ceremony. Anne Bancroft accepted the award on her behalf.
			Best Actress in a Supporting Role Sandy Dennis Sandy Dennis was unable to attend the Academy Awards presentations, because she was working on a new film, Sweet November (1968), being shot in New York.
			Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White Richard Sylbert George James Hopkins
			Best Cinematography, Black-and-White Haskell Wexler
			Best Costume Design, Black-and-White Irene Sharaff
	Nominated	Oscar	Best Actor in a Leading Role Richard Burton
			Best Actor in a Supporting Role George Segal
			Best Director Mike Nichols
			Best Film Editing Sam O'Steen
			Best Music, Original Music Score Alex North
			Best Picture Ernest Lehman
			Best Sound George Groves (Warner Bros. SSD)
			Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium Ernest Lehman