Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: Gemma Arterton, Elizabeth Debicki, Isavella Rossellini, Rupert Penry-Jones, Peter Ferdinando, Emerald Fennell, Gethin Anthony, Rory Fleck Byrne, Karla Crome, Adam Gillen, Brenock O’Connor, Amelie Metcalfe, Darren Dixon, Sam Hardy, Jane McGrath, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, Thalia Heffernan, Bryan Murray, Evelyn Lockley.
The modern age has become a battle ground for how we see, and adapt, the psyche and appearance of the Muse. War has been declared by the few on how the artist is able to place their thoughts into the projected image of the one human being to whom the soul is captured, and to whom can portray a radiance that brightens up a painting such as the Mona Lisa, the Renaissance masterpiece of David and even into the present day with paintings such as The War Bride or books, poetry, and films, that involve a particular vision implied by the sculptor of the piece.
Such a war maybe, in the mind of the dissenter, is worthy as we aim to become more enlightened, more progressive in our thinking, the reason for this war of attrition is locked in the argument that it is a visual representation of extortion, that it alludes to a unconsented sense of control; a one way flow of sexual intimacy which the Muse has no say on how they are portrayed.
The problem with this thought is, as is shown through Chanya Button’s direction, and Eileen Atkins’ script for Vita & Virginia is that excludes the notion that the Muse is often complicit in the result, that the portrayal of delight, desire, and even destruction, can be attained in the mutual love to which both parties have come to dominate each other’s thoughts.
Thankfully we have moved on from the ridiculous notion fostered upon society by a Victorian outlook, that a love between two people of the same gender is something to keep hidden, to be masked, for it is to be wondered what beauty and fascination of literature would have been brought to life if the repressed, and barely consummated feelings of Virginia Woolf for Vita Sackville-West, her own Muse, had gone beyond the letters and the enormously successful Orlando. In this thought the idea of the Muse being alluded to as a figure of misogynistic silent violation to whom is only best represented as a creature to be preserved in marble, in an artistic impression, is nullified and stopped in its tracks.
Vita and Virginia maybe a film to which some will argue is an excessive use of sapphic intent, a kind of titillation for those unaware of the pair’s history, or indeed the sadness and mental health issues faced by Ms. Woolf, but they are missing the point, this is a film of equal inspiration, of unearthing the spirit, the drive and the appeal beyond that of the physical intent; and with terrific performances by Gemma Arterton and Elizabeth Debicki in the lead roles and aided magnificently by Rupert Penry-Jones, Emerald Fennell and Gethin Anthony, this is a story that comes alive through passion, through desire to understand.
Ian D. Hall