Main Cast: Vanessa Redgrave, Natascha McElhone, Rupert Graves, Michael Kitchen, John Standing
Release Year: 1997
Country: UK/US
Run Time: 97 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG13
Plot
This adaptation of the novel by Virginia Woolf stars Vanessa Redgrave as Clarissa Dalloway, a woman in her mid-'50s living in London five years after the end of WWI. As Mrs. Dalloway prepares an elaborate dinner party at the home she shares with her husband, a prominent politician, she finds herself looking back on her life 30 years before, when as a young woman (played by (Natascha McElhone), she was in love with two different men -- the solid and safe Richard Dalloway (John Standing) and the exciting, free-spirited Peter Walsh (Michael Kitchen). Clarissa also recalls her close friendship with Sally (Lena Headey) as she wonders if she made the right choice in marrying Richard -- especially when Peter makes an unexpected appearance at her party. Mrs. Dalloway also finds herself moved in a way she never anticipated by the plight of Septimus Smith (Rupert Graves), a young man severely injured during the war whom she has never met. Mrs. Dalloway was directed by Marleen Gorris, whose previous credit was the international success Antonia's Line. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
Virginia Woolf purists were alarmed at the liberties Marleen Gorris and her colleagues took with Woolf's novel, but in fact, Mrs. Dalloway boldly succeeds in fleshing out much of the back story to Mrs. D's youth. Gorris' previous film, the Oscar-winning Antonia's Line, offered a similar set-up, with a dying woman recalling the events of her life, but here the present and the past are co-mingled more artfully. Vanessa Redgrave is, no surprise, a smashing Clarissa in middle age, but the film owes much of its power to the performance of Natascha McElhone as the young Clarissa. It's rare that a film offers such a full picture of one character (and in an economical running time as well). The viewer is allowed to see the choices Clarissa had, why she made them, and why she has cause to regret them. And with Redgrave's measured performance, the viewer understands how important it is for her to reconcile herself to her decisions. ~ Tom Wiener, All Movie Guide
Alan Cox - Young Peter; Lena Headey - Young Sally; Margaret Tyzack - Lady Bruton; Sarah Badel - Sally Seton; Katie Carr - Elizabeth Dalloway; Hilda Braid - Woman in Deckchair
Credit
Nik Callan - Art Director, Alison Wratten - Art Director, Paul Frift - Associate Producer, Celestia Fox - Casting, Simon Curtis - Co-producer, Chris J. Ball - Co-producer, William Tyrer - Co-producer, Bill Shephard - Co-producer, Judy Pepperdine - Costume Designer, Richard Whelan - First Assistant Director, Marleen Gorris - Director, Michael Reichwein - Editor, Ilona Sekacz - Composer (Music Score), David Richens - Production Designer, Sue Gibson - Cinematographer, Stephen Bayly - Producer, Lisa Katselas Pare - Producer, Carlotta Barrow - Set Designer, Jeanne Vertigan - Set Designer, Peter Glossop - Sound/Sound Designer, Brian Simmons - Sound/Sound Designer, Eileen Atkins - Screenwriter, Virginia Woolf - Book Author
