MYST Post #5: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

I don't usually enjoy a film that is based off a stage-play, but this one I really liked. A married couple, George and Martha, played by Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, invite a younger couple over to their house one night for drinks. George is upset with Martha because she didn't tell him she had invited this couple. The guy, Nick, is new in the biology department of the university, and his wife, Honey, is very annoying and can't hold her liquor. Martha is already a bit drunk from earlier in the night, but the two couples immediately start drinking and they do not stop. This film won two Academy Awards.

So, the night continues on, filled with heated arguments and mind games. Many of the arguments are based off of Martha and George's "child". By the end of the movie, it is clear that the two couldn't have kids, and they were just making their son up. George 'gets back' at Martha by telling her their child has died in a car accident and won't be coming home for his 16th birthday. 

The reason why this film seems like an actual movie and not a play is because of the cinematography. I remember watching Death of a Salesman, based off of a stage-play, and being utterly bored. It was slow and just boring, despite the good acting. It is one thing when it is set on a stage for an audience that goes to see it, but when it is almost the same version on screen, it loses the spark a play naturally has. In Who's Afraid of virginia Woolf, there are weird angles, and in the really intense scenes, close-up shots are utilized. Here, in this film, the camera is like another character. It connects all four characters despite their contempt for each other, and it is key in conveying all of the emotion each character

evokes. 

This scene shows the camera work and awesome acting at the same time. Well, one can watch any part of this movie and understand that the acting is phenomenal. I love when Martha refers to George as "Him, it, that, there", and the camera aids in building the tension. There is some good deep space composition going on in the beginning of it with Martha and Nick sitting on the sofa and George fumbling around in the background for more alcohol. As Martha's monologue continues, the camera follows her face closely, keeping it in the frame as she paces. The camera cuts to Nick's tired face, and then Honey's confused face, back and forth between the four characters, until finally all the momentum built by the movement of the camera is resolved in the climax of George breaking a bottle of liquor in pure rage, directed towards Martha and what she was saying. 

It seemed like there was a lot of tension between the older generation and the younger generation. When Nick and Honey first arrive George talks down to Nick and calls him "kid". Honey is very juvenile in the way she says "Never mix never worry!", referring to the straight brandy she asks for (she ends up very ill later on). Martha obviously wears the pants in the relationship, and she is very unladylike when she constantly swears and argues with George while simultaneously flirting with Nick. 

Overall this movie was really interesting and very contemporary in the way it was made and the acting styles utilized. I give it 3.5/4 stars.