Sally Potter’s adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s Orlando, starring Tilda Swinton, follows its protagonist across several centuries. The story begins towards the end of Elizabeth I’s reign, with Orlando as a young aristocrat who passes through one historical period after another without appearing to age. At intervals, Orlando falls into a deep, almost magical sleep, awakening each time to a changed world. After one such sleep, Orlando wakes up as a woman.

The film is divided into distinct historical chapters, each introducing a new setting and a new wardrobe. This makes Orlando an exceptionally rich costume film, as costume designer Sandy Powell moves through centuries of European fashion within a single production. Elizabethan dress gradually gives way to the extravagant silhouettes of the Rococo period, before the film moves through the nineteenth century and eventually arrives in Potter’s own present, the early 1990s. Historical cuts are combined with modern materials, proportions are exaggerated, and the clothes take on a theatrical quality that suits the film’s somewhat dreamlike treatment of time.

Orlando is an extraordinarily beautiful film, and much of its pleasure comes from watching the centuries unfold through clothing. Powell’s costumes earned her her first Academy Award nomination, and the film has since become a major reference point in the history of costume design for cinema.

The screening will be introduced by Morteza Vaseghi, International Library of Fashion Research's Design Director.

This is the 15th screening as part of "Fabricated Frames", a monthly film club curated by International Library of Fashion Research at Cinemateket in Oslo. Get your tickets now via cinemateket.no. See you Thursday 17th of December at 18.00!