I was familiar with the basic idea of Orlando prior to watching it--man lives for hundreds of years and at some point becomes a woman--and had been meaning to watch it, but I still found it awfully baffling.
One of the points I was most unclear on was also a motif: the falling. Several times during the film, Orlando is running and then falls, and then decades have passed. I couldn't decide if this was simply Sally Potter's way of moving time forward, or if Orlando him/herself was waking up to find that all that time had passed. Either way, the falling struck me as meaning SOMETHING, even if I wasn't quite sure what.
The other thing that I was struck by was Orlando's daughter. Because at first I thought it was her son. Nothing in that film was an accident, and I feel like the choice to not immediately make it obvious that she was a girl was interesting. When she took off her helmet and was "revealed" I immediately felt guilty and like a bad feminist for assuming that that was a boy. Was this what Potter wanted us to think, I wonder? Did she want us to go, "I can't believe that after watching THAT MOVIE I fell for such a stereotype!"? Did others think that it was a boy, as well? I also couldn't help but wonder if the child will grow old, if Orlando will now that she has one, if the child's sex will change, if Orlando's might change again, and what on earth is she going to say when the kid asks about daddy?
Good point on the falling image; I had actually not noticed that. Obviously it must have some significance: if only the idea that women throughout history have had to "pick themselves up" again and again; also just a genral notion of inbalance or weakness could apply.
ReplyDeleteI don't think it's gullibe to think the child would be a boy; based on the costuming and helmet it's a valid assumption; as well we know that Orlando would lose everything if she did not bear a male heir (those pesky property rights again!); and at this point in the film, we might assume she still maintains her wealth. She's dressed in typical English riding garb (jodphurs and boots) which is a signifier of wealth, so assuming the male child allowed her to keep it is reasonable. Potter made this moment ambiguous intentionally.