NazaNEYn

Stfu kid

Right?! And an amazing artist! I wanna be like her~

Thanks :) 

who's that in your profile pic?

First of all... WHat the hell is Vita's problem? She's so toxic, wants to hurt everybody including her loved ones! I don't know how it works with most of the people she encounters, 'cause I don't know specifics of their relationships, but even Virginia? She deliberately hurt her! Wtf? Why? Ugh, what a terrible human being, so selfish and irresponsible, she's even worse than you! Ugh, but uhh, let's start from the beginning, shall we? ^^

Music! At the very beginning, it drew my attention. For a story set in 20th 20s(?), these electronic sounds seem to be a pretty odd choice, nonetheless, I would say everything worked just fine. It creates for the story a different perspective than just a time capsule of the late-era, maybe the goal was to render it more timeless? It kind of reminds me of the music of Paul Kalkbrenner from Berlin Calling, the genre is known as downtempo? Maybe with a little bit of ambient? How do you like it? It's relatively fast tho, either way here you've got an example [link]. I really loved the main theme (which appeared throughout the movie in various tracks) and also the track known as "The Party" with its heavy synthesizer ^^

But enough about the music! It's not what you came for, right? Let's talk about the setting! London of said time, with its own social dynamics and atmosphere! Yay, but... if I have to be perfectly honest I'm unfortunately not quite an expert on that subject ^^" Yeah, I get aristocracy and its class system, and I'm also aware that the socialism is a hot topic at the time since Russian red revolution was kind of fresh then, but that's about it. At least I can tell for sure that when it comes to architecture London hasn't changed much, since like all the buildings seem familiar today, and some specific locations, I can tell, I just know for sure! ^^

Let's go back to that opening scene, what a nice setup :D our two main heroines presented each in her own environment, yet somehow connected by a radio broadcast. The talk on the radio was interesting on its own as well btw. While Virginia will remain a mystery for us for a while, here's our opportunity to get to know Vita a little bit better. Her escape to France, yeah, she seems to be quite an adventurous person... actually that story sounds so interesting I think it's worth movie itself x) Anyway, as it may be expected from an aristocracy with their arranged marriages, she and her husband live in an open marriage and seem to be happy with their arrangement. (I don't think I could live like that tho ._.)

To some extent at least... since Vita also seems to be bitter about her fate as a woman, like when she said how she lost her house. And I was thinking: maybe that's a source of her unresponsible and destructive behavior? Some kind of a rebel against the system that put her down? 'Cause while both, she and her husband, have side romances, only hers are so scandalous :P and maybe, that what makes her a popular author? ._. Like people always liked drama, and as I was saying, the adventure in France sounded interesting on its own... and it supposed to be in her book, so...

Okay, too much assumption! You know Vita, what's about Virginia? We meet her from a perspective of Vita, her number one fan. She's... it's hard to describe. At first, she seems to be mysterious, almost otherworldly, looking at things from a different, analytical in-depth point of view. Maybe even too abstract point of view... I mean even for me, what was she saying was not fully understandable, and for others, it might've to look pretentious, like at this dinner she was invited by Vita. Anyway... but when we get to know her better she appears to be so fragile, SO FREAKIN' FRAGILE!! [needs protection(tm)] And while Vita is soon to become her muse, Virginia herself reminds me of the muse of mine - KatieJane Garside. I hope you don't mind that the next paragraph I'll dedicate to her~?

KJG is a British singer-songwriter, starting with punkish band Daisy Chainsaw, currently with a folk noir duet of Ruby Throat, with her own side project Lalleshwari and most important and recognizable band - QueenAdreena! Her first similarity with Virginia is appearance - both are slim blondes with typical English beauty. Second, attitude - just check interviews with her! She seems to be not quite there like her mind was constantly floating to different planes of existence, and her convoluted way of speaking which is almost poetic. And she seems to be rather shy if you don't count her behavior on a scene when she presents a fierce show x)

Just check her for yourself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQzgSVK8S2I :D

OK, let's finally move on with the movie, shall we? 'Coz it's the 8th paragraph and we're still at the opening, ugh!! I get off track too easily! :D Don't worry, now everything should go smoother! ^^ Time to go on with the events! I already mentioned the party - the start of Vita and Virginia's relationship? After this, they participate in a conversation about their common interest: writing literature! The conversation did mostly by correspondence, if I may add. I like how they do it differently ~ one by handwritten letters the other by letters typed on a machine. And I also find it quite clever that they read their letter out loud, which made otherwise dry text come to life and made it also visually appealing for the sake of the movie. Nice touch! ^^

The letters come back and forth during the whole relationship, but it's not like they never meet. The movie doesn't waste scenes, which means all their encounters are meaningful in one way or another. The first most important would be in my opinion meeting at the gardens and although it only contains a conversation about story writing, it's significantly impactful on Virginia character. As we later learn, she's physically restrained, but thanks to Vita's influence she was willing to kiss her husband, which seemed to be not quite usual for her, just like she learned something from Vita, even by that time nothing really happened between them yet.

When the later finally came and they shared their first kiss... I mean, not quite, Vita just attempted to kiss Virginia, however even if nothing happened, it doesn't mean it wasn't impactful - quite the opposite actually. 'Cause by then we've witnessed the powershift. Before Virginia was in charge and Vita was fighting for her attention, after that Vita, although moody with her failed attempt, was victorious, and now Virginia actually started to consider being interested in her, and even have a conversation about it with her friends(family?). And eventually, they kiss for real :P

Hey, welcome to Persia! :D how it is to see your homeland as a free state before Islamic occupation? :D either way, it's time for another correspondence, but since I already talked about it, I won't repeat myself ^^ but it seems such a distance was what Vita and Virginia's relationship needed, even if that cost Virginia health, at this point their romance blooms~! uwu

And... yeah, what the fuck is wrong with Vita? "I will hurt you"? Excuse me... did I misheard you, Vita? Didn't you get enough dedication, you selfish, greedy, disgusting human being? What the hell that supposed to mean? That's NOT how you treat people close to you! Why you have to act like such a psychopath? x) Don't do anything stup... or yeah, show yourself in the company of another at Virginia's art gallery opening, that will make her feel just great! -_- Ugh... why didn't you just kill yourse... no, not you, Virginia, I was saying this to Vita ._."

Things turned out to be pretty morbid, didn't they? However in the end Virginia turned out to not be that weak, the painful experience tempered her to grow stronger than before, and not only she did overcome the despair but also transformed it into an inspiration... such a character development! And here we witness another powershift, Virginia becomes more independent, generally speaking, but also, most importantly more independent from Vita, she also became more energetic and lively, and also authoritative, putting things into the action!

Vita becomes her muse and inspiration on... many levels, she's the one that sparkled this energy into Virginia's heart and life, she's also the one that thru causing her pain made her stronger, more experienced. And on a surface level, Vita's character is a template to the protagonist of Virginia's new fake biography book. As I was saying, now Virginia's in charge. Once again.

We went a full circle, the movie ends with a dissatisfactory status quo since the title romance comes to closure as well. Well, it was kinda expected from biography to be lacking in some kind of a solid final, since life usually just passing with no intent to build any sort of climax. On the other hand... as Virginia put it "every biography is fake", so even in this case there is probably some derivation from authentic history, the movie was based on <_<

But nonetheless, that's how this film has ended. Just after the final talk. The final talk. Oh yeah, THIS talk. The dialogue was so rich in this scene, so many things to unravel came into the play, that I just can't ._. This review is already too long and this talk deserves its own essay! Every line of the dialogue can be analyzed separately since they refer to many events and other dialogues that came before. So instead I'll go straight into a summary! ^^

Ah sweet Virginia :3 she's just so otherworldly, like a curious vigilant, but also distant observer trying so hard to understand sensations she doesn't experience first-hand. Just like after the party, when she directly asked dancing couple how it feels, right before started analyzing this glimpse of the moment herself with almost cold scientific precision. She's sharp-minded, but at the same time cold, distant and closed. She might've been able to describe all human sensations eventually, write books about them, but what would be the point, if she'd feel none of this herself? She lived so deep in her world of ideas, she almost denied her physical self, leaving her body weak and her mind fragile, making her so dependant on others... and thus she was sheltered...

After meeting with Vita things have changed however. Did I tell you already about the significance of meeting at the gardens with Vita? How it was out of character for shy and distant Virginia to initiate such a physical thing like a spontaneous kiss? This was only the beginning of Vita's influence, and with that Virginia started to learn new things, and different approaches too. Some lessons were harsher than others, but overall she managed to pass them and thus grow as a person, become more confident in herself, self-sufficient. Even her weak body seemed more lively and healthier. She in some ways reminds me of... you :P

And ugh... bitter Vita. Living proof of how destructive grievances over the years can be. And it doesn't even matter if they are justified! As Virginia put it, "this place [the mansion] moves your heart more than any other person". And Vita frustrated by the situation when she can't inherit the one thing she cared about became decadent. Like she's given up on her life and decided to just live by, not caring too much about anything and anybody. Acting selfish and not being bothered by the consequences of her actions and that she might hurt someone in the process, including herself!

She listened to her mother only once, and only after being financially blackmailed first. She looked for every possible occasion to disobey her husband, who's saved her ass after the adventure in France, which might've cost him his reputation, and for Vita, it might've cost her her children. And after that loud event, she didn't even know where Violet was! So she didn't even care about her lovers, which she had approximately many! Did she even cared about Virginia at first or it was just another of her cravings to the collection? >_<

Yeah, Virginia, everything has changed since her. Not so instantly, 'cause at first, Vita seemed just to be frustrated with Virginia's inaccessibility, which she failed so hard at trying to hide btw. But after some time, after finally catching her prey, and then hurting Virginia for no good reason, after being model to a book's character, after all these events, during the final talk she... cried? :o (not for the first time tho, the first time was after posing to a photo, I think) Is this possible that after all this time she finally find something... someone to care about besides her house? Did she finally learned from Virginia some empathy and became healed from her bitter grievance?

Hard to judge since the film ended, but I believe that's what Vita needed. Someone with analytical talent that could see insides of her mind, and save her from her shallow world and destructive nihilism, save her from herself. Show some kind of depth in life, things worth caring about, and traits that she lacks, and desires beyond just a trivial physical realm. When you think about it, Vita and Virginia are different, but the same, polar opposites, yet completing each other. Together are making... the wholeness ^^ And btw. Vita also reminds me of you... in some different ways :P

Overall a very good movie, that I can recommend! 2/10!! ^^
Ugh... no more reviews in the comments! Now for real, 'cause I already said that! ._.

I'm pretty sure, I have exactly the same socks as Vita here ^^

 it means 'exit', right? khoruj :D

And this building looked so familiar to me, so I checked the London street view and...
Found it! It's the Old Royal Navy College in Greenwich!! :D
If you had told me about the movie in the summer, I'd have taken a photo there :P