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Vita & Virginia

4/10

Stars: Gemma Arterton, Elizabeth Debicki, Isabella Rossellini, Peter Ferdinando, Emerald Fennell, Rupert Penry-Jones, Adam Gillen, Sam Hardy

Director: Chanya Button

The frocks are the stars of this beautifully dressed but boring talkathon, set in the 1920s, about the affair between contrasting authors Vita Sackville-West (Arterton) and Virginia Woolf (Debicki).

The flamboyantly bisexual Vita sets her cap at the reclusive, tall, gawky, married Virginia and eventually does get her into bed, although Vita's personality/hormones mean she can't be faithful to one person for long.

The clothes, Arterton's especially, are divine, and the two stars do what they can with the stilted dialogue by director Button and actress Eileen Atkins from Atkins' play. But the men in their lives are interchangeable and the atmosphere stifling. Though the gowns are almost worth the price of admission, you'll still probably be relieved when the movie finally comes to an end.

David Quinlan

UK 2018. UK Distributor: Thunderbird. Colour by Panalux.
109 minutes. Not widescreen. UK certificate: 12A.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 1, Violence/Horror 0, Drugs 0, Swearing 0.

Review date: 30 Jun 2019