A new film based on one of Virginia Woolf‘s classic novels has debuted on Rotten Tomatoes with a remarkable score.
Woolf was an author who wrote such books as The Voyage Out, Night and Day, Mrs Dalloway, To the Lighthouse, The Waves and Between the Acts, as well as short stories and essays. Some of her novels have been adapted for the screen, including Orlando with Tilda Swinton, To the Lighthouse with Rosemary Harris, and Mrs. Dalloway with Vanessa Redgrave.
Now Clarissa, a new adaptation of Mrs. Dalloway, has premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and debuted on Rotten Tomatoes with a perfect score of 100% from critics. Sophie Okonedo, who plays the titular character Clarissa, has been singled out as delivering the standout performance of the entire film.
Critics have called Clarissa bold, eloquent, devastating, moving and exquisite, with some praising screenwriter Chuko Esiri, who co-directed the movie with brother Arie Esiri, for managing to bring a 101-year-old story into the modern era while confronting the themes of colonialism and class and not sweeping the racist tropes from the original novel under a metaphorical rug.
Over the past 30 years, Okonedo has starred in such films as The Jackal, Hotel Rwanda, The Secret Life of Bees, Christopher Robin, Hellboy, Death on the Nile, Heart of Stone, and the shows Doctor Who: Scream of the Shalka, Tsunami: The Aftermath, Oliver Twist, The Slap, Ratched, His Dark Materials, The Wheel of Time and Slow Horses, among others.
Okonedo’s performance as Tatiana Rusesabagina in Hotel Rwanda earned the actress Oscar and SAG Award nominations for Best Supporting Actress, while her role in Tsunami: The Aftermath landed her a Golden Globe nod and a win at the NAACP Image Awards.
Her co-stars in Clarissa are Selma star David Oyelowo, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Fortune Nwafor, Modesinuola Ogundiwin, Jude Akuwudike, Danny Sapani, Joy Sunday, Joke Silva, India Amarteifio, Ayo Edebiri and Toheeb Jimoh.
Aside from serving as directors, the Esiri brothers are also producers on the project with Theresa Park and Nicholas Weinstock, with Neon, which produced the just-released movie I Love Boosters, on board as distributor in the United States. Clarissa is only the second feature-length film the Esiris have helmed, after 2020’s Eyimofe.
The filmmaking duo has taken Woolf’s original novel Mrs. Dalloway and reinterpreted it as a contemporary story in Nigeria. This isn’t the first time that the 1925 novel has been turned into a movie, though.
In 1997, director Marleen Gorris released an adaptation that starred Redgrave as Mrs. Clarissa Dalloway, an upper-class woman who reflects on her past as she’s getting ready to host a party. The film earned a 71% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Now the Esiris have brought Virginia Woolf‘s classic story into the 21st Century. While Neon is on board as distributor, a theatrical or streaming release date for Clarissa has not been announced yet.
- Release Date
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September 1, 1997
- Runtime
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97 minutes
- Director
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Marleen Gorris
- Writers
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Eileen Atkins
- Producers
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Bill Shepherd, Christopher Ball, Simon Curtis, Stephen Bayly, William Tyrer
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Natascha McElhone
Young Clarissa
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Vanessa Redgrave
Mrs. Clarissa Dalloway
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Michael Kitchen
Peter Walsh
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