Virginia Woolf’s Night & Day is a call to arms for gender identity, sexual liberation, and female empowerment in a time when women were still campaigning for the vote. Featuring Haley Bennett, best known for the well regarded but barely seen Magazine Dreams, which was shelved by Disney after the Jonathan Majors debacle, this period piece comes with an agenda.
As the fiercely independent and single-minded Katerine Hilbery, Haley Bennett carries the thematic threads of this film effortlessly, sidestepping cultural expectations on her way to carving out a career in academia. Pressured on all sides by parental intentions, and the attentions of Jake Whitehall as kind-hearted suitor William Rodney, this SXSW London premiere is thought-provoking stuff.
With a supporting cast that reads like a roll call of British acting talent including Timothy Spall, Jennifer Saunders, and songstress Lilly Allen, Night & Day walks a fine line between farce and formidable social commentary. With the subtly of a silken sledgehammer, it chips away at prejudice, questions gender politics, and ushers in a new age of equality. That it manages to do so without preaching from the pulpit is also admirable given the source material.
Image Courtesy of Vue Lumiere
What director Tina Gharavi has done here is explore an outmoded way of thinking without layering too many contemporary themes on top. There is an undeniable comparison to concerns around inclusivity that can be drawn between then and now, but this happens beneath the surface veiled slightly by the buffoonery of a cast clearly having fun.
As the cantankerous patriarch Mr.Hilbery, Timothy Spall blusters his way through an endearing performance as the head of this family, bulking at the idea of his daughter pursuing anything other than motherhood. Elsewhere, Lilly Allen leaves an impressive mark on this movie as an under the radar radical, running an underground rebellion against conventional thinking.
There are whispers of sexual liberation, clandestine meetings in quiet corners, and Haley Bennett leading the charge as a true force of nature. Katherine Hilbery might not embody anything truly original with her desire to break away from maternal duties, but Night & Day feels fresh regardless. There is a vibrancy to the ensemble that pumps new life into this Virginia Woolf essential and does so with style and panache.
In a sea of period pieces including Savage House, Night & Day might not reinvent the archetype of intellectually ferocious women looking to be liberated, but it reminds other filmmakers where that bar might be from now on. However, in an era of YouTube wunderkinds that have turned horror into an entirely different animal, whether it makes an impression is another thing.
Night & Day is in selected cinemas from 19 June.