2023·Documentary·1h 39m
7.1
★
Virginia Woolf's 1928 novel "Orlando: A Biography" follows the centuries-spanning life of a young nobleman who awakens to find that they are a woman. Almost a century after its publication, Paul B. Preciado claims that fiction has become reality and Orlando's story lies at the root of all contemporary trans and non-binary life.
Directed by Paul B. Preciado
transsexuality
sex change
lgbt
fictional language
observational cinema
social change
non-binary
nonbinary
biographical fiction
fictional story
Trailer
IMDB
N/A
Where to Watch
Cast
Yanis Sahraoui
Paul B. Preciado
Emmanuel Avena
Clara 3000
Frédéric Pierrot
Le Filip
Virginie Despentes
Crew
Paul B. Preciado
Director
Paul B. Preciado
Screenplay
Olivier Goinard
Sound Designer
Virginia Woolf
Novel
Clara 3000
Music
Popular Reviews
40 reviews
Maria Antónia
theoretical cinema doesn't fascinate me... but that can't be quantified. 🏳️⚧️
The way art and the "expression of being," demystified by Virginia Woolf in the 1920s, is now being analyzed by psychiatrists who understand nothing about poetry.
I undressed in each hospital room with a man to examine me — until THEY DECIDED I'm a woman.
To live as a woman legally.
So that I could change my body.
For moments it was OUR body.
“Meat for hospices”.
The way art and the "expression of being," demystified by Virginia Woolf in the 1920s, is now being analyzed by psychiatrists who understand nothing about poetry.
I undressed in each hospital room with a man to examine me — until THEY DECIDED I'm a woman.
To live as a woman legally.
So that I could change my body.
For moments it was OUR body.
“Meat for hospices”.
theoretical cinema doesn't fascinate me... but that can't be quantified. 🏳️⚧️
The way art and the "expression of being," demystified by Virginia Woolf in the 1920s, is now being analyzed by psychiatrists who understand nothing about poetry.
I undressed in each hospital room with a man to examine me — until THEY DECIDED I'm a woman.
To live as a woman legally.
So that I could change my body.
For moments it was OUR body.
“Meat for hospices”.
The way art and the "expression of being," demystified by Virginia Woolf in the 1920s, is now being analyzed by psychiatrists who understand nothing about poetry.
I undressed in each hospital room with a man to examine me — until THEY DECIDED I'm a woman.
To live as a woman legally.
So that I could change my body.
For moments it was OUR body.
“Meat for hospices”.
Chiara Lestino
6.0★ · 10/06/25
last thirteen minutes were incredible.
majoring in history is so cool u see it creep into every single thing u study
“Every individual life is a collective history”
majoring in history is so cool u see it creep into every single thing u study
“Every individual life is a collective history”
last thirteen minutes were incredible.
majoring in history is so cool u see it creep into every single thing u study
“Every individual life is a collective history”
majoring in history is so cool u see it creep into every single thing u study
“Every individual life is a collective history”
Uriel
10.0★ · 10/06/25
Toda vida individual é uma história coletiva
— Preciado
Ser Orlando, ver Orlando e acompanhar o pensamento Orlandesque é algo mágico. Após minha leitura do texto de Woolf, me volto aos textos de Preciado que me foram recomendados. Logo, me vi interpretando a transsexualidade de modos complementares ao que já havia formulado. Unindo biografias e literaturas em uma interpretação tão distante e tão próxima de si, Paul conversa comigo e com tantos outros Orlandos por aí jogados para morrer.
Tantos códigos, decodificações e modos de operar em meio a tantas falsas naturezas de gênero. A transsexualidade é mágica, mesmo que também trágica, é um encanto visto em um milhão de formas físicas e psíquicas.
Eu também, Woolf, sou Orlando. Não acordei de modo indolor num outro sexo, mas me fiz transsexual nos meus sonhos e vontades.
Muita gente, considerando isso, e sustentando que uma mudança de sexo é contra a natureza, esforçou-se para provar que:
1. Orlando sempre tinha sido mulher
2. Orlando é, neste momento, homem.
Deixemos biólogos e psicólogos decidirem. Para nós é suficiente constatar o simples fato: Orlando foi homem até os trinta anos; nessa ocasião tornou-se mulher e assim permaneceu daí por diante
— Woolf
Toda vida individual é uma história coletiva
— Preciado
Ser Orlando, ver Orlando e acompanhar o pensamento Orlandesque é algo mágico. Após minha leitura do texto de Woolf, me volto aos textos de Preciado que me foram recomendados. Logo, me vi interpretando a transsexualidade de modos complementares ao que já havia formulado. Unindo biografias e literaturas em uma interpretação tão distante e tão próxima de si, Paul conversa comigo e com tantos outros Orlandos por aí jogados para morrer.
Tantos códigos, decodificações e modos de operar em meio a tantas falsas naturezas de gênero. A transsexualidade é mágica, mesmo que também trágica, é um encanto visto em um milhão de formas físicas e psíquicas.
Eu também, Woolf, sou Orlando. Não acordei de modo indolor num outro sexo, mas me fiz transsexual nos meus sonhos e vontades.
Muita gente, considerando isso, e sustentando que uma mudança de sexo é contra a natureza, esforçou-se para provar que:
1. Orlando sempre tinha sido mulher
2. Orlando é, neste momento, homem.
Deixemos biólogos e psicólogos decidirem. Para nós é suficiente constatar o simples fato: Orlando foi homem até os trinta anos; nessa ocasião tornou-se mulher e assim permaneceu daí por diante
— Woolf
fern
9.0★ · 07/26/25
this movie is indicative of a larger movement in trans art, pointing away from the cisnormative and into a more fluid concept of gender. we see all stages of orlando represented within so many different types of people, brought together by their transness—specifically transness, not just the fact that they happen to be trans. accepting the motion and evolution of your story is crucial in breaking away from cisnormativity and forming a more complete image of yourself, and this film demonstrates this from every point of the spectrum.
incorporating the story of orlando into this while weaving in and out of a talking head documentary gives us a great sense of this evolution. not only is there flux within every trans person’s life, but the story and perception of transness itself is changing by the second.
incorporating the story of orlando into this while weaving in and out of a talking head documentary gives us a great sense of this evolution. not only is there flux within every trans person’s life, but the story and perception of transness itself is changing by the second.
this movie is indicative of a larger movement in trans art, pointing away from the cisnormative and into a more fluid concept of gender. we see all stages of orlando represented within so many different types of people, brought together by their transness—specifically transness, not just the fact that they happen to be trans. accepting the motion and evolution of your story is crucial in breaking away from cisnormativity and forming a more complete image of yourself, and this film demonstrates this from every point of the spectrum.
incorporating the story of orlando into this while weaving in and out of a talking head documentary gives us a great sense of this evolution. not only is there flux within every trans person’s life, but the story and perception of transness itself is changing by the second.
incorporating the story of orlando into this while weaving in and out of a talking head documentary gives us a great sense of this evolution. not only is there flux within every trans person’s life, but the story and perception of transness itself is changing by the second.
adeline
6.0★ · 07/19/25
“fucking viriginia woolf” sums up a lot of the thoughts i have about this (positive and negative) that i don’t feel like unpacking here!
“fucking viriginia woolf” sums up a lot of the thoughts i have about this (positive and negative) that i don’t feel like unpacking here!