Title: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf
Starring: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton
Directed by: Mike Nichols
Year: 1966
Number on the AFI List: 60
Y'all...this movie is CRAZY TOWN. From the start, its very obvious that George (Richard Burton) and Martha (Elizabeth Taylor) are dysfunctional, manipulative, irascible spouses who don't know how to care for each other well. They invite a young married couple, Nick and Honey, into their home, and spend the whole film getting drunk, getting the young couple drunk, and using the Nick and Honey as pawns to abuse each other. Seriously, the whole movie is a downward spiral spinning fast. Games and alcohol run the show- and by games, I mean fantastical illusions of life that both George and Martha go in and out of believing, the main one being about their 16 year old son. For the sake of spoilers, I won't give any more details, but its messed up. For real. Edward Albee does not hold back showing the cruelties of life through George and Martha. I wondered the whole time why Nick and Honey didn't get up and leave. They're both sucked into the spiral and are used and abused right along with George and Martha. I wonder if it's an allusion to how their marriage will end up.
Fantastic acting all around. I was hooked from the beginning. It goes to show how people are fascinated by dysfunction. Who needs reality TV when you have geniuses like Albee writing scripts? (granted, the screenplay was by Ernest Lehman, but Albee gets the credit for the original play).
Favorite moment: It's all a mess. All great. All compelling. All heartbreaking.
Will I Watch it Again: Yes.
