‘I swear, if you existed, I’d divorce you...’
Acting drunk is tough. Because drunk people are insane. Many of us will relate to the feeling of not being able to reconcile our normal unremarkable selves with the braying monsters we become after a few beers. Everyone has experienced the feeling of a night spiralling out of control, but so seldom has this descent been adequately captured on screen. Mike Nichols’ classic adaptation of Edward Albee’s play Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is perhaps the finest example of actors successfully acting drunk. Because honestly, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton terrified me in this movie…
Martha (Taylor) and George (Burton) are an associate professor and the college president’s daughter trapped in a hateful, vitriolic marriage – a sparring match that has declined to the point of two aging sluggers fighting it out for petty point scoring. When Martha invites Nick (George Segal) and Honey (Sandy Dennis), a younger couple on campus, for late night drinks, the evening soon warps and cracks as the darkness seeps through.
Any feature film based on a play is always a treat for the actors, but by God, Taylor and Burton’s respective performances here are jaw-dropping. Their shared disdain is palpable, always soundtracked by the sound of ice cubes clinking in glasses and Taylor’s throaty chuckle. Indeed, Taylor’s volcanic performance was rightly rewarded with a Best Actress Oscar. Taylor and Burton were married (twice) in real life, and they bring that tension to the screen here in a way that is both chaotic and somehow measured. Perhaps the finest rendering of a broken relationship ever reproduced on screen.
Elsewhere, Nichols, directing his debut feature film, displays a mastery of tension building that reaches a breath-taking crescendo in the incendiary final act. A truly memorable and shocking reveal handled in a surprisingly tender way by the bruised and broken cast.
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is a 56-year-old film that still has the capacity to shock all these years later. A timeless classic.