Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)

 Mike Nichols's "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"

There are some films adapted from Broadway productions that far outshine their source. The 1966 film "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" is perhaps one of those films. Not only did the film feature Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton in the greatest performances of their career, it was iconic Hollywood director Mike Nichols's debut feature. The film was a major success and earned Academy Award nominations aplenty. It even had the distinguished accolade of being one of the films, along with Michelangelo Antonioni's "Blow-Up" of the same year to force the MPAA to adopt a film rating system due to their excessive profanity. 

The film centers on a college professor, George, and his wife, Martha. George works as a history professor in a small New England college which is head by Martha's father. After a late night out, the two begrudgingly welcome the company of Nick and his wife Honey into their home. Nick, who works at the biology department, wants to make a name for himself and has been 'blessed' by Martha's father. The film takes place over the course of this single night in which all emotions and sense of stability unravel.

The main point of praise for the film is of its performances. Namely, of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. They both manage to equal in explosiveness and vulnerability, as their existential frustrations boil over into aggressive verbal battery and malice. Taylor was so noteworthy, she even won an Academy Award for her efforts.

However, Mike Nichols's direction certainly doesn't detract in any way from these stellar performances. His visual style appears very minimalist. He doesn't overplay his hand, but also certainly doesn't make the very feel any less intimately involved in the theatrics of the plot. The black-and-white cinematography also manages to create a visual richness of their despair and aggravation that would otherwise be certainly lost with colored visuals.

There are many instances in which Nichols's camera makes complete use of its space, making the viewer feel trapped in the house like Nick and Honey. There is a forced intimacy, an uncomfortable closeness. There are even moments where Nichols decides to go into an extreme closeup, further embedding this forced intimacy and unwanted familiarity.

Despite these characters being objectionably crude and malicious, there is still a notable link between them and Nick/Honey. It almost appears as though they are horror-house future versions that await the young couple, just as Nick and Honey are infantile adolescents looking staring their contemporary selves in the faces of George and Martha. 

To take it even further, the characters are perhaps even us viewers. An internal savage scream of a future of sterility that await us all. The slow realization that our goals and aspirations are like sand falling through the cracks of our fingers. The characters are restless and fed-up with their continued middle-class downfall and their lack of realizations met.

All in all, "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" is one of the greatest adapted stage plays of modern cinema. The entirety of its contents house an unyielding number of emotional traps that prick and prod us - keen on pulling out our darkest secrets and deepest insecurities. For that, it perfectly resembles the deep discomfort lying at the heart of marriage, American middle-class life, and aging.