Someone wrote in response to another confused, disappointed viewer: "I'm hoping you are a brand new film student...if you cannot analyze this easily interpreted film, you are going to go crazy with Fellini, Truffant, and most other works of greatness. Wait till you see The Battleship Potemkin!! Don't give up though...art is an incindiary form of annoyance for many...open discussions are the secon best part of art."<br /><br />The writer was correct in stating that open discussions are the second best part of art. Great art arouses the soul and covers the spectrum of feelings, emotions, and the mind. However, for me, comparing this film with the great works of Fellini, Truffaut, and Eisenstein is annoying in itself. <br /><br />I saw this as a double-bill with "Le Plaisir" by Max Ophuls. For me, the distinction between art and an incendiary form of annoyance is clear - "Le Plaisir" is a realized masterpiece with brilliant source material. And then there is this, the annoyance!<br /><br />This film is not dreadful, but it is mediocrity teetering on the edge of the cliff. A very interesting proposition by Virgnia Woolf is just completely reduced to shallow banality. With so much worthy plumbing available with the source material's take on immortality, relationships, and androgyny, this (literally) skates on ice. This effort reminds me of Rand's "The Fountainhead" with Gary Cooper and Patricia Neal - full of shimmering possibilities and strikingly photographed, but poorly realized and interpreted. <br /><br />Tilda Swinton has the metamorphic wherewithal of Meryl Streep and Toni Collette required to pull off this role, but she doesn't ring true at all - there is none of the world-weary angst that this character, burdened by his/her past and fearful of the future, should embody. This character should oscillate between manhood and womanhood from a deep central core of wisdom, but I don't see this at all in Swinton's performance. <br /><br />Billy Zane's striking good looks don't translate well to the intriguing dovetail of Shelmerdine - his performance is weak, he photographs poorly, and there is no chemistry between the two characters. Quentin Crisp's take on Queen Elizabeth is the interesting moment in the film, but it is at best a campy one.<br /><br />This rates about a 3 for me. As such, I would love to see a remake of this up for the taking.