Orlando (1992)

For the Life Stories exhibition in November 2025, BredaPhoto, Pride Photo, and Chassé Cinema are joining forces to create a unique and inspiring film programme.

Orlando, Sally Potter’s dazzling adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s classic novel, tells the story of the seemingly immortal Orlando (Tilda Swinton). An epic journey in search of love and freedom, Orlando begins life as a man and, 400 years later, ends as a woman.

After leaving the royal court of Elizabeth I behind, Orlando’s journey takes them across the frozen River Thames, where they become obsessed with a Russian princess. From a post as ambassador in the Ottoman Empire to experiences of love and loss in Victorian times, Orlando ultimately—now as a mother—arrives in the twentieth century.

For both Sally Potter and Tilda Swinton, Orlando (1992) was the film that launched them onto the international stage. A whimsical, unique, moving, and humorous epic in which time and gender flow seamlessly.