Orlando, My Political Biography Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.5

Orlando, My Political Biography Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 3, 2024

Tilda Swinton had one of her most memorable early roles (emphasis on that plural, even for this singular film) in Sally Potter's fascinating 1992 film Orlando, which famously adapted an iconic work by Virginia Woolf which recounted the story of a gender shifting individual who lives for centuries and whose story provides a veritable glut of allegory, metaphor and just good old fashioned subtext that has made the novel a celebrated classic in feminist and/or transgender literature. Many of the people featured in Orlando, My Political Biography self describe themselves as "non binary", and in a way that same adjective could be applied to the film itself, as writer, director and performer Paul B. Preciado melds both narrative and documentary forms together in a somewhat odd but still engaging manner. The character of Orlando is therefore utilized in this film as a sort of symbol for the trans experience in general, and as such Preciado assembles a wide array of trans people to appear, if fleetingly, as Orlando in a series of vignettes, some of which may lean a bit toward "traditional" fictional narrative films, even if presentationally they're offered with characters speaking directly to the camera, and others of which probably are at least relatively more in the documentary mold.

Preciado is evidently very well known in the trans community, but for those outside of that community, Orlando, My Political Biography might not suffice to provide any perceived "information" about Preciado, even if the film was evidently begun as a more or less straightforward documentary about him (his transition from Beatriz to Paul is reportedly very well known and documented in both books and other media). Instead, as perhaps indicated by the film's very subtitle, there's an undeniably "political" aspect to this piece which may strike some as screed like, but which makes the repeated point that no matter how stridently some people insist "there are only two genders", there are some people who may not fit into either of those "categories" that easily, whether or not they've decided to "transition".

Dramatically, the film is somewhat inert, kind of lurching from vignette to vignette, with a bunch of people wearing Elizabethan collars to indicate the they "are" Orlando, but without much actual connection to Woolf's actual story, other than that aforementioned utilization of Orlando as a symbol of "gender fluidity". Still, Orlando, My Political Biography makes its points saliently, and the final vignette, which sees a "judge" granting non binary people "freedom" to express themselves as they see fit will no doubt resonate with many.

Orlando, My Political Biography Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Orlando, My Political Biography is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion's Janus Contemporaries imprint with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. Unlike most "mainstream" Criterion releases, there's no technical information imparted in the leaflet included, and as of the writing of this review the IMDb doesn't have any real technical information. There's a brief view of a Sony camera in the Preciado interview included on the disc, and I'm assuming this had a 2K DI. This is a perfectly decent looking digital capture that nonetheless doesn't offer much depth and kind of looks like a made for television outing a lot of the time. The outdoor forest material is really nicely suffused and offers some sumptuous greens, but that is perhaps counterweighed by some kind of tamped down interior scenes, including a catacombs moment that perhaps understandably has little to no shadow detail. Fine detail on some of the whimsical costumes is typically excellent. There's some brief newsreel footage toward the end featuring famous trans people like Christine Jorgensen, and that black and white footage looks fine, if not quite at the crystalline levels of the bulk of the feature.

Orlando, My Political Biography Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Orlando, My Political Biography features a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track in the original French. A surround track may have strictly not been necessary for this film, as the soundtrack consists almost entirely of people talking, and frequently just one person speaking directly to the camera. As such "immersion" tends to be limited to ambient environmental sounds, which are probably most noticeable in the outdoor material. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

Orlando, My Political Biography Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Meet the Filmmakers (HD; 15:16) features Preciado discussing the film. Subtitled in English.


• Trailer (HD; 1:48)

A leaflet includes an essay by Michael Joshua Rowin.

Orlando, My Political Biography Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I might jokingly advise that anyone who was bothered by the opening ceremonies of the 2024 Paris Olympics might want to stay far, far away from Orlando, My Political Biography. For anyone who has ever felt "divergent" in any way, not necessarily related to gender identity, but certainly for those folks in particular, this film should be something of a revelation and confirmation that they're not alone. Technical merits are solid and the interview with Preciado interesting. Recommended.