a24wang Review of Vita & Virginia

Vita & Virginia (2018)

Beautiful Story That Unfortunately Lacks Depth and A Fitting Soundtrack

[6/10 · 22 August 2020]

I wish they'd fleshed out (the beginnings of) the relationship with more details, dialogues, letters or even gazes. subsequently, even though the acting was pretty good, the characters and their relationship felt shallow and i couldn't really connect with them or their feelings. the relatively slow pacing didn't help with that, and at some points it even felt to me like nothing was happening at all? there was so much more room for a deeper exploration of their relationship, especially because of the intensity and lasting consequences it really had. my biggest issue with this movie was the soundtrack though. i love soundtracks and i actually always listen to the soundtrack while writing a review on here, it kinda helps me stay in the "mood" (don't know if that's weird), but i, on my part, didn't really feel like this score fit the movie. instead of emphasizing the action on screen and making everything feel more immersive, the heavily electronic-sounding track distracted me and actually made the movie less engaging for me. i wish they'd gone with something more reminiscent of the time the story takes place.