Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?: from Elizabeth Taylor/Richard Burton: The Film Collection

          Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is a 1966 film based on the 1962 stage play of the same name by Edward Albee. It stars Richard Burton as the middle-aged history professor George; Elizabeth Taylor as his wife Martha, the daughter of the college president; George Segal as the young new professor in the biology department; and Sandy Dennis as Honey, his somewhat fragile wife. Martha has invited the younger couple over for a visit after a late college party, and as the night wears on and many drinks are consumed, the lacquer of appearances are stripped away, vicious mind-games are played, and bare, tragic truths are revealed about both couples.

At the end of the night, as dawn breaks and the younger couple has finally left, George recites the song that has recurred all night, “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” (a parody, of course, of “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?”). Martha bleakly replies, “I am, George, I am.” This significance of this final line has been interpreted several ways, but I think it inevitably recalls the fact that Woolf killed herself when life seemed too unbearable, and what Martha fears is her own suicide.

The film has an all-star cast, a slew of nominations and awards, and wordplay at a high and engaging level. But what first drew my attention and made me watch the film (maybe ten years or so ago) was the entire setting. It really invoked for me my early childhood, from the night-time exteriors (especially when George goes out to sit on a swing) to the tank of a 1962 Ford Country Squire that George and Martha drive. The maddening full moon is visually insisted upon and makes the darkness only darker.

As I watched it, I realized that at a deep level it was also about Fantasy, in its grimmer aspects as a tool to get through life. George and Martha have been denied many avenues of fulfillment due to their circumstances. There is one aspect of the ‘fun and games’ they play that brings mitigation of their situation, especially to Martha. It is the destruction of this illusion that brings her to the film’s desolate conclusion.  

Who’s Afraid has since become one of my favorite “grown-up” films. When I went to buy a copy, I found it in Elizabeth Taylor/Richard Burton: The Film Collection, which sold for only $3.09 and $3.99 shipping. That was four movies for the price of one, including (besides Woolf), The V.I.P.s , The Sandpiper, and The Comedians. I knew of good things about at least two of them, so got the lot, and a bargain it was.

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