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UK | Germany | USA 2026
Opening July 9, 2026
Directed by: Tina Gharavi
Writing credits: Virgina Woolf, Justine Waddell
Principal actors: Haley Bennett, Elyas M’Barek, Lily Allen, Jack Whitehall, Jennifer Saunders, Timothy Spall
Virginia Woolf, one of the twentieth century’s most influential modernist, feminist writers, pioneered narrative techniques and the stream-of-consciousness literary device. Schooled in Victorian literature’s transformative aspects, from establishing the novel’s dominancy to social realism and engaging in change, Virginia chose 1910 Edwardian London for her early novel’s backdrop.
English director Tina Gharavi and screenwriter Justine Waddell simplify Virginia Woolf’s Night & Day (1919) eponymous novel examining love, marriage, success, and the basis for happiness. Woolf contrasts four spirited characters: hopeful scientist Katherine Hilbery (Haley Bennett), aspiring poet William Rodney (Jack Whitehall), suffragette/supposed communist Mary Datchet (Lily Allen), and working-class editor Ralph Denham (Elyas M’Barek).
The long-married Hilberys, Trevor (Timothy Spall) and Margaret (Jennifer Saunders), are cocooned in the physicality and language of bickering love punctuated by teasing and condescending affectionate domesticity. Trevor tolerates and chides his wife’s writing the family biography, yet bemoans his unruly, independent daughter. Katherine’s passions are astrology and puzzling out Earth’s position in the universe, while theorizing possible mathematical expositions. Anxious to marry her off, Trevor blesses William—"Go forth, conquer”—courting Katherine; from their first meeting Katherine is impressed by Mary’s freethinker sophistication, and wary of the puzzling Ralph.
The prerogative of Katherine’s cousins (Sally Phillips, Elizabeth Edmonds, Simon Phillips) is to flutter about busybodying, e.g., scoffing at Margaret's work, “Still writing … that makes thirty-nine pages a year.” Cyril Otway (Misia Butler) is the exception. Aiding and abetting Katherine’s predilections, Cyril accompanies her to London’s Royal Astronomical Society, where she experiences the full-force of controlling male domination—on the cusp of change—regarding women. Reaching for the stars, Katherine realizes it is imperative she participate in charting her destiny— “Just give me a chance.”
The period comedy’s aesthetic mood is muted, with fiery tones and pinched atmospheric properties; the bright-white subtitles are off-putting, distracting. The title’s idiom—(like) night and day, i.e., contrasts—is perkily portrayed by an accomplished cast, with kudos to Spall’s one-liners delivery and Sanders’s unflappability. Production values are solid: Sebastian Edschmid’s cinematography, Hansjörg Weißbrich’s editing, Simon Goff’s score with David Hindle’s production design and Esther Walz’s costume design. Considering two women are at the helm of Woolf’s romantic romp, tis like night and day. 110 minutes (Marinell H.)