Tilda Swinton made her feature film debut via a supporting role in 1986’s Caravaggio. However, she wouldn’t really come to prominence until six years later when 1992’s Orlando brought her acclaim.

On her deathbed, Queen Elizabeth I (Quentin Crisp) promises nobleman Orlando (Swinton) a large estate and a massive inheritance if he promises to never grow old. He obeys this command.

Eventually Orlando takes a trip as English ambassador to Constantinople, where he goes through a traumatic incident. When Orlando recovers, he now is a she, a gender swap that sends her down an unusual path.

If I looked for a film that would seem to have inspired a lot of Orlando, I’d point toward Stanley Kubrick’s 1975 effort Barry Lyndon. Both offer critiques of the idle rich and the various classes, and both do so with an undercurrent of satire.

However, Lyndon offers a much more compelling tale. Orlando manages superficial resemblance to Lyndon but it fails to find the same insight.

One big problem stems from the bland nature of our lead character. Of course, Lyndon’s title character was a dull empty vessel, but that was much of the movie’s point.

With Orlando, our lead straddles a line. While Orlando seems smarter and more intellectually-ambitious than the dimwitted Barry, he also never feels as clever and talented as he wishes.

Perhaps that should set up a story of eternal semi-heartbreak related to Orlando’s immortality. This could become a story of a chronically lonely and disappointed person who strives to find a connection he/she cannot achieve.

Instead, Orlando feels more like a collection of semi-random scenes that fail to find much substance. Whatever his/her gender, Orlando remains a less than compelling character, so it becomes awfully difficult to invest in his/her journey across the centuries.

Some gender politics come into play here, mainly in the way the film shows how much more easily male Orlando glides through life versus all the obstacles female Orlando faces in a patriarchal society. While these show relevance, the movie explores them in such a trite way that they lack punch.

Despite her immense talents, Swinton also fails to create a convincing male with her role. Initially I thought writer/director Sally Potter intentionally gave us a “male Orlando” who seemed very feminine as part of a general gender-bending theme. After all, Potter also cast a male as the Queen.

However, the swapping ends there. So much for my theory, as other cast members stick with their actual genders.

If Orlando only asked us to accept Swinton as a male for a short period, this issue might not matter much. However, Orlando doesn’t become female until around the movie’s 55-minute mark, so the disconnect between actor and gender remains an active distraction.

For me, at least. The film and Swinton received good reviews, so clearly this lack of suspension of disbelief didn’t impact everyone.

Perhaps this domain would matter less to me if I found more of Orlando to engage me. However, the whole affair just feels so slow and inert that I can’t buy into it.

Like Lyndon, Orlando offers a lovely and lavish affair. Whatever complaints I muster none of them relate to photography or production design, as the film always looks great.

Orlando aspires to a level of social commentary and depth it simply never achieves. Oddly slow and uninvolving, it fails to hit the mark.

Orlando appears in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 on this 4K UHD Disc. Though not flawless, this became a pretty positive Dolby Vision image.

For the most part, the film displayed appealing delineation. Some softer shots emerged – usually during lower light interiors – but the majority of the movie brought positive accuracy.

No issues with jagged edges or shimmering occurred, and I saw no signs of edge haloes. Grain felt natural, and outside of a smattering of small specks, the flick lacked print flaws.

Orlando opted for a palette with a moderate emphasis on a golden-amber vibe as well as some chilly blues. The disc reproduced these with nice vivacity, and HDR added range to the hues.

Blacks seemed deep and dense, while shadows felt smooth and clear. HDR gave whites and contrast nice impact. Much of Orlando offered excellent visuals, but the minor anomalies left it as a “B”.

As for the film’s DTS-HD MA 2.0 soundtrack, it seemed perfectly adequate for a character drama like this. The forward spectrum dominated, where we got good stereo music as well as a reasonable sense of environment.

Surround usage offered mild reinforcement of these elements. A few louder sequences packed added heft to the back channels, but don’t expect a lot of range from the movie’s soundfield.

Audio quality seemed acceptable, with speech that came across as natural and concise. Music appeared lush and full.

Effects lacked much to do, but those components nonetheless brought reasonable accuracy and didn’t show much distortion. This was a workable soundtrack given the story on display.

A mix of extras appears on the disc, and we open with an audio commentary from writer/director Sally Potter and actor Tilda Swinton. Recorded in 2010, both sit together for this running, screen-specific discussion of the source and its adaptation, cast and performances, sets and locations, photography and visual design, costumes, makeup, music and connected domains.

That offers a good range of topics, but unfortunately, Potter and Swinton give us a pretty dull commentary. The track starts off slowly and gets a bit better as it goes, but both go MIA too often and just don't deliver a slew of strong insights. Expect occasional nuggets in a generally dull chat.

We also find a scene-specific commentary from Potter on her own. It lasts 10 minutes, 17 seconds and delivers Potter’s notes about what attracted her to the novel, story and characters, cast and performances, visual design, editing and some scene details.

This plays more as an extended chat than as a true commentary, for Potter only occasionally reflects on scenes she watches. Despite a few too many simple movie shots without information, Potter offers a decent look at the material.

In addition to the film’s trailer, we get a mix of featurettes. Orlando Goes to Russia spans 32 minutes, 58 seconds. Narrated by producer Christopher Sheppard, we get a production diary that follows the movie's scout and use of USSR locations.

Normally I enjoy "fly on the wall" programs such as this, but I don't think we get 33 minutes of compelling footage here. Nonetheless, it offers a moderately interesting view of the topics.

Orlando in Uzbekistan runs 51 minutes, 55 seconds as it brings comments from Swinton, Potter, Sheppard, 1st AD Chris Newman, director's assistant Renny Bartlett, associate producer Ania Vronskaya, set designer Ben Van Os, "tea, toilets, transportation" Tony Clarkson, cameraman Alexei Rodonov, script supervisor Penny Eyles, costume designer Sandy Powell, assistant costume designer Clare Spragge, chef Errki Lahti, camera assistant Mike Robinson, production associate Yazamir Gotta, production manager Laurie Borg, 2nd AD Simon Moseley, translator Tom Lasica and actors John Wood and Lothaire Bluteau.

This one offers another production diary, but unlike "Russia", "Uzbekistan" concentrates on the actual shoot and the work that surrounded it. The addition of comments from all the participants add breadth as well, so this becomes an engaging view of the day-to-day creation of the movie.

Next we get Jimmy Was an Angel, an eight-minute, three-second reel. Another "fly on the wall" segment, one that looks at a scene in which singer/actor Jimmy Somerville plays an angel. It never becomes especially interesting.

Venice Film Festival Press Conference fills 23 minutes, 21 seconds with a panel that features Potter, Swinton, Sheppard, Vronskaya, British Screen's Simon Perry and co-producer Matthijs van Heijningen.

The program looks at the source and its adaptation, the work of the producers, themes, cast and performances, sets and locations, music, and the film's path to the screen.

Unsurprisingly, Potter dominates, and we get some good notes. Nothing remarkable appears, but the questions become more worthwhile than usual from this sort of gathering.

After this we go to An Interview with Sally Potter. It lasts 13 minutes, 21 seconds.

Also from the 1992 Venice Film Festival, Potter looks at themes, story and characters, and some production notes. This turns into another decent chat.

A period piece adapted from a Virginia Woolf novel, Orlando offers sumptuous visuals but story and characters seem lackluster. Though the tale shows promise, it tends to feel dull and without much depth. The 4K UHD brings pretty good picture and audio as well as a reasonable roster of bonus materials. Fans should enjoy this quality release, but I admit the movie does little for me.

Note that as of November 2022, this 4K UHD disc of Orlando appears solely via an 11-film “Sony Picture Classics 30th Anniversary” box. It also includes The Celluloid Closet, The City of Lost Children, Run Lola Run, SLC Punk, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, The Devil’s Backbone, Volver, Synecdoche, New York, Still Alice and Call Me By Your Name.