The Many Faces of Tilda Swinton: 'Orlando' (1992), 'Okja' (2017), and 'Suspiria' (2018) with Sarah Ungerleider

To wrap up their cycle dedicated to films featuring Twins and Doppelgängers, Emilio, Madeline, and Julian are joined by Emilio’s longtime friend Sarah Ungerleider as they hone in on an actor who has played dual, triple, and even quadruple roles: the great Tilda Swinton. They first discuss Sally Potter’s 1992 film ‘Orlando’, based on the Virginia Woolf novel from 1928. Although Swinton plays a single character in ‘Orlando’, the title character’s very nature is something of a dual role in itself. The group then jumps forward 25 years to 2017 for Bong Joon Ho’s ‘Okja’, which may have been something of a vegetarian awakening for Madeline. They discuss how this film balances its bleak subject matter with an incredible amount of heart, and how Tilda’s characters have a clear handoff from one to another. To round off the evening, they jump ahead just one year to Luca Guadagnino’s ‘Suspiria’, which credits Tilda not only under her own name, but also under the pseudonym Lutz Ebersdorf. The group discusses Tilda's approach to her three contrasting roles in this film, and how her mastery of multiple characters has solidified her as a frequent collaborator of many trusted directors.

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