In Orlando, there are many extremes of emotions that are witnessed and experienced. Throughout Orlando's life events and transformations, his / her emotions on screen help convey the internal feelings and thoughts behind the visual information. Orlando appears to exprience deep happiness in some moments, and deep melancholy in others. Overall, as Sally Potter stated in one of her assets I have included in my pathway, "The unifying principle is the force of the character of Orlando who propels us believably through time and history in the search for life and a love."
I think it's most interesting in this scene at the end, where Orlando's emotions are ambiguous and is leaning against the tree looking quite gloomy. But then, the daughter inquires why her mother is sad and Orlando reveals to us that she is in fact happy. This happiness helps make the movie come full circle, in that she is back at the tree where she was at the beginning, and although she has undergone such extreme life changes she is happy with where she has ended up.
Orlando's actions leading up to the culminating kiss with Sasha embody such passion and emotion and sincerity.
This portion of Sally's notes emphasize her thoughts on how the unifying principle of the movie was the force of the character of Orlando. Through Orlando's ability to strongly convey his / her emotions throughout the movie, it made the store more powerful in my opinion. Both Orlando's ability to demonstrate both strong moments of happiness and strong moments of sadness helped guide the narrative.
Orlando's gaze at Sasha dancing is exhibiting his emotions of lust and desire for her.
"nothing thicker than a knife's blade separates happiness from melancholy" - wow, this quote embodies an incredible amount of emotion. I find it to be poetic too.
Orlando believes Sasha is about to kiss someone else and cannot control his own emotions, resulting in him plunging at the other man involved
The scene's description of the funeral encompasses strong emotion, which helps portray the scene as a stronger overall emotional experience. The way the women describe Orlando, "but mourning so becomes him. one can quite see why he was the favourite" holds a lot of meaning. That quote, to me, represents how deeply emotional Orlando is as a character, and how that emotion is appreciated by others.
This scene when Orlando opens and reads the book emphasizes how contagious emotion can be. First, Orlando reads a sad poem about a sad individual with a "cursed fate" and then reflects on his own sadness involving losing the love of Sasha.