Sally Potter is a staple of British cinema. Since the age of 14, she has been making her own movies. Later, starting professionally in 1969, Potter made a series of short films such as Hors d’oeuvres, The Gold Diggers, and The London Story. Her feature-length debut Orlando was a groundbreaking moment in the realms of literary adaptations and queer cinema. Potter transformed Virginia Woolf’s sprawling source text spanning centuries into an elegant and rich film of only 94 minutes. This cemented her foundation as a bold, risk-taking filmmaker, and paved the way for her to continue creating unique and exciting indie movies throughout her career.
Other movies from Potter include Yes, The Man Who Cried, and Ginger and Rosa. She has worked with major names such as Christina Ricci, Cate Blanchett, Judi Dench, Riz Ahmed, Timothy Spall, and Kristin Scott Thomas. Outside of cinema, Potter directed opera for the ENO in 2007. Writing for The Guardian about her experience directing an opera, she stated that “despite the multiple challenges of moving from film to opera,” part of her felt “at home.” With Academy Awards and other accolades under her arms, her talent is evident. But which of her movies are her best work?
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8 The Man Who Cried (2000)
Universal Pictures
Coming in at last place, we have a rare miss from Potter, The Man Who Cried. The movie follows the story of a man who leaves his daughter, played by Christina Ricci, behind in Russia in search of a better life in America. The daughter is then adopted by an English family who raise her with little knowledge of her true father. As an adult, she longs to find her father in America, but falls for a man while in Paris in the midst of the rise of the Nazis. Unfortunately, the symbolism is overwrought and there are a series of confused, unfocused performances.
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7 The Roads Not Taken (2020)
Bleecker Street Media
20 years later, we have our next entry, The Roads Not Taken. This features a father and daughter duo, played by Javier Bardem and Elle Fanning, as the father’s health rapidly declines over one day. As his mind begins to slip, we see snippets of other lives he could have had interwoven with the present day. It’s a movie full of strong acting performances that can’t quite make up for the fact that the story is somewhat directionless. There is still a lot of emotion to enjoy here, but its overall quality is not up to par with the rest of Potter’s work.
6 The Tango Lesson (1997)
Sony Pictures Classics
Potter’s second feature film, The Tango Lesson, is unique in her filmography because she herself is in the starring role. She plays a filmmaker who discovers a love for the tango. Conversely, her tango instructor has the desire to act and become a Hollywood star. There is an interesting discussion of gender and power dynamics woven throughout the movie via the idea of leading and following in dance. Potter placing herself at the center of the film introduces further layers to this conversation as she has authorial control over the narrative and how it is portrayed.
5 Rage (2009)
Cinetic Media
Rage marks Potter’s biggest departure from traditional modes of cinematic storytelling. It is her most experimentally composed movie, constructed of interview segments that appear to be filmed by a young blogger for a project. The movie takes place at a New York fashion house, when a shocking event takes place partway through, the interviewees begin to unravel. Filled with dark comedy and interesting performances from actors such as Jude Law, David Oyelowo, Eddie Izzard, and Judi Dench, the movie is a great lesson in experimental filmmaking. Potter maintains her artistic voice despite using this new point of view; it’s a must-watch for any fan of hers.
4 The Party (2017)
Roadside Attractions
Coming later in Potter’s career, The Party is an expertly written and directed black comedy starring actors such as Kristin Scott Thomas, Cillian Murphy, Patricia Clarkson, and more. The whole movie takes place at a family gathering namely in celebration of one character becoming a minister, although the event is taken over by a surprise announcement. As the plot progresses, the characters and their relationships begin to unravel into chaos. However, despite the seeming calamity, Murphy explains to Slant Magazine that “the script was so finely tuned, and Sally was in complete control of it all.”
3 Ginger & Rosa (2012)
A24
Taking a gentler approach than the last two dark comedies mentioned, Ginger & Rosa is an intimate portrait of a friendship between two girls played by Elle Fanning and Alice Englert. Set against the backdrop of the Cuban missile crisis, the girls are inseparable, until a pivotal moment means that they aren’t. The small details observed in this coming-of-age narrative build a compellingly real world and give great weight to the events of the story.
2 Yes (2004)
Yes is another bold and experimental movie, although in a very different way than Rage. This time, rather than playing with camera work and point of view, Potter has written the script almost entirely in iambic pentameter. Rather than producing stilted dialogue as you might expect from this technique, it creates a strong rhythm and energy. The dialogue feels like a distinct component or even its own character instead of just supporting the actors’ characterization of their roles. Everything about this movie feels more intentional as a result of this dialogue choice.
1 Orlando (1992)
Although it was her feature debut, it’s hard to argue against Orlando being Sally Potter’s best film. The sheer level of skill Potter demonstrated in adapting a novel like Orlando with no prior experience in adaptation or feature-length filmmaking is incredible. Her writing and direction are supported by Tilda Swinton’s powerful performance in the titular role. Together, Potter and Swinton transposed the essential portions of the source text and the character of Orlando into a concise movie without leaving anything behind. Just as the novel had a huge influence on the writing of the time, so did the movie on the cinematic landscape.
