Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)

SYNOPSIS

Here is a blistering dissection of the compromises, hidden and not-so-hidden animosities, and ultimate acceptance that make marriage merely a detente in the war between men and women. Nichols's debut as director couldn't have been more auspicious as he applied theatrical experience to Albee's scandalous Broadway success and managed the notoriously combative Burtons to their finest work on-screen. The bitter recriminations begin shortly after 2 a.m. and end at dawn as a tweedy, ineffectual professor and his braying wife (Burton and Taylor) welcome the preppy new prof and his wispy wife (Segal and Dennis) to their home for a nightcap. The following hours are a foul-mouthed, drunken brawl of lust and disappointments that ends with the knowledge that the characters need the emotional roughhousing simply to feel anything at all. An astonishing feat for the actors, the director, and for cinematographer Wexler, who makes his camera waltz and duck punches.

(Source: available at Amazon AMC Classic Movie Companion).