A new clip from Virginia Woolf’s Night And Day sees Lily Allen‘s Mary Datchet organising the Suffragettes – watch it exclusively on NME above.
The film is an adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s classic 1919 novel. Set in Edwardian England, Night And Day focuses on two women – Allen’s fearless, funny Datchet and Haley Bennet’s passionate astronomer Katherine Hilbery – who have different ideas on romance and success. The above clip sees the pair working together to organise a protest in support of women’s suffrage before Mary invites Katherine to study in their headquarters.
Directed by Tina Gharavi, Virginia Woolf’s Night And Day also stars Jack Whitehall as frustrated poet William Rodney and Elyas M’Barek as radical book editor Ralph Denham, while Jennifer Saunders and Timothy Spall play Katherine’s parents.
“Set in London in 1910 brilliant and headstrong Katharine Hilbery resists her parents’ plans for marriage, determined instead to pursue her passion for astronomy. When her controlling father forces her into an engagement with family friend William, Katharine’s carefully guarded independence is threatened,” reads the official logline of the un-romantic comedy.
“Her world begins to expand when she befriends spirited suffragette Mary Datchet and crosses paths with working-class editor Ralph Denham, who is assisting her mother, Mrs. Hilbery with a family biography. As romantic loyalties shift, Katharine is pushed to question everything she has been taught about love, ambition, and how to claim her space in the world.”
Virginia Woolf’s Night And Day will hit UK and Irish cinemas on June 19.
As well as successful turns in the West End (2:22 A Ghost Story, The Pillowman) Allen previously starred in 2023 comedy Dreamland and portrayed Elizabeth Taylor in 2019’s drama How To Build A Girl but Virginia Woolf’s Night And Day is her first major film role.
Next week, Lily Allen’s tour in support of fifth album ‘West End Girl’ will return to the UK for an arena run (grab any remaining tickets here) ahead of another US jaunt in September. Allen has described the record as “a mixture of fact and fiction” that details the “complexities of relationships and how we all navigate them”, and has said it was inspired by her “deep-rooted issues with rejection and abandonment” after her divorce from Stranger Things’ star David Harbour. She later stated that she did not view it as a “cruel” album and was not seeking “revenge”.
Harbour recently spoke about the “weird” experience of Lily Allen detailing their break-up on the album. “I do believe that it is the privilege of every artist to use their experience to create art, and so I respect her for doing that.”