Katherine Hilbery and Mary Datchet are two women with colliding views on romance and success in Virginia Woolf’s Night And Day.
Directed by Tina Gharavi, the romantic drama follows female astronomer Katherine Hilbery, who is trying to pursue her intellectual passions but is forced into an engagement with family friend William, at the order of her controlling father.
Haley Bennett, Timothy Spall and Lily Allen lead the film’s ensemble cast, alongside Elyas M’Barek, Jack Whitehall, Jennifer Saunders, Sally Phillips, Misia Butler, Alex Macqueen, Simon Phillips and Frances Barber.
Virginia Woolf’s Night And Day was released in UK cinemas on June 19, 2026.
Is Virginia Woolf’s Night And Day based on a true story?
The film is an adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s 1919 novel Night And Day, which isn’t based on a true story.
However, several characters from the novel are supposedly based on real figures. Katherine Hilbery is believed to have been loosely based on Virginia Woolf’s elder sister, Vanessa Bell, who was a painter and interior designer.
Mary Datchet, meanwhile, is believed to have been based on social activist Margaret Llewelyn Davies, who was a friend of Woolf’s.
What other books are by Virginia Woolf?
Woolf is best known for novels like Mrs Dalloway, Orlando and To The Lighthouse, which are known for their stream of consciousness narration. Her other works include A Room Of One’s Own, The Voyage Out, The Waves and The Years.