George, an associate professor of history at a small New England college, and his wife Martha, the daughter of the university president, return home drunk from a party. Martha has invited a young married couple she met at the party for a drink. The guests arrive—Nick, a biology professor, and his wife, Honey—just before 2:30 a.m. As the four drink, Martha and George engage in scathing verbal abuse in front of Nick and Honey. The younger couple is first embarrassed and later entangled.

As Martha begs George not to ”kill” their son, Nick realizes the truth: Martha and George had never been able to have children and filled the void with an imaginary son. George explains that their one mutually agreed upon rule was to never mention the son to anyone else, and that he ”killed” him because Martha broke that rule by mentioning him to Honey.

The young couple departs quietly, and George and Martha are left alone as the day begins to break outside. George starts singing the song ”Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”, and Martha responds, ”I am, George, I am”, while the two hold hands.

The film was nominated for 13 Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director for Mike Nichols. It is one of only two films to be nominated in every eligible category at the Academy Awards (the other is Cimarron). All four main actors were nominated in their respective acting categories, the first time a film’s entire credited cast was nominated.

The film won five Oscars: a second Academy Award for Best Actress for Taylor, Best Supporting Actress for Dennis, Best Cinematography, Best Black and White Art Direction and Best Costume Design.

In 2013, the film was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Film Registry as being ”culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.[2]

1966

15

085391105633

American Cinema

Movie

1.66:1

126

United States

1

2

~$9.50

2025-01-20

2018-02-07 21:42:58