Clarissa

n this tender, quietly virtuosic adaptation of Mrs. Dalloway, twin filmmakers Arie and Chuko Esiri transport Virginia Woolf’s great 1925 novel to contemporary Nigeria, where the affluent Clarissa (Oscar nominee Sophie Okonedo, in a richly contemplative performance) is getting her opulent home ready for an elaborate party. These preparations send Clarissa into reverie over her past and the unresolved loves of her youth, while, as in Woolf’s book, the film expands to follow the parallel story of Septimus (Fortune Nwafor), a soldier suffering from PTSD, in this case after his experiences fighting the country’s Boko Haram jihadist insurgency. Affirming the promise of their dazzling 2020 debut Eyimofe (This Is My Desire) (New Directors/New Films 2021), the Esiri brothers demonstrate their wizardry for intricate, overlapping narratives, retaining the spiritual essence of Woolf’s themes—memory and time, modernity and progress, class and privilege—while placing them in an enriching, new cultural context. The outstanding ensemble cast also includes David Oyelowo, India Amarteifio, Toheeb Jimoh, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Jude Akuwudike, and Ayo Edebiri. Clarissa had its world premiere at the 2026 Cannes Directors’ Fortnight. A NEON release.