Clarissa
Why we love it ❤️
Sophie Okonedo hosting a party while quietly falling apart on the inside is the kind of performance you will be thinking about for days. The flashbacks with Ayo Edebiri and India Ria Amarteifio hit especially hard because you can see exactly which version of Clarissa she left behind and why it still stings decades later. David Oyelowo showing up as the man she almost chose a different life with is going to have everyone's group chat asking "what if" right along with her. This is a story about the party you throw to prove your life turned out fine while wondering the entire time if it actually did. Set it in Lagos instead of London and the whole thing feels new again while still hitting every one of the original's emotional beats. It is quiet, it is devastating, and it earns every second of your attention.
What is Clarissa about?
Clarissa, played by Sophie Okonedo, spends a single day in Lagos preparing to host a party at her home. As guests arrive that evening, she runs into people from her youth, including Peter, played by David Oyelowo, someone she once loved. Flashbacks show a younger Clarissa, played by India Ria Amarteifio, and her close friend Sally, played by Ayo Edebiri, in the years before Clarissa's life took the shape it has now. Over the course of the party, old feelings and old choices resurface for everyone in the room. Directors Chuko Esiri and Arie Esiri adapt Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway and move the story to Lagos, Nigeria.
