To the Lighthouse

Virginia Woolf’s novel To the Lighthouse digs into one family in one place over a span of two very different days, a decade apart. As the Ramsay family spends its day at the blustery northern shore of Scotland, family friend Lily Briscoe attempts to capture the family via painting. Ten years later, what remains of the family returns to the same place, and Lily attempts to complete her painting, although the Ramsays seem to remain just out of reach. But to describe the plot of this novel is to miss the depth and creativity of Woolf’s writing and perspective, which bounces from inner mind to inner mind, visiting everyone from the family matriarch Mrs. Ramsay to the insufferable “brilliant” student Charles Tansley. The team digs into Woolf’s third novel and contrasts it with Céline Sciamma’s beautiful film Portrait of a Lady on Fire, which also explores the inner lives of women, with art as a vehicle.