*Sophie Okonedo steps into the title role of “Clarissa,” a contemporary Nigerian reimagining of Virginia Woolf’s “Mrs. Dalloway,” and the newly released official trailer offers the clearest look yet at how filmmakers Arie and Chuko Esiri have transported the literary classic to modern-day Lagos.
The film also stars David Oyelowo, India Amarteifio, Ayo Edebiri, Toheeb Jimoh, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Jude Akuwudike and Fortune Nwafor. “Clarissa” opens theatrically Dec. 11 following a festival run that has already taken the film from Cannes to Toronto and now the New York Film Festival.
EURweb first reported on “Clarissa” in February, when NEON acquired worldwide rights to the Esiri brothers’ second feature. At the time, the project was already notable for being shot on 35mm in Nigeria and for assembling a cast spanning generations of Black British, Nigerian and American talent.
From Woolf’s London to Modern Lagos
Okonedo plays Clarissa, an affluent Lagos woman preparing her home for an elaborate party. The preparations trigger memories of old relationships, unresolved desires and choices from her youth.
Amarteifio portrays the younger Clarissa, while Oyelowo plays Peter and Jimoh portrays his younger counterpart. Edebiri appears as the younger Sally, with Nikki Amuka-Bird playing the character later in life.
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But the Esiris haven’t simply changed the location and cast.
The filmmakers have translated Woolf’s ideas about memory, class, privilege and social change into a specifically Nigerian context. Film at Lincoln Center describes “Clarissa” as following two social worlds in Lagos shaped by class and colonialism.
War Trauma Gets a Nigerian Reframing
One of the adaptation’s biggest changes involves Septimus, played by Nwafor.
In Woolf’s novel, Septimus is a World War I veteran struggling with psychological trauma. “Clarissa” reimagines him as a Nigerian soldier suffering from PTSD after fighting the Boko Haram insurgency, according to Film at Lincoln Center.
That transformation makes “Clarissa” more than “Mrs. Dalloway” transplanted to Lagos.
The Esiris are using Woolf’s framework to explore contemporary Nigerian experiences while retaining the original story’s parallel examinations of privilege, isolation and trauma.
‘Clarissa’ Continues Its Festival Run
“Clarissa” made its world premiere at the 2026 Cannes Directors’ Fortnight before moving through the international festival circuit.
Its New York Film Festival screenings begin Oct. 4, with Okonedo, Oyelowo, Amarteifio, Jimoh and the Esiri brothers scheduled to participate in Q&As.
NEON will bring the film to theaters beginning Dec. 11.
For the Esiris, who previously directed the acclaimed Lagos-set “Eyimofe (This Is My Desire),” “Clarissa” represents a considerably larger canvas — one that takes a century-old British novel and asks what its questions about love, memory, class and trauma look like in Lagos today.
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