Amazon.com essential video: Delicate and hypnotic, The Hours interweaves three stories with remarkable skill: in the 1920s Virginia Woolf (Nicole Kidman) grapples with her inner demons and slowly works on her novel Mrs. Dalloway; in 1949 housewife Laura Brown (Julianne Moore) feels her own destructive impulses; and in 1999 book editor Clarissa Vaughn (Meryl Streep)--much like the title character of Woolf's novel--prepares to throw a party, in honor of her dearest friend, a seriously ill poet (Ed Harris). Small details reverberate from story to story as a powerhouse cast (including Allison Janney, Toni Collette, Claire Danes, Jeff Daniels, John C. Reilly, Stephen Dillane, and Miranda Richardson) gives subtle and beautifully modulated performances. In the hands of director Stephen Daldry (Billy Elliot), The Hours is almost more a piece of music than a story, and like music, it may move you in unexpected ways. --Bret Fetzer
Description: THE HOURS tells the story of three very different individuals who share the feeling that they have been living their lives for someone else. Virginia Woolf (Kidman) lives in a suburb of London in the 1920's as she struggles to begin writing her first great novel, Mrs. Dalloway, while also attempting to overcome the mental illness that threatens to engulf her. Laura Brown (Moore), a young wife and mother in post-World War II Los Angeles, is just starting to read Mrs. Dalloway, and is so deeply affected by it that she begins to question the life she has chosen for herself. Then, in contemporary New York City, Clarissa Vaughan (Streep) is a modern-day mirror image of Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway as she plans what may be the final party for her friend and former lover, Richard (Harris), who is dying of AIDS.
A watchable drama This film is not perfect and was mundane at times. But it also had its great moments. Nicole Kidman was great in an almost unrecognizable role. She deserved her oscar. Julianne Moore's story line was perhaps the weakest and more boring, but she did a fine job. Meryl Streep is perfect, as always. It is definetetly woth a viewing.
AMAZING This is one of my all time favorite movies. The performances from Julianne Moore and Meryl Streep are amazing, and Nicole Kidman stands out as one of the greatest actresses of all time. The direction is fantastic, the music superb and the story intense. YOU WILL LOVE IT!
On (mind) Liberty
Each day is connected through hours of momentums; and our non-stop thinking ushers our play. Writing-and-reading becomes an emblem to bridge these 3 women from time and space, and the story runs through a stream of their consciousness in a time warp, and a character twist (addendum).
There are 3 middle-aged women: Virginia Woolf (Nicole Kidman) in 1928, Laura Brown (Julianne Moore) in 1951, and Clarissa Vaughan (Meryl Streep) in 2001. They each encounter stress in life, and what is hidden is an emergence of independence as we follow the characters' lives through progressive eras.
A culmination of this film is several kissing scenes: Virginia and her sister Vanessa, Laura and her neighbor, Clarissa and Richard. The kissing, different from a sensual affection, expresses outwardly how the compassion and the appreciation are released from the one who is going through a mind-remodeling. These scenes are suppressing and passionate at the same time.
I cannot argue that this film is a tad dark and tense to an emotional sense, but a good drama with layers. Life in part is like the flowers Clarissa uses to celebrate the party. It conveys a sense of transient beauty; time peters out, we each live in hours, critical moments of life and try to enjoy with a content from the very bottom of all our senses and decisions.
Addendum: The story links 3 women who are related to Woolf's novel, even including Woolf herself. Virginia Woolf was engaging a novel "Mrs. Dalloway," which was read later by Laura Brown, a mother who eagers freedom herself. Clarissa resembles a modern variation of Mrs. Dalloway is a lesbian plans a party for her ex-lover-and-AIDS-poet, Richard. Virginia and her illness can relate to Richard and his AIDS. Laura shares a character combination of Clarissa and Virginia, both strong and weak. Clarissa's care for Richard is similar to Virginia's husband, Leonard. In a sense, it proposes metaphysically that we are poly-characters, with several shadows projected from different spotlights.
Not a great piece of work You need to be well versed in literature to understand this film - even then it is not a great piece of work. It is simply about depressed self-absorbed lesbians. There is little else for anyone that does not fit into one of those categories. Not even Kidman and Streep's superb acting skills could resurrect this film from the dust bin.
give it some time, it is a bit confusing at first, putting the pieces together is worth the effort If you are like me, and like to read the reviews before you buy something, either a book or a movie, don't, not in this case. The movie gains a great deal from the initial confusion that the watcher has trying to relate the 3 distinct pieces together. Stop reading the reviews, get the movie, watch it. and watch your mind piece together the 3 lives that make up the movie.
Then after it is done, watch the shovelware at the end, the special features. then go read the reviews and add your own.
spoilers: the movie is 3 lives, twisted together by the author of the hours. Virginia Woolf as she writes Mrs Dalloway. Laura Brown as she reads the novel during her 2nd pregnancy, troubled deeply by feelings of both depression and worthlessness. And Richard Brown, her son, his friends and the last day of his life.
It is the story of 1 day in the lives of 3 people. Told in surprising detail and richness, but initially a bit confusing and demands a half an hour or so of quiet resignation to get all the pieces together. Curiously, i found looking back at what i thought the movie was doing a nice lesson/exercise itself. The point of the movie has to do with happiness, how fleeding it is, yet how important each day is, not just in retrospect but as you are living it. In some ways it is a depressing movie, reality often is, our bad choices do haunt us for a lifetime, in other ways it is a rather uplifting movie. All in all, good movie fare, best served with a good friend and talking and thinking outloud. It is not a movie to watch by yourself, especially if you're prone to sentiment or sadness, but one where chatting during the movie is not just allowed but required.
Anything Goes Trivia
Trevor
Megaton Man
