mature thematic elements, some disturbing images, brief language
Director
Stephen Daldry
Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Starring
Meryl Streep
Nicole Kidman
Julianne Moore
Ed Harris
Claire Danes
"The Hours" bends time and place to explore a common theme, desperation. Those hours of the day that we spend living our lives tethered by regrettable choices and missed opportunities are held to a prismatic light in this beautifully plaintive film.
A tapestry of the experiences of three women's lives, the story crosses decades to interweave the taut strands of one determinative day in each of their lives. In the placid countryside of 1920's England, the emotionally fragile novelist Virginia Woolf (Nicole Kidman) begins writing "Mrs. Dalloway." Thirty years later, Laura Brown (Julianne Moore), a housewife in post WWII suburban Los Angeles is caught in the riptide of emotion she experiences as she reads the novel. And in New York City, Clarissa Vaughn (Meryl Streep), a book editor, personifies a modern day Mrs. Dalloway, indeed she shares that character's given name; determined to have it all, at great expense to herself.
The women search within themselves for the thread of normalcy that will hold at bay the insanity that threatens to unravel their lives; those confines of acceptable behavior, as defined by society. Woolf's life and choices resonate through time with Laura's quiet desperation and difficult choice, and Clarissa's penultimate link, which brings realization to us all. Sexual identity, yearning, courage and consequences come together in this provocative story.
Director Stephen Daldry and screenwriter David Hare, look for Oscar nods for each, have adapted Michael Cunningham's Pulitzer Prize winning novel, into a flawless montage, resting firmly on Virginia Woolf's foundation of the critical assessment of existence that has defined women's lives for nearly a century. Some dark truths are revealed, yes, but several luminous and Oscar worthy performances bring great light to this magnificent looking film, which already claims six Golden Globe nominations.
Soundtrack