The Hours Review
by Laura Clifford (laura AT reelingreviews DOT com)December 24th, 2002
THE HOURS
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In 1923 away from the bustle of her beloved London, Virginia Woolf (Nicole Kidman) begins to write the book that will become "Mrs. Dalloway." It's heroine, Clarissa, is a fiftyish London socialite consumed with giving a party while contemplating that a passionate kiss she gave a girlfriend in her youth may have been the most significant moment of her life. In 1951 Southern California, Laura Brown (Julianne Moore) hides depression from her doting husband (John C. Reilly, "Gangs of New York") as she awaits the birth of her second child and reads Woolf's novel. In the present, Clarissa (Meryl Streep) frets over a party she will give her ex-lover Richard (Ed Harris) who is dying of AIDS. An entire life lived in one day for three women, how significant "The Hours."
Director Stephen Daldry ("Billy Elliot") begins his film in 1941 as Virginia Woolf drowns herself with stones in her coat pockets in the river Ouse. Seamus
McGarvey's ("High Fidelity") camera slides beneath the water among the river reeds, recalling the swimming scene opening of "Iris," another film about the demise of a British author. Unlike that film, "The Hours" explores the writer's creative process while showing her work's impact on a reader decades later and also reinventing her story in the present day. While each element doesn't provide the same emotional impact, this cinematic hat trick is ambitious, creative and thought provoking.
Editor Peter Boyle connects the three stories by cutting among small events that happen in each. Three 'husbands' come home (in Clarissa's case, her female partner Sally (Allison Janney, TV's "The West Wing")), breakfasts are fretted over, a vase of flowers is placed, a line ('Clarissa decided to buy the
flowers herself') is written, read and spoken. The ingenious construction (adapted by David Hare from Michael Cunningham's novel) constantly flows forwards and back, weaving themes among three strands which allow us to view events as if through a prism.
Woolf's husband (Stephen Dillane, "Welcome to Sarajevo") and sister (Miranda Richardson, "Sleepy Hollow") fret over her mental health as Clarissa cares for Richard and Laura contemplates suicide. Woolf writes about a same sex kiss which Laura bestows on Kitty (Toni Collette, "About a Boy") while Clarissa openly lives a lesbian lifestyle. Clarissa's party is reflected more quietly in Virginia's tea with her sister and Laura's cake baking for husband Dan's birthday. Suicide touches all three stories, as does motherhood which also connects the 1950s and present day. The film can be criticized for its air of incessant doom, yet it strives to present an affirmation of life lived well.
Laura's middle story is the most self contained. Virginia's is the strongest, yet it is muddled in its conclusion. Just as Virginia wins her argument with husband Leonard to return to London, she's presented as killing herself yet what we are not informed of is that in the sixteen intervening years they did indeed return to the city. Clarissa's story is confused by lack of background - the love of her life is a man who left her for another man (Jeff Daniel) while she now lives with a woman.
Nicole Kidman, unrecognizable beneath a proboscis prosthetic, gives a weighty performance as Woolf that illuminates yet further range for the actress. She has a gravity as she considers her words while furiously chain smoking that projects creation. Moore's Laura is a less optimistic variation on her "Far From Heaven" housewife while Streep's thesping is mostly limited to a breakdown
scene. Strong support is offered by Dillane, who fleshes Leonard out complexly, and young Jack Rovello as Laura's perceptive little boy Richie. Toni Collette, all glammed up in 1950's lacquer, is impressive in a small scene
as the vivacious Kitty, who may or may not discern the meaning behind Laura's affection. Ed Harris pulls off a shocker of a scene.
Daldry makes an impressive leap from "Billy Elliot" to this intellectual material which is richly realized across time and half the globe. Suicides are
connected by water imagery and descents and books are always evident. Production designer Maria Djurkovic and costume designer Ann Roth do exemplary work recreating the differing periods and locales in ways that help define the three different women. Philip Glass' score, however, is grating, an out of place element in a beautiful production.
With "The Hours" Daldry and screenwriter Hare have not only cinematically adapted a work of literature, but turned it upside down and inside out. It's a
unique achievement.
B+
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