The Hours Review
by Robin Clifford (robin AT reelingreviews DOT com)January 13th, 2003
"The Hours"
Author Virginia Woolf (Nicole Kidman) is an extremely troubled woman as she puts pen to paper in 1923 to create her classic novel, Mrs. Dalloway, the story of a day in the life of a London socialite who lives to throw her parties but is, in her heart, unhappy.
Laura Brown (Julianne Moore) is a housewife in 1951 southern California suburbia. She is an avid reader and is currently plowing through Mrs. Dalloway. She, like the author and her character, Clarissa Dalloway, is also a troubled soul, not happy in her marriage to Dan (John C. Reilly), and her young son Richie (Jack Rovello) senses it.
Clarissa Vaughn (Meryl Streep) is a book editor in 2001 San Francisco whose day will be spent planning a party for her favorite client, Richard Brown (Ed Harris), a heralded poet who is losing his bout with AIDS. There is a past between these two and Clarissa is as troubled as her namesake from Woolf's book.
"The Hours" belongs to the actors with Kidman, almost not recognized made up as Virginia Woolf, getting the lion's share of praise of the three female leads. Her manners and gestures evoke the period and she gives a stylized perf, both physically and emotionally. Woolf, though extraordinarily talented, has demons within that make her verge on suicide and other escapes. Her husband Leonard (Stephen Dillane) moved them to a country home to try to ease her mental pressures and she begins to write her novel. The book and its forlorn main character carry forth into the other two ladies' stories.
Julianne Moore gives a subtle, quietly tense perf as the despondent housewife, Laura Brown, who wants out of her marriage and motherhood and contemplates getting out by drastic means. On this one day, Dan's birthday, her tensions over her desperation reach a peak. She knows she should think different about her life but her feelings for self-preservation win out over her "duty" to Dan. Moore proves herself one fine actor and puts a very different spin and character from her other 50' suburban housewife perf in "Far From Heaven."
Streep has the slightest of the three roles as she brings to new millennium life Mrs. Dalloway. On this day she is planning a dinner party to celebrate a poetry award for friend, client and long ago lover Richard. She is concerned with party prep, flower purchases and who will attend, but her day is about to take a terrible turn. Where Kidman and Moore are mostly the center of attention in their respective stories, Streep must share the stage with several other prominent characters, one of who gives a powerhouse performance.
Ed Harris is, simply, terrific in his physically challenging role as the dying Richard. He looks like a man ravaged by AIDS and is enthralling as a man who has lost his battle. Toni Colette, probably one of the most underappreciated actors in the business, gives a heart-rending performance as Laura's friend, the childless Kitty, who confides that she has to go into the hospital for a "couple of days." She textures her performance as much with her unsaid words as she does with the spoken. Allison Janney, as Sally Lester, Clarissa's live-in lover, is briefly but nicely utilized. Jeff Daniels is used effectively in the small role as Richard's lover.
Techs are very good all around, especially considering the daunting task of having to give each period its own unique look while keeping a common thread between them all. Camera, by Seamus McGarvey, gives each period its own feel, as does production and costume design, by Maria Djurkovic and Ann Roth,
respectively.
Helmer Stephen Daldry does a deft job at weaving the common thread through the three lives of the principals, working with David Hare's well-scripted adaptation of Michael Cunningham's complex novel.
With the prospect of films like "Kangaroo Jack" about to burst across America's winter movie screens it's a pleasure to have a film like "The Hours" as an alternative. I give it a B+.
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