The Hours Review
by Shannon Patrick Sullivan (shannon AT morgan DOT ucs DOT mun DOT ca)January 27th, 2003
THE HOURS (2002) / *** 1/2
Directed by Stephen Daldry. Screenplay by David Hare, based on the novel by Michael Cunningham. Starring Nicole Kidman, Julianne Moore, Meryl Streep. Running time: 114 minutes. Rated AA by the MFCB. Reviewed on January 26th, 2003.
By SHANNON PATRICK SULLIVAN
Synopsis: In 1923, Virginia Woolf (Kidman) longs for escape from the countryside retreat where she is being treated for a psychological ailment. In 1951, Laura Brown (Moore) seeks a way out of her unhappy marriage -- at any cost. In 2001, Clarissa Vaughan (Streep) tries to arrange a party for her dying ex-lover Richard (Ed Harris). Tying all three together is the spectre of Woolf's seminal novel, "Mrs Dalloway".
Review: Dark but bursting with emotion, "The Hours" is a potent moviegoing experience. The three main strands are all love stories, but not of the conventional variety: they are tales in which love is found wanting -- not because the love is too scarce, but because the problems are too vast to be overcome. Here we see people being variously confronted with a mental disorder, a terminal disease, and the realisation that marriage was a mistake, and the denouements are perhaps inevitable. But this is not to suggest that "The Hours" frowns on love, or trivialises it. Rather, love is portrayed as all the more important because it endures in spite of such monumental difficulties. At one point, Virginia says that she must kill off a character in "Mrs Dalloway" in order to emphasise the importance of life; replace "life" with "love" (if such a distinction is even necessary) and you have the central theme of "The Hours". The performances here are stellar, as Daldry gets the most out of his impressive cast. Most notable are Kidman, who utterly immerses herself in the role of Virginia; Stephen Dillane as Woolf's husband, Leonard; and Harris, who portrays Richard with equal measures frustration at his condition, and contentment with the life he has led. Richard, perhaps more than any other character, is a synthesis of "The Hours": consumed by death, but enraptured by life.
Copyright © 2003 Shannon Patrick Sullivan.
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