The Hours Review
by Bob Bloom (bobbloom AT iquest DOT net)February 13th, 2003
THE HOURS (2002) 4 stars out of 4. Starring Nicole Kidman, Julianne Moore, Meryl Streep, Ed Harris, Toni Collette, Claire Danes, Jeff Daniels, Stephen Dillane, Allison Janney, John C. Reilly and Miranda Richardson. Music by Philip Glass. Based upon the novel by Michael Cunningham. Screenplay by David Hare. Directed by Stephen Daldry. Rated PG-13. Running time: 114 minutes.
You luxuriate in the stellar performances on display in The Hours, an emotionally drenched drama about love, loss, survival and madness.
Based on Michael Cunningham's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Hours intermingles one day in the lives of three women during different eras.
The movie's framing device revolves around author Virginia Woolf (an unrecognizable Nicole Kidman). The Hours takes us to 1923 when Woolf, living in the English countryside and battling depression, begins to write her classic, Mrs. Dalloway. A second plot deals with Laura Brown (Julianne Moore), a dissatisfied and restless housewife and mother, living with her husband and young son in 1951 Los Angeles. The third thread, set in New York in 2001, centers on Clarissa Vaughan (Meryl Streep), a book editor preparing to host a party for a former lover dying of AIDS.
Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway links the stories, as we watch the author struggling to write the book; Laura, who is reading the novel, recognizing her own unfulfilled life; and Clarissa, nicknamed "Mrs. Dalloway," realizing she values superficiality more than substance.
If an Oscar category existed for ensemble acting, The Hours would unquestionably earn it. Watching a trio of actors at the top of their game is a delight. We've come to take Streep's talents for granted, but she still can surprise you with her resourcefulness and depth.
As for Kidman, she improves with each movie; here showing the tortured soul of a gifted writer, battling the demons that eventually drive her to self-destruction, as she continues to create.
Moore's Laura faces the biggest challenge, eliciting sympathy for a character who makes what some may consider a reprehensible decision that - years later - comes back to haunt her. Toward the end of the film, she explains her actions, saying about her suburban existence: "It was death. I chose life."
The cast also includes Ed Harris as Streep's onetime lover, an award-winning poet battling - mostly at the urging of Clarissa - to fight for his life, when all he wants to do is end his misery. Harris, looking emaciated, creates a valiant individual facing his end on his own terms.
Screenwriter David Hare's script combines wit, insight and heartache, while director Stephen Daldry smoothly intercuts the three stories, finally uniting all the threads during the film's finale.
Even the smallest parts are peopled with top-flight performers who with little screen time etch strong characterizations: the wonderful John C. Reilly as Laura's loving but dull and uncomprehending husband; Toni Collette as Laura's best friend; Stephen Dillane as the concerned and firm Leonard Woolf; and Allison Janney as Clarissa's patient and understanding lover.
Connoisseurs who appreciate the art of acting will feast on The Hours.
Bob Bloom is the film critic at the Journal and Courier in Lafayette, IN. He can be reached by e-mail at [email protected] or at [email protected]. Other reviews by Bloom can be found at www.jconline.com by clicking on movies.
Bloom's reviews also appear on the Web at the Rottentomatoes Web site, www.rottentomatoes.com and at the Internet Movie Database:
http://www.imdb.com/M/reviews_by?Bob+Bloom
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