The Hours

If you have read any of the other reviews on this page, you have probably figured out "The Hours" is not the easy, mainstream film it was made out to be by the ads and the reviews. Starring three of today's most popular leading actresses, winner of some Golden Globe awards, based on a Pulitzer Prize winning novel, and the recipient of numerous rave reviews; it would seem to be a film that would appeal to a lot of people.

"The Hours" is not a regular Hollywood type of drama film. It has more in common with Ingmar Bergman films than with "Terms of Endearment." I think the thing that most people are having problems with is that the film does not explain what takes place or the significance of the context of what takes place. Things happen and it is up to the viewer to decide what it means. This is a controversial film and people will not only argue about whether or not the film is worthwhile, but they can also debate what exactly takes place during the film. How a person interprets this film says more about the person than the film.

The film follows a single day in the lives of three women in different time periods. During this day, each of them makes a decision that will affect the rest of their life.

I felt the film improved upon the book by bringing more clarity into the decisions of each character. Also, some of the most memorable lines and scenes in the film did not exist in the book.

While I would normally be the last person in the world to say anything positive about Phillip Glass, his score is evocative of the relentlessness of time. This is accentuated by the ticking of the clock throughout the film. The ethereal music also helps tie the three storylines together, to make it seem as if they are happening simultaneously.

I think a lot of people were taken off-guard by this film because they were expecting a more standard type of drama. Also, the PG-13 rating implies a lighter subject matter than is actually in the film. Just as a warning: There is crying, suicide, and women kissing women. Even though the violence and language is mild and there are no sex or nudity in the film, it should have probably been given an R rating because of the extreme emotion displayed in the film. Emotionally unstable people should probably not see this film.

As I said earlier, people will interpret this film differently since things are not spelled out for them. For the record, I did not think all three women were suffering from clinical depression as suggested by some people. Virginia's malaise would seem to fit the description of schizophrenia rather than clinical depression. Clarissa was suffering from regret over a decision she made thirty years previous and the feeling that she will never experience that happiness again. That does not necessarily mean she is clinically depressed. Laura is the depressed one and she makes a decision to handle that depression the way she thinks is best for her. Also, I do not feel Virginia was either incestuous or a lesbian. I think she was expressing her desperation through her disease and it came out in a socially unacceptable manner.

There is no doubt in my mind that "The Hours" is a great film. I only recommend it to people who are up to the challenge of thinking about the film long after they have left the theater and deciding about what it means. It is not a film for everybody but I felt it was worth the effort.

Even if there is no apparent reason to the anguish. This movies tells us the different stories of three women living in different times but united by the same thread: the difficulty to harmonize the world that is within their heads with the world outside which is so much different from the former. The first one is a real character: the famous British novelist Virginia Woolf whose novels depict characters so much like the other two and who has ended up by committing suicide at the age of 58 by drowning herself in a river. There is one of her most famous novels, "Mrs. Dalloway" that is over present in the movie since the novelist is precisely writing it at the time and feeling greatly moved and even anguished by that creative work. Of the other two women who lived much later, one is reading the book and the other one is called Mrs. Dalloway by a friend who is a poet and dying of AIDS, probably because he thought that she was much like the character in the novel. Suicide is also present in the other stories in a dramatic way. The image sequences in the movie are constantly crossing themselves, telling the three stories simultaneously thus underlining the similitude of the episodes in the life of the three women and in their states of mind. To appreciate this movie you must be familiar with Virginia Woolf's peculiar sensitivity so well expressed in her novels and the characters she created. This is not a realist movie and rather a movie where just like in her novels the most important feature is the stream of consciousness within the women's minds sometimes shown in acts or words and sometimes by the silence or their face's expressions. The movie direction and the actresses' performance is rather successful in making us feel in tune with it all.

THE HOURS (2002) **** Nicole Kidman, Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore, John C. Reilly, Ed Harris, Jeff Daniels, Allison Janney, Claire Daines, Stephen Dillane, Miranda Richardson, Toni Collette, Jack Rovello. David Hare's brilliant adaptation of the acclaimed novel by Michael Cunningham depicts three interlocking storylines all sharing the one common thread: Virginia Woolf's novel `Mrs. Dalloway' ping-ponging back in forth from 1940's where the suicidal Woolf (Kidman barely recognizable under a prosthetic nose; one of her finest roles to date) is in the midst of composing her work in question; 1950's with depressed homemaker Moore (equally compelling) preparing her loving husband's birthday celebration and contemporary book editor Streep (ditto) organizing a banquet party for her ex-lover and poet (Harris in a memorable performance) dying of AIDS, all three characters are imploding while their world's are spinning (metaphorically) out of control and their very lives' meanings in question to how trivial they truly are/aren't. The sterling assembled cast gives the film merit despite its melodramatic trappings and director Stephen Daldry showcases his three leads to their best strengths and utter vulnerabilities. At points poignantly heartbreaking and wholeheartedly humane.

I saw this film for the first time when I was fifteen and beginning to discover my own feminism.

Nicole Kidman plays Virginia Woolf writing her famous novel Mrs Dalloway, Julienne Moore is Laura Brown, a 1950 s housewife reading Mrs Dalloway and Meryl Streep is Clarissa Vaughan, a modern-day version of Mrs Dalloway. These three women, in their separate timelines, affect each other's day as they grapple with the threat of suicide (in one form or another) and the ghosts of their past.

One moment in particular that makes my heart ache every time I watch it is when Clarissa (Streep) is preparing the "crab thing" for a party for her writer friend Richard (who is battling AIDS). Streep has a wonderful way of using her body language to express more than words ever could. Clarissa stands over the sink and tries to hold back tears. In that moment, we know all that she has lost, all that she yearns for, all that she regrets all that she has laboured and all that she can never change.

In case you are wondering, I don t think it is necessary to read Mrs Dalloway or the novel The Hours before watching this movie. Although I strongly recommend an attempt on these masterpieces of literature, this film is a beauty on its own.

Stand outs: Despite being a male character in a female-centred film, Richard (Ed Harris) is a linchpin in this story. Harris manages to balance stubborn martyrdom and crippled pride. Toni Collette also delivers a powerhouse scene as Laura's neighbour Kitty. Overall, stellar performances from the entire cast.

When I asked him about this one, the young chap in the video rental shop said it was just about the best film on the shelves at the time. I had no idea about it whatsoever and just went with his recommendation. He wasn't wrong - it is impossible to fault at any level: Acting, dialogue, costumes, locations, soundtrack, scenery, settings or storyline.

Films like this don't come along too often - beautifully made in an almost understated way, it relates to no major event or cataclysm, it chronicles no turning-point in history and it poses no worrying conundrum for the future. It is simply a quietly-told story that will criss-cross between various points in time and take you deep into the characters' emotions and portray the effect that they have on their lives. When you have seen and come to understand the events that take place, by the time it concludes it will leave you feeling refreshed and perhaps a little better in touch with the emotions in your own life - just like good films should, but sadly, so rarely do...

Easily 9 out of 10 - If you watch this one, you will not regret the time spent.