The Hours (2002)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

Stephen Daldry

Writers (WGA):

Michael Cunningham (novel)
David Hare (screenplay)

Release Date:

24 January 2003 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Three Different Women. Each Living a Lie.

Plot:

The story of how the novel "Mrs. Dalloway" affects three generations of women, all of whom, in one way or another, have had to deal with suicide in their lives.

Plot Keywords:

Novel | Party | Reading | Lesbian | Publisher

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 30 wins & 67 nominations

Cast

Nicole Kidman	...	Virginia Woolf
Julianne Moore	...	Laura Brown
Meryl Streep	...	Clarissa Vaughan
Stephen Dillane	...	Leonard Woolf
Miranda Richardson	...	Vanessa Bell
George Loftus	...	Quentin Bell
Charley Ramm	...	Julian Bell
Sophie Wyburd	...	Angelica Bell
Lyndsey Marshal	...	Lottie Hope (as Lyndsay Marshal)
Linda Bassett	...	Nelly Boxall
Christian Coulson	...	Ralph Partridge
Michael Culkin	...	Doctor
John C. Reilly	...	Dan Brown
Jack Rovello	...	Richie Brown
Toni Collette	...	Kitty

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for mature thematic elements, some disturbing images and brief language.

Runtime:

114 min

Country:

USA | UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Denmark:11 (DVD rating) | Iceland:12 | Malaysia:U | Singapore:M18 (DVD rating) | Philippines:PG-13 | New Zealand:M | Argentina:16 | Australia:M | Brazil:14 | Canada:PG | Chile:14 | Finland:K-15 | Germany:12 (bw) | Hong Kong:IIA | Netherlands:AL | Norway:11 | Peru:14 | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:PG (cut) | South Korea:12 | Spain:13 | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Bern) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:14 (canton of the Grisons) | UK:12A | USA:PG-13 (certificate #39136)

Filming Locations:

Biltmore Hotel - 1200 Anastasia Avenue, Coral Gables, Florida, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

Producer Scott Rudin had to do battle with Miramax head Harvey Weinstein over Nicole Kidman's prosthetic nose and Philip Glass's score, both of which Weinstein hated.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Laura starts driving with Richie, the tops of the trees in their street are lit dimly sideways, as if the sun is rising or setting. The previous events however suggest it should be around noon. In the next shot, when they arrive at mrs. Nash's house, the sun drops a hard and short shadow, more appropriate to the time of day.

Quotes:

Richard Brown: Would you be angry if I died?

Movie Connections:

Featured in The 60th Annual Golden Globe Awards (2003) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Beim Schlafengehen

Some Random Thoughts from a Twisted Mind

"The Hours" more than lives up to its critical praise. If nothing else it is a must see for the originality of the technique. The film (and the book by Michael Cunningham) is structured around the process of linking up three stories set at different points in time. Each story concerns a woman trying to define herself, to identify what she needs, and to find a way to get it.

The 1920's story concerns Virginia Woolf's (Kidman) efforts to write her first successful novel, "Mrs. Dallaway"; which is the story of one day in the life of a woman named Clarissa Dallaway. The story set in the early 1950's concerns Laura Brown (Moore), a woman who is reading "Mrs. Dallaway". Finally the contemporary story concerns Clarissa Vaughn (Streep) who is essentially living Mrs. Dallaway's life in modern NYC. All three performances are extraordinary in their own unique ways and there are wonderful performances from all members of the supporting cast. It is as if each member of the ensemble brought out the best in each other.

Some interesting and not always obvious things to look for as you watch "The Hours" are:

Each story begins with the husband/lover of each woman leading the camera to the woman. All three women are found in bed and this begins a match cut process that will repeat itself throughout the film as the director and editor work to connect and unify the three separate stories. Woolf writes: "Mrs. Dallaway said she would buy the flowers herself" just as Laura Brown reads that sentence and Clarissa speaks that sentence.

Kidman's Woolf is an amazing character. She is a psychological mess, making life difficult for those around her and full of torment and despair. Yet she has a subtle charm that helps you to understand why people found her fascinating.

Like "The Big Chill", this is an ambitious character study film with many characters. By necessity, both films rely more on behavioral language than dialogue in revealing the personality of its characters. Note Laura Brown's (Moore) neatness obsession as she readies her house and herself prior to leaving for the hotel.

Woolf began the book "Mrs. Dallaway" with the intention of basing it on a society woman she knew who unexpectedly committed suicide. Brown describes the book to her neighbor as: "Oh, it's about this woman who's incredibly - well, she's a hostess and she's incredibly confident and she's going to give a party. And, maybe because she's confident, everyone thinks she's fine... but she isn't".

At its core this is a movie about art but it is a broad definition of art, writing a book-baking a cake-giving a party. Each woman/artist is driven and frustrated by a need for unattainable perfection. There is a touch of irony to each situation. For example, Laura Brown is where she is because her husband has pulled her into the great American dream without realizing that it was the worse thing he could do to her. Although all three women love their children/child/niece, those relationships do not give them what they need.

There is a visitor and a kiss in each story central to the self-definition process each woman is going through. Virginia kisses her sister Vanessa (brilliantly played by Miranda Richardson who looks amazingly like she could have been Kidman's sister), desperately trying to force a better connection with her. Vanessa understands this, she is not shocked by the kiss but by the implication that her sister needs this so desperately.

Sophie Wyburd who plays Virginia's young niece was obviously cast for her haunting voice and her ability to display such a focused intensity. Each woman has a child picking up on their needs, which the adults around them do not seem to be aware of.

Watch the scene where Laura's husband is urging her to come to bed. Moore's voice does not betray the revulsion or the internal struggle which only viewers can see on her face. In fact at this point each woman's partner is urging her to go to bed but each must first a make choice. Then watch for the great match cut, Virginia announces that she has decided that the poet will die in her novel and they cut to little Richard lying in his bed. Moore's expression finally tells us that she has decided to leave her family. Streep's kiss signifies her recognition of the preciousness of what she still has in her life and her choice to embrace it and move forward.

Ultimately this film is about the increasing difficulty we have as we get older in making choices. This is because as we discover who we are, we also experience loss and accumulate grief over the course of our lives, making us ever more aware of the cost of our choices. Like the Moonlight Graham character in "Field of Dreams" (who assumed he would have more than one major league at bat), Clarissa looks back on a short moment that she thought was the beginning of happiness and realizes that it was her only moment of actual happiness.

There are some criticisms of this film. That it is not political enough but rather is for the elite and about the elite, or conversely that it is condescending to the masses with too obvious a message told in an unnecessarily simplistic way, and finally that it is a success of structure rather than ideas. Whatever the validity of these issues, the very fact that discussions are at this elevated level is the best testimonial the film could have. My only criticism was a production design issue, young Richard gets his Lincoln logs out of a Erector Set box.