Always The Hours

It is very rare that a film can touch one so intensely as does The Hours, a film which manages to be uplifting, inspiring, and yet tragically moving. The film was directed by Stephen Daldry, and based on the much lauded novel by Michael Cunningham. The film wallowed in development hell for many years, with some believing it to be unfilmable, due to the many issues raised in the film, and the films three part structure, portraying three different characters in three different decades on two different continents.

The first story deals with a bored housewife in 1951 Los Angeles, the overall theme of the film is the novel Mrs Dalloway, and the way it connects women in different times. Mrs Brown, played by Julianne Moore, is a housewife, whose life seems to be perfect from the outside, yet who is dealing with intense depression, and who is comtemplating suicide, she is reading the novel, Mrs Dalloway. Her life relates to the novel in the way that everyone, including we as an audience, think that she is spoilt and that she doesnt see what she has: a son, a daughter on the way, and a husband who worships her. Her relationship that she has with her friend Kitty is also mirrored in the novel, the illicit kiss that they share is also mirrored.

The next story is that of new york hostess Clarissa Vaughn, who is planning a party for her AIDs ricken friend Richard Brown, a poet. Her life in many ways mirrors that of Mrs Dalloway in the novel, and the way in which her path is resolved; Clarissa Vaughn is played by the ravishing Meryl Streep, however her performance fails to be as memorable or as intreguing as that of either of her costars.

Finally we come to the ravishing Nicole Kidman, who manages to create a distinguished and memorable portrait of famed writer Virginia Woolf, struggling with mental illness and depression as she attempts to finish her novel. What makes Kidmans perforamance so astounding is the way in which she interprets the character, rather than portraying the character at face value, Kidman, realising that the person here is used as a character, gives us a loose interpretation of Woolfe, and manages to portray the character with such depth that we are completley invested in her story, and we feel her every suffering as she falls deeper and deeper into suffering.

Finally this movie, manages to take a wonderful novel, and translate it into a superb stunning movie, a difficult task, it also includes stunning performances from its three leads, especially Nicole Kidman, who has the difficult task of portraying a fictionalized version of a historical figure, yet she does it with a grace and a deftness which allows us to see into her pain, without the portrayal becoming comical. A stunning picture, a visual treat, with simply incredible acting. Rating:A+