time off ciao needed for summer , maybe back later on..:)
time off ciao needed for summer , maybe back later on..:)
Member since:30.10.2003
Reviews:23
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Tonight, I’ve watched the movie “The Hours”; a movie which is deeply affecting - as I reflect on what happened and what did not, in the lives of Virginia Woolf the famous author, “Mrs Dalloway”, her novel, and a series of different people, whose lives seemed to be entwined between early 20th Century Britain and 21st century America.
The movie relates the tale of three women and their lives at different times in the past. The first is Virginia Woolf, who was the famous novelist who wrote Mrs Dalloway, and the movie is based on a time in 1920’s Richmond, England.
Then we meet Laura, and the date is 1941 in Sussex. Laura’s husband is at war, and she is reading the novel Mrs Dalloway, which Virginia Woolf struggled to have published in the 1920’s.
The third woman in the movie is Clarissa, and she is a 21st century Mrs Dalloway, totally in love with her gay friend Richard, who is himself a great writer/poet and dying of aids.
The movie flicks between a day in the life of these three women, who all had severe mental health problems of one form or another. The movie begins with Virginia, (who is played by Nicole Kidman), writing a suicide note; and walking into a river near her home, on what seems to be the first
of several suicide attempts. Virginia has an upper class lifestyle in Richmond, having moved from central London, and living with her husband in a grand home complete with cooks and servants. Virginia is portrayed by Kidman as an extremely troubled young woman; married, and whose husband clearly does not understand the extent of her health issues Clarissa is played by Meryl Streep, and there are many scenes between her and her friend Richard, who is dying of aids, yet is a successful poet whose talent has been recognised with a formal award. Clarissa is planning a party for Richard, who is about to receive an award for his works, yet seems ungrateful for the recognition, considering his illness.
Laura is a housewife in wartime Britain and her husband is away at war. She has a young child Richard, and is pregnanat with their second child. She seems clearly depressed and unhappy with her life, and the movie focuses on a particular day in her life which involves her husband’s birthday, making a cake with her son, who she seems to have difficulty in connecting with; a romantic kiss from her friend Kitty, immediately before Kitty has to go to hospital for a tumour in her uterus.
I do not want to give away much of the plot, as it would almost certainly spoil it for you, and there are so many twists and unanswered questions in this movie that I am sure you will be glued to your seat until the very end. However, this movie had me guessing several times, and I was often wrong. The movie begins with setting the scene for each of the three women and a glimpse into their daily lives. As you watch this, you begin to begin to make connections in your own head, as to what the ending might be. One particularly moving scene for me was Laura (1941, Sussex) dropping her son off at her childminder friend, following an emotive scene with her friend Kitty revealing she had cancer, and a kiss between the two women; all witnessed by Laura’s young son. The young son seemed to intuitively recognise that his Mum was not happy with her life, and the scene unfolds to be a tear jerking event between a Mother leaving her son for what is to be the last time, before taking her own life?
We move forward to the end of the 20th century and we meet Clarissa and her gay friend who is unfortunately dying of aids. Their friendship is also very poignant, and stretches back to their teens, when they snatched a few kisses together. Clarissa has a grown up daughter, but it would appear her life has been devoted to their childhood friend.
What is particularly apparent, and yet seems to go unanswered is the lesbian relations which all three women have, despite the fact that they lived in time periods up to 80 years apart. Virginia Woolf, who it is understood to have had mainc depression and schizophrenia shared a passionate kiss with her own sister and Laura shared a kiss with her friend Kitty of which we have already talked.
The power of this movie for me is in the scriptwriting, and the fact that you are left guessing not until the very end, but long after it too. The movie simply does not say what happened in the lives of these women and their closest family and friends. It is possible to make connections between 1940’s Laura and her son, but what about 21st century “Mrs Dalloway”, her daughter who was born out of wedlock, and the relationship with Laura Brown? And when exactly if at all did Virginia Woolf kill herself, and what would have happened to the lives of these women if she had succeeded that very first time?
I watched the movie on DVD and there is some interesting bonus material including some insight into the life and tiomes of Virginia Woolf, and also Mrs Dalloway, and the three women in the story. Virginia Woolf had serious mental health issues including allegations of sexual abuse from her brothers, and the death of her parents, who were much older than she was. She was also a mdern day feminist, and resented the fact that she was home schooled and could not go to university, unlime her two brothers; one of whom died at a tragic early age. Her family set up the printing press Hogarth group at their family home in 1916 to allow Virginia’s writings to be printed, and formed the early beginnings of the Bloomsbury group.
This is a dramatic movie with top class actors and acresses including Meryl Streep, Ed Harris, and Nicole Kidman, who won an Oscar. Miss this at your peril, and I am sure it will make you think extremely deeply; regardless of whether you are male or female.
Production Year: 1989 - Drama - Director: Ken Cameron - Original Language: English - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring: Nicole Kidman, Denholm Elliott, Hugo Weaving, Joy Smithers, Norman Kaye, Jerome Ehlers, Judy Morris
Production Year: 2004 - Drama - Director: Nick Cassavetes - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over, 12 years and over - Starring: Rachel McAdams, Ryan Gosling, Gena Rowlands
Production Year: 1993 - Drama - Director: Steven Spielberg - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, Caroline Goodall, Embeth Davidtz, Ben Kingsley, Jonathan Sagalle
An adaptation of the novel by Michael Cunningham this is the story of three women living ... more
in different time periods of the Twentieth Century all linked by a work of literature. In 1923 Virginia Woolf starts to write her novel 'Mrs Dalloway' whilst stru...
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A trio of the screen's best actresses - two-time Academy Award winner Meryl Streep (Best ... more
Actress, Sophie's Choice, 1982; Best Supporting Actress, Kramer Vs. Kramer, 1979), Academy Award winner Nicole Kidman (Best Actress, The Hours 2003) and Julianne M...
Advantages: The DVD has endless special features. The acting is spectacular. Disadvantages: The films ends with a need to know more about what happened; this could be part of the mystery.
jenniewren26 07.06.2009 ·
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Review of The Hours (DVD)
Advantages: Great chemistry between Chan and Tucker. Ridiculously entertaining. Disadvantages: About as substantial as...(Insert your own Chinese food joke here)
Plissken 08.09.2001 ·
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Rush Hour (DVD)
![The Hours [DVD] [2003]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/78523499.jpg "The Hours [DVD] [2003]")
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