Notes

THREE OF THEM
two of whom have been profoundly affected by the works of Virginia Woolf; the other woman is Woolf, herself
"The Hours" -- based on the Pulitzer Prize- winning novel by Michael Cunningham
-rare, honesty, intensity, oppressive, timeless, starring performances
-timelessness of those moments, how they are the real elements of life, the patterns that repeat across time.
The struggle for a life of consequence runs through all three stories.
Kidman, barely recognizable with her nose extended, who's the most impressive.
dealing with difficult emotions and life decisions,
intertwine as each of three very different women lives a single, apparently ordinary day that contains a life-changing revelation.
all linked by Virginia Woolf's novel Mrs. Dalloway.
It stars Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore and Nicole Kidman, who as novelist Virginia Woolf is the least recognizable of the three.
are connected by experiencing the same external events
placing the author, her fictional alter ego and two of her latter-day readers in the same sphere of consciousness.
their stories blend into a lofty, mystical theme and variations on Woolf's novel.


VIRGINIA:
besieged by excruciating bouts of mental illness.
troubled artist seeking inspiration and grappling with madness
There's Virginia Woolf (Nicole Kidman) in 1923, the year she wrote "Mrs. Dalloway"
- Virginia persuades her husband to move back to London, even though they both know the strain on her psyche could prove fatal.
Virginia has already suffered two major attacks of the black depression that eventually drove her to suicide, and her doctors recommended living in a quiet backwater as a palliative for her jangled nerves. desperate yearning for London's vibrant, inspiring turmoil.
- away from the stimulation of London for the sake of her sanity, she has embarked on a book that she hopes will convey "a woman's whole life in a single day."
her eyes not really focusing
stone in her pocket and drowned herself



LAURA:
a troubled young mother (Julianne Moore) in 1951 who is reading "Mrs. Dalloway";
1951: Pregnant Los Angeles housewife Laura Brown (Julianne Moore), prepares a small birthday celebration for her husband (John C. Reilly). She wants to spend the day reading Mrs. Dalloway, but instead bakes a cake with the help of her sensitive little boy, Richie (Jack Rovello
considers suicide rather than endure an inchoate unhappiness so pervasive and numbing she can hardly remember life without it.
Laura struggles with her traditional role. When she reads Mrs. Dalloway, it unleashes an agonizing realization that she cannot continue living as she has.
-suffocation of conformity.
she is coping with a depression she's afraid to show but that's eating her alive.
what Virginia Woolf is both writing about and experiencing in 1923.


CLARISSA
2001: New York City book editor Clarissa Vaughan (Meryl Streep) prepares a party for friend and long-ago lover Richard (Ed Harris), who's dying of AIDS and hardly cares that he's just received a prestigious poetry prize. As Clarissa hurtles through last-minute party preparations, neglecting her girlfriend (Allison Janney) and daughter (Claire Danes), a visit from an old friend (Jeff Daniels) makes her question her priorities and motives.
a woman (Meryl Streep) in 2001 who's acting like Mrs. Dalloway, planning a party for later that evening.
in modern-day Manhattan, is a reception for her friend and erstwhile lover, Richard (Ed Harris), a bisexual poet who has been given a life-achievement award.