Product Details

• Released on: 2003-06-24
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Widescreen, NTSC, Import
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 114 minutes

Additional Features
It's hard to imagine anyone wanting more than what's on this lovely, single disc. There are four newly produced segments: a talk with composer Philip Glass, a featurette on the three main actresses, a must-see 10-minute feature on the writer of the novel (Michael Cunningham) and the screenplay (David Hare), and a crisp half-hour history of Virginia Wolfe with many anecdotes from various scholars. There are two commentaries. Highly recommended is Cunningham with director Stephen Daldry as they go through the movie with a good sense of appreciation for each person's craft. Cunningham is quite charming in revealing the story's origins while Daldry makes even the smallest task of filmmaking interesting. Daldry's so detailed he apologizes for such seemingly trivial bits as filming the opening sequence at a different time of year than it actually happened. The main three actresses speak separately on the other commentary track, and even though fans will enjoy their insights, the energy is very low; perhaps they should have recorded the track together. Streep's deep laughs at her little jokes are very smile-inducing. --Doug Thomas

Video Details
THE HOURS tells the story of three very different individuals who share the feeling that they have been living their lives for someone else. Virginia Woolf (Kidman) lives in a suburb of London in the 1920’s as she struggles to begin writing her first great novel, Mrs. Dalloway, while also attempting to overcome the mental illness that threatens to engulf her. Laura Brown (Moore), a young wife and mother in post-World War II Los Angeles, is just starting to read Mrs. Dalloway, and is so deeply affected by it that she begins to question the life she has chosen for herself. Then, in contemporary New York City, Clarissa Vaughan (Streep) is a modern-day mirror image of Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway as she plans what may be the final party for her friend and former lover, Richard (Harris), who is dying of AIDS.

Review
Boasting all of the elements of a prestigious Hollywood production, The Hours (2002) is that rarity of rarities: a thoughtful studio movie. Adapted from Michael Cunningham's "unadaptable" Pulitzer prize winner, David Hare's literate screenplay succeeds in translating Cunningham's interior-driven novel about a day in the lives of three different women into engaging cinema. Deftly interweaving the stories of writer Virginia Woolf as she struggles to create her 1925 masterpiece Mrs. Dalloway; 1951 reader Laura Brown, who finds solace in Woolf's book; and 2001 editor and Mrs. Dalloway-esque party planner Clarissa, director Stephen Daldry reveals the underlying connections between the disparate women as each realizes that a life of self-abnegation -- whether as mother, wife, patient, or friend -- doesn't guarantee happiness. Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore, and Nicole Kidman play their complex, not always sympathetic roles with delicacy and gusto; Kidman, in particular, is a well-costumed revelation as the brilliant, wry, and disturbed Woolf. Though Ed Harris overplays the poetry in his AIDS-stricken scribe, the rest of the supporting cast superbly complements the lead trio. Even Philip Glass's score of his love 'em-or-hate 'em signature triplets and repetitions neatly underpins The Hours' thematic and emotional structure. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide

Customer Reviews

Worth Your Time
I actually saw this movie before I read the book--something I rarely do. And for once, I'm glad it was in that order. The trio of actresses playing the roles did such a fabulous job, that I liked having pictures of them in my head as I read the book, and in retrospect, marveled at the film maker's ability to jump back and forth in time so seemlessly.

A beautiful, thought-provoking and creative story. Well done.

Gorgeous
I had put off seeing this film, mostly because of a couple friends saying how "dark" and "depressing" it was. To the contrary, I found it to be just beautiful. The acting is of course brillant--a handful of the most talented actresses of our time. But the real star is the script! Just the most amazing piece of writing ever. A very moving film that I can't recommend more.

Melodramatic Yes....Dissapointing No!
Recently I viewed the movie, "The Hours" starring Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman, Ed Harris and Julianne Moore. The movie is based on the book by Michael Cunningham and follows the book's ideas about as precisely as possible for a screenplay conversion.

The story revolves around the author, Virginia Woolf, as she writes her story, "Mrs. Dalloway" and how the words she writes affect two other women in different time periods. Virginia is portrayed by Nicole Kidman and she does a wonderful job showing the essence of Virginia's depression and self-doubt. A brilliant writer who involves all of your senses in her prose she succumbs to the artist's tendency to be self-doubters and insecure, possibly from all the exposure to critics at every bend and corner. The cigarettes she smokes seethe about her as she contemplates her suicide and a word to leave behind, like her soul is going up in smoke. She lies beside a dead bird and she feels dead before her time, unable to fly and stifled by depression that is never fully explained. Her end is filmed in such a way that she surrenders herself to the river's current and slowly gets swept away by nature but she seems somehow freed by her own death, floating along in time and crossing the borders that time presents.

Julianne Moore plays the character, Laura Brown; a pregnant homemaker in the 1950's who is struggling with what life has to offer her. She seems to exist in a blur of emotion all of which sways towards depression. She attempts to bake a perfect cake for her "perfect" husband's birthday and fails sending herself into a moment of panic that almost produces her own demise. She runs away from her child and stays alone in a hotel ready to take her life and that of her unborn. She reads "Mrs. Dalloway" and becomes involved in another's misfortune which somehow awakens her to her senses and she retreats back to the normalcy of her mundane life. I could not help but be emotional during a scene where she is preparing herself for bed and her husband calls from the bedroom, "Come to bed Laura Brown," it left me with a sickened feeling. In Laura's eyes you see her sadness and her desperate need to leave but she stays, unhappily, like a servant.

Meryl Streep plays, Clarissa Vaughn, a modern woman who follows the footsteps of Virginia's character "Mrs. Dalloway" as she spends her day catering to others. She buys flowers in desperate attempts to cheer up those around her when in fact she is the one who is in need of cheer. She tries to revive a dying man played brilliantly by Ed Harris, Richard, who is succumbing to the power of AIDS and all of its downfalls. Clarissa opens windows for brightness where all she sees is gray; she perks up the grayness with flowers but only manages to bring a feeling of hopelessness to Richard instead. His writing award seems to go unnoticed although she plans a tremendous celebration his soul just shuts down. Under all of the pressure Clarissa breaks down and experiences the sadness of the day and the reality of death. Richard falls from his own window in his desperate act of suicide and mercy. Clarissa is left to deal with all of the pain.

In the end we learn that Richard is in fact the son of Laura Brown. Seemingly she has transferred her loneliness and despair to the life of her own son without regret. She explains that she abandoned her family after all, needing to conduct her life on her own terms.

The music and the language of the film inspire creative juices, especially the scenes where Virginia Woolf is speaking. Having read the book first I was able to experience more than the film managed to contain although the film was more easily explained. I recommend both expressions for the full impact of these desperate women and the lives they lead. It will not take hours to be gripped by their needs.