Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4455 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-11-17
• Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Italian
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 114 minutes

From the studio
· The Music of The Hours

· Three Woman

· Filmmakers Introduction

· The Mind and Times of Virginia Woolf

· The Lives of Mrs. Dalloway

· Theatrical Trailer

· Storyboards

· Audio Commentary with the Director and Screenwriter

· Audio Commentary with the Cast

Synopsis
Based on the Pulitzer-prize winning novel by Michael Cunningham, THE HOURS employs Virginia Woolf's classic novel and central character, MRS. DALLOWAY, as its foundation and inspiration. Spanning three different eras, during one day, the film focuses on the parallel lives of three women joined in their depression, alienation, and search for love. Nicole Kidman, wearing a prosthetic nose, is virtually unrecognizable as the tortured writer Virginia Woolf whose ongoing battle with mental illness eventually led to her tragic suicide in 1941. The film begins with the moment of her suicide and flashes back on her life and work as she crafted her most memorable character, Clarissa Dalloway, in 1923. In 1950's California suburbia another woman, Laura Brown (Julianne Moore), struggles with alienation and depression. Trapped by her clinging young son and an adoring husband whom she does not love, the desperate woman tries to prepare for her husband's birthday but cannot stop reading MRS. DALLOWAY. Finally, in modern day Manhattan, Clarissa Vaughn (Meryl Streep), a lesbian who lives with her lover (Allison Janney) and her daughter (Claire Danes), struggles to prepare a party for her ex-husband (Ed Harris) who is dying of AIDS. Director Stephen Daltry uses beautiful overlapping editing to sew the women's interwoven stories seamlessly together. At the core of this profoundly moving film is the trio of award-winning actresses who grace the screen with their bold and awe-inspiring performances.

From the Back Cover
A trio of the screen’s best actresses – two time Academy Award winner Meryl Streep (Best Actress, Sophie’s Choice, 1982; Best Supporting Actress, Kramer vs. Kramer, 1979), Academy Award winner Nicole Kidman (Best Actress, The Hours, 2003) and Julianne Moore (Hannibal) – star as three women from very different eras who are linked by their common yearnings and fears. Virginia Woolf (Kidman), in a suburb of London in the early 1920s, is battling insanity as she begins to write her first great novel, Mrs Dalloway. A wife and mother in post-World War II Los Angeles, Laura Brown (Moore) is reading Mrs Dalloway and finding it so revelatory that she begins considering making a devastating change in her life. Clarissa Vaughan (Streep), a present-day version of Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway, lives in New York City and is in love with a friend (Ed Harris - A Beautiful Mind) who is dying of AIDS. Also starring John C. Reilly (Gangs of New York), Claire Danes (Brokedown Palace) and Toni Collette (The Sixth Sense) – their engaging stories intertwine until they come together in a surprising moment of shared recognition.

Customer Reviews

So many unhappy people
During the first couple minutes of THE HOURS, it's 1941 and author Virginia Woolf (Nicole Kidman) commits suicide by walking into a river. That pretty much sets the tone of the film as a whole.

The body of the film skips back and forth among three timelines.

In 1923, Woolf is forced by physicians and her husband (Stephen Dillane) to live away from the center of London in a dreary suburb after two suicide attempts. The author resents her isolation, and tells her spouse that peace is not found by being shielded from the world at large. Virginia expresses her frustration by writing a book, "Mrs. Dalloway", in which the protagonist, while preparing for a dinner party, is confronted by events that raise into consciousness the shallowness and inadequacies of her life.

In 1951, Laura Brown (Julianne Moore), living in a Los Angeles middle-class housing tract with loving husband Dan (John C. Reilly) and young son, is reading "Mrs. Dalloway". Contemplating her lack of fulfillment in the roles of wife and mother, Laura bakes her husband's birthday cake, plans his party, and considers suicide.

In 2001 New York, Clarissa Vaughan (Meryl Streep) lives with her same-sex partner, while at the same time caring for ex-husband Richard (Ed Harris), who's dying of AIDS in a dark and cluttered flat. Richard is an award-winning poet, and Clarissa (nicknamed "Mrs. Dalloway" by her Richard) is planning a dinner party in honor of his accomplishments.

THE HOURS is a complex film, the heroines of its three subplots all linked by the threads of self-destruction, "Mrs. Dalloway", and the extreme emotional and psychological dissatisfaction each feels in the relationship with the man in her life. Clarissa is already in a lesbian liaison, and there are strong hints that the other two would welcome such. The performances of the four principle actors (Kidman, Moore, Streep, and Harris) are all of Oscar caliber.

There are perhaps as many messages to be gotten from THE HOURS as there are people who will view it. I perceived the velvet chains that bind two people in a relationship. ("That's what we do. We stay alive for one another". - Clarissa) Chains that may drive one to an exit of desperation if there's an absence of love, or the feeling of one's own self being smothered and not having a little patch of ground to call one's own. And the guilt we feel when those chains are broken, if even to the long-term advantage of self.

This is a splendid and brilliantly conceived film that deserves all the honors it will reap. The connection between the 1951 and 2001 timelines was cleverly done. But, for me, THE HOURS had one great flaw. It failed to establish any emotional attachment between the main characters and myself. Virginia was too sour, Laura too distant, and Clarissa too self-absorbed. I left the theater admiring the movie for its artistry more than I was moved by it.

thought provoking and moving
I thought this was one of the best films I have seen for years. Nicole Kidman is brilliant as Virginia Wolf and Meryl Streep as always a total joy to watch. The film was moving and intelligent, I didn't stop thinking about it for days after I had seen it. The only slightly dodgy bit was the kiss between Virginia and her sister, I wonder if that really happened? If it did I suppose they had to include it. But I found it a bit gratuitous. Apart from that though a real winner of a film which has totally inspired me to re-read Mrs Dalloway.

Touching, Brilliantly Shot
This excerpt from the life of the English novelist Virginia Woolf is worthy to watch if for the performances alone. Nicole Kidman shows a depth of understanding that does not belie her accolades. Streep is as watchable as ever, if a little over familiar as the vulnerable but determined woman. The scenery and
interior shots of a timeless English estate bare all the trademarks of Room With A view. Excellent pacing, although a little slow to get moving, but time did move a bit slower in the middle of the 20th century; especially in rural England. Much of this is set in Sussex in the South East. The switching between times is a little awkward and hard to fathom at first. A punchier treatment of the link between the novel would have helped. The soundtrack provided by Philip Glass with it's typical pulsating and stripped down sound is an excellent backdrop to the theme. Worth a second view.