bnorthup
03-04-2003, 05:13 PM
The Hours (PG-13)
At the Myrna Loy
**** Four Stars
Variations on a common theme
By Brent Northup
The haunting and Oscar-nominated film “The Hours” provides one answer to the unanswerable question: Why do we read books?
The script’s answer is that we read books in order to meet people whose own struggles mirror our own. Thanks to libraries we have a myriad of people, mostly beyond our reach both geographically and chronologically, that eagerly await the opportunity to meet us. Some of them are real, some are fictional – but all have the magical capability of coming alive within us as we sit in a corner turning pages and sipping wine.
In “The Hours” writer Virginia Woolf (1182-1941) sits temperamentally in a chair with her quill writing pages for her novel “The Hours,” a working title that will eventually give way to the published title, “Mrs. Dalloway.” That Woolf novel traces the tumultuous inner life of Clarissa, an outwardly perfect woman. Clarissa is the wife of a politician whose skill as the perfect socialite hides her lesbian longings, her sense of insignificance and her depression. The novel takes place in one day, during which Clarissa plans a party, while drifting back in time, revisiting old memories for new insights.
While Woolf writes, those around her watch over her and worry. Woolf is suicidal, depressed, bi-sexual and prone to disappear. Her successful husband is at wit’s end on how to help her attain happiness.
The film opens with Woolf (Nicole Kidman) filling her pockets with rocks, and taking her life in the nearby river. We then drop back in time to gain insight into her pain and her brilliance. What we discover is repressed lesbian desires, a sense of insignificance and pure, utter brilliance – a quality more often evident in her prose than in her conversation.
Remarkably, this vivid tale of Woolf takes up precious little screen time in “The Hours.” Instead, the Woolf tale is interwoven – almost like a dream - within two other stories.
The first tale takes place in 1951 where Laura Brown (Julianne Moore) is reading “Mrs. Dalloway.” Her fascination with Woolf’s novel becomes chilling when we discover that Laura, too, has repressed lesbian longings, a sense of insignificance and is contemplating suicide.
In one beautifully edited scene, Laura prepares to take her life only to be “interrupted” by a flashback to Woolf who is staring into space. When a girl asks Woolf what she is thinking about, Woolf responds that she was thinking of killing a character in her story, but has changed her mind.
So Woolf stays alive to keep writing. And Laura Brown stays alive with Woolf’s words playing some key but unexplicated role in her decision to live another day.
Next, we move to New York, 2001, where Clarissa Vaughn, who shares Dalloway’s first name, will spend a day getting ready for a party, while her mind drifts away into memories. The party is designed to be a life-affirming celebration to lift the spirits for a gay man, dying of AIDS. Clarissa (Meryl Streep) lives with her lesbian partner, raising her daughter. She, like Woolf and Brown, seems to see her life as insignificant. She is depressed. We sense that suicide is an option.
The lives of Clarissa, Laura and Virginia are woven together like a fine piece of music, variations on a common theme, if you will. The theme might be suicide or feminist angst or depression. All three performances are masterful, with Kidman’s destined to win the Oscar for Best Actress.
But it’s the direction of Stephen Daldry (“Billy Elliot”) and the writing of David Hare that lifts this film into the rarefied territory where movies rise to the level of art. Granted, the twisted, stream-of-consciousness storytelling is sometimes hard to follow, but the payoffs are great if we remain patient and attentive.
Ultimately, what we experience is a bond between three women whose lives are united because of Woolf’s writing. There’s one other link, too - a human one - that provides the film with a surprising finish. We get to experience something I would have thought beyond the range of film – the inner connection between a writer and those destined to relive Woolf’s life and works.
Whether Woolf’s works influenced Laura’s or Clarissa’s lives is not important. What is important is that Woolf’s books stand as almost biblical resources for women like Laura and Clarissa whose depressed, lonely lives seem hauntingly bound to Woolf’s life and work.
In short, we experience the inexplicable connection between a writer and those who read her work – or who live out a parallel life to her work. And, in so doing, we learn that in some poetic way we have connections to those who lived before us. Thanks to libraries, we can meet some of our soul sisters and soul brothers, if we wish.
Even if these almost spiritual reunions with our kindred spirits do not end our depression, these encounters may, at least, provide some companionship for us as we curl up in a corner with wine, searching for friendship, for love and for meaning.
END
At the Myrna Loy
**** Four Stars
Variations on a common theme
By Brent Northup
The haunting and Oscar-nominated film “The Hours” provides one answer to the unanswerable question: Why do we read books?
The script’s answer is that we read books in order to meet people whose own struggles mirror our own. Thanks to libraries we have a myriad of people, mostly beyond our reach both geographically and chronologically, that eagerly await the opportunity to meet us. Some of them are real, some are fictional – but all have the magical capability of coming alive within us as we sit in a corner turning pages and sipping wine.
In “The Hours” writer Virginia Woolf (1182-1941) sits temperamentally in a chair with her quill writing pages for her novel “The Hours,” a working title that will eventually give way to the published title, “Mrs. Dalloway.” That Woolf novel traces the tumultuous inner life of Clarissa, an outwardly perfect woman. Clarissa is the wife of a politician whose skill as the perfect socialite hides her lesbian longings, her sense of insignificance and her depression. The novel takes place in one day, during which Clarissa plans a party, while drifting back in time, revisiting old memories for new insights.
While Woolf writes, those around her watch over her and worry. Woolf is suicidal, depressed, bi-sexual and prone to disappear. Her successful husband is at wit’s end on how to help her attain happiness.
The film opens with Woolf (Nicole Kidman) filling her pockets with rocks, and taking her life in the nearby river. We then drop back in time to gain insight into her pain and her brilliance. What we discover is repressed lesbian desires, a sense of insignificance and pure, utter brilliance – a quality more often evident in her prose than in her conversation.
Remarkably, this vivid tale of Woolf takes up precious little screen time in “The Hours.” Instead, the Woolf tale is interwoven – almost like a dream - within two other stories.
The first tale takes place in 1951 where Laura Brown (Julianne Moore) is reading “Mrs. Dalloway.” Her fascination with Woolf’s novel becomes chilling when we discover that Laura, too, has repressed lesbian longings, a sense of insignificance and is contemplating suicide.
In one beautifully edited scene, Laura prepares to take her life only to be “interrupted” by a flashback to Woolf who is staring into space. When a girl asks Woolf what she is thinking about, Woolf responds that she was thinking of killing a character in her story, but has changed her mind.
So Woolf stays alive to keep writing. And Laura Brown stays alive with Woolf’s words playing some key but unexplicated role in her decision to live another day.
Next, we move to New York, 2001, where Clarissa Vaughn, who shares Dalloway’s first name, will spend a day getting ready for a party, while her mind drifts away into memories. The party is designed to be a life-affirming celebration to lift the spirits for a gay man, dying of AIDS. Clarissa (Meryl Streep) lives with her lesbian partner, raising her daughter. She, like Woolf and Brown, seems to see her life as insignificant. She is depressed. We sense that suicide is an option.
The lives of Clarissa, Laura and Virginia are woven together like a fine piece of music, variations on a common theme, if you will. The theme might be suicide or feminist angst or depression. All three performances are masterful, with Kidman’s destined to win the Oscar for Best Actress.
But it’s the direction of Stephen Daldry (“Billy Elliot”) and the writing of David Hare that lifts this film into the rarefied territory where movies rise to the level of art. Granted, the twisted, stream-of-consciousness storytelling is sometimes hard to follow, but the payoffs are great if we remain patient and attentive.
Ultimately, what we experience is a bond between three women whose lives are united because of Woolf’s writing. There’s one other link, too - a human one - that provides the film with a surprising finish. We get to experience something I would have thought beyond the range of film – the inner connection between a writer and those destined to relive Woolf’s life and works.
Whether Woolf’s works influenced Laura’s or Clarissa’s lives is not important. What is important is that Woolf’s books stand as almost biblical resources for women like Laura and Clarissa whose depressed, lonely lives seem hauntingly bound to Woolf’s life and work.
In short, we experience the inexplicable connection between a writer and those who read her work – or who live out a parallel life to her work. And, in so doing, we learn that in some poetic way we have connections to those who lived before us. Thanks to libraries, we can meet some of our soul sisters and soul brothers, if we wish.
Even if these almost spiritual reunions with our kindred spirits do not end our depression, these encounters may, at least, provide some companionship for us as we curl up in a corner with wine, searching for friendship, for love and for meaning.
END