The Hours
Directed by: Stephen Daldry
Written by: Michael Cunningham (novel), David Hare (screenplay)
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Julianne Moore, Meryl Streep, John C. Reilly

“…always the years between us, always the years, always the love, always…the hours…”

Based on Michael Cunningham’s highly acclaimed book, The Hours follows the lives of three women from three different time periods. The different story lines are masterfully woven together while all three women are realizing that they have been living their life for someone else.

The story unfolds as a writer, a housewife and a modern woman each live a typical day in their life. One decision made by each woman turns their world in an about face. Virginia Woolf (Nicole Kidman), on the brink of insanity, is writing “Mrs. Dalloway” in the 1920s in a suburb of London. Laura Brown (Julianne Moore) is a post WWII housewife in Los Angeles who is reading “Mrs. Dalloway”. Clarissa Vaughan (Meryl Streep) is unknowingly living the book, “Mrs. Dalloway”, in contemporary New York while she deals with the last days of her former lover Richard (Ed Harris), who is dying of AIDS.

Virginia Woolf struggles with her own mental health as she writes her book. In Los Angeles, Laura Brown tries to find a reason to get through the monotony of another day in her life, even though she seems to have a great deal to live for with a caring husband (John C. Reilly), a young son and a baby soon on the way. Fast forward around fifty years and Clarissa Vaughan, with a daughter (Claire Danes) in college and a former lover dying of AIDS is spending her time planning a party.

Directed by Stephen Daldry, The Hours is a heavy movie which deals with the struggles of life, death and love. The movie is a beautiful commentary on how every day must be cherished and how every decision you make affects someone else. Flowing and poetic, The Hours exposes the lives of three completely different women in different times and places who are connected by their realization that they are living their life for all the wrong reasons. — Alicia