REVIEW OF THE FILM THE HOURS

REVIEW: DALDRY, Stephen. The Hours. [S.I.]: United Kingdom, EUA: British
Board of Film Classification, 2002. 1 vdeo disco (114 min.)
The movie The Hours, released in 2002, is a British-American drama
directed by Stephen Daldry; written by David Hare and based in the novel The
Hours written by Michael Cunningham. The dissatisfaction and failure are
issues of a sensitive drama that portrays human conflicts at different times. The
film follows three women in one day in their lives, who live in three different
times, in 20s, 50s and currently, whose lives are connected at the same time by
the novel Mrs. Dalloway, written by Virginia Woolf.
The beginning of the 20th century is represented by Virginia Woolf (Nicole
Kidman) who suffers a crisis of depression and suicidal ideas while writing her
novel, Mrs. Dalloway.
The 50s is characterized by a housewife Laura Brown (Julianne Moore)
who lives in suburban Los Angeles, where she looks after her son Richie (Jack
Rovello) and bakes a birthday cake for her husband Dan (John C. Reilly). Laura
is also reading the novel Mrs Dalloway, which reflects in the unhappiness of
her life and she wants to kill herself.
The final of 20th century brings us a present-day version of Mrs.
Dalloway, who is represented by Clarissa Vaughan's (Meryl Streep), a literary
editor who lives in New York and is preparing a party for her friend Richard
Brown (Ed Harris), a brilliant poet who is dying of AIDS.
The film mixes the three stories and lets the viewer living the internal
conflicts, depressions and anxieties of the main characters. According to the
opinion article entitled Depression and suicide in the movie The Hours,
written by Maria Helena Moraes, Elisa Melo da Silva, Francini Neto, Gleice
Schrhaus da Silva, Juliana Klein Rabello and Letcia Just Guerra:
The condensation of different times and the interconnection between
the characters - which takes place through the book written by
Virginia, read by Laura and "acted" by Clarissa and Richard - reflect,
although lived in a particular way by each of the characters, the

universality and atemporality of psychic phenomena, as well as the

evident implications and social communications in the depressive and
suicidal behavior. (2006, p. 19)

Consequently, suicide would be an acceptable option, as an escape from

unbearable reality and stress of modern life. However, as it claims Stephen
Holden (2002) the film, like the novel, is a sustained meditation on connection,
human possibility, the elusive dream of happiness and sometimes the seductive
call of death.
In addition, the stories are interwoven and finally merge in an
unpredictable moment. Without a doubt, it is a good movie to watch, because it
takes us to reflect about the world and ourselves.

References:
______________.

Movie:

The

Hours.

Available

on:

<www.imdb.com/title/tt0274558/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1>. Accessed on: 17 nov. 2014.

HOLDEN, Stephen. The Hours (2002) Film Review; Who's Afraid Like Virginia
Woolf?. The New York Times, New York. 27 dez. 2002. Available on:
<www.nytimes.com/movie/review?
res=9C0DE6DE113CF934A15751C1A9649C8B63>. Accessed on: 18 nov.
2014.
MORAES, Maria Helena et al. Depression and suicide in the movie "The
Hours". Rev. psiquiatr. Rio Gd. Sul [online]. 2006, vol.28, n.1, pp. 83-92. ISSN
0101-8108. Available on: <www.scielo.br/pdf/rprs/v28n1/en_v28n1a11.pdf>.
Accessed on: 17 nov. 2014.