DVD Recommendation: "The Hours" (2002) - Starring Nicole Kidman, Julianne Moore and Meryl Streep

Nicole Kidman as Virginia Woolf

I had the pleasure of seeing The Hours during its original theatrical run, but had not revisited the film until recently. The film stuck with me, even though I may not have been conscious of it, because I remembered almost everything from beginning to end. The Hours is a superior film featuring outstanding performances from one of the finest ensembles ever assembled, including Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore and Nicole Kidman, who won the Oscar for her performance as Virginia Woolf.

The Hours centers around three generations of women who are all tied together by the book Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf. The three storylines run concurrently throughout the film, from London in 1923, where Virginia Woolf is penning Mrs. Dalloway while battling mental illness, to the early 1950s, where troubled housewife Laura Brown (Julianne Moore) is contemplating suicide, and finally to 2001 in New York, where Clarissa Vaughan (Meryl Streep) is preparing a dinner party in honor of her close friend and former lover, Richard (Ed Harris), who is suffering from AIDS related illnesses. 

The three aforementioned women are also connected by their sexuality. Clarissa is living with her partner, Sally (Allison Janney), Laura is struggling with her attraction to women, especially a neighbor, Kitty (Toni Collette), that causes problems in her marriage, and Virginia Woolf, who is also married, but is experiencing same sex attraction. The heavy dose of drama that permeates each story may not be easy to watch, but the performances are so authentic and the writing is so strong, that it is worth riding the emotional roller coaster. 

When I compiled my top ten films of the decade a few years ago, I do not know how I omitted The Hours, but I somehow did. It is a superb film that has my highest recommendation. 

Director: Stephen Daldry
Written by David Hare