The film "The Hours": audience reviews, plot, cast and year of release

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

The Hours is a 2002 film directed by Stephen Daldry. At the time of its release, the picture made a real sensation, striking the audience and critics with an unusual plot, fine directorial work and a brilliant cast - the three main characters were performed by some of the best American actresses. Information, interesting facts and reviews about the movie "The Hours" - later in this article.

Plot

The main characters of the film "The Hours" are characters living in different times. These are three women connected by thin lines of life threads and very similar destinies. The viewer gets acquainted with three women from 1923, 1951 and 2001, while simultaneously observing one day in the life of each from the moment of awakening until nightfall. For each of the three heroines - the famous English writer Virginia Woolf, the ordinary housewife from Los Angeles Laura Brown and the businesswoman from New York Clarissa Vaughn - the day shown on the screen becomes a difficult decision: to continue the fightfor a life that has come to a standstill, or to commit suicide. All three women are connected in one way or another to Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway.

For the correct perception of the picture from the very beginning, the Russian-speaking viewer needs to avoid confusion with the title. In the original, it sounds like "Hours" - "hours", in the sense of a measure of time, and not a device for measuring ("Clock").

The trailer for The Hours with Nicole Kidman, Julianne Moore and Meryl Streep can be seen below.

Virginia Woolf

The plot of the film "The Hours" begins with the events of 1941, when the outstanding English writer Virginia Woolf committed suicide by drowning herself in the river. Then the viewer will get acquainted with one day in the life of the writer in 1923 in Richmond. On this day, she began work on her famous novel "Mrs. Dalloway".

Virginia's sister Vanessa arrives around noon with her three children. The woman planned to have dinner with her sister and her husband, but hurriedly packs up and leaves after the writer, together with her nephews and niece, buries a bird that died in the garden, and then talks to the children about the death of her book heroine. At parting, Virginia kisses her sister on the lips. Experienced shock prompts her to suddenly move to London. Her husband Leonard finds her at the train station and persuades her to return home. The writer declares that in a state of mental disorder, life in Richmond is tantamount to death,to which Leonard promises to return to the capital soon.

For a deeper dive into her role in The Hours, Kidman read all of Virginia Woolf's existing letters, writings, and memoirs.

Other roles in the novel performed by:

• Leonard - Stephen Dillane.
• Vanessa - Miranda Richardson.
• Lottie - Lindsey Marshall.
• Nellie - Linda Bassett.

Laura Brown

The second actress of the film, whom the viewer meets, was Julianne Moore, who played the role of Laura Brown, a housewife from Los Angeles. She lives with her husband and young son and is pregnant with her second child. Laura looks very unhappy - she is passionate about reading, she is sexually attracted to her friend Kitty, and in the middle of a weekday she decides to commit suicide. However, the attempt fails, and at the end of the day, the viewer sees a woman crying in the bathroom. Her husband calls her to bed, and, swallowing tears, Laura promises to come soon.

The role could have been played by Gwyneth P altrow and Emily Watson, but as soon as he saw Julianne Moore's audition, Stephen Daldry realized that he had found his actress.

Other actors of the film "The Hours" in the novel:

• Dan Brown - John C. Reilly.
• Richie - Jack Rovello.
• Kitty - Toni Collette.

Clarissa Vaughn

The role of the third heroine of the film, the editor from New York, Clarissa Vaughn, was performed by the great actress Meryl Streep. Her day starts with buying flowers for herclose friend, Laura Brown's son Richard, who is dying of AIDS. Once Clarissa and Richard were in love with each other, now the woman lives with her mistress, continuing to take care of an old friend, without whom she still cannot imagine life.

Clarissa decides to throw a party in honor of Richard and spends the day preparing for the event, but when the hero of the occasion is not present, the woman goes to him and witnesses the suicide - before her eyes, Brown is thrown out of the window.

After this event, Clarissa meets with Richard's mother, and the viewer will learn the continuation of the story of Laura Brown - having given birth to her second child, the woman left her husband and children, fleeing to Canada.

The film ends with a recap of Virginia Woolf's suicide, accompanied by a quote from the writer's suicide note to Leonard:

You need to face life - always. Finally understand her for who she is and love her. And then - to refuse it. But there are always years between us, love is long hours.

Other roles in the novel performed by:

• Richard - Ed Harris.
• Sally - Allison Janney.
• Julia - Claire Danes.
• Louis - Jeff Daniels.

Links

All the threads that somehow connect the three heroines of the film can be divided into several points.

1. The novel "Mrs. Dalloway". Wolfe started writing this book, Brown started reading it, and Vaughn is often jokingly called"Mrs. Dalloway" for her love of partying.
2. Quote from the novel that Mrs. Dalloway decides to buy flowers. With these words, the writer begins the work, the housewife - reading the book, and the editor - his day.
3. Hint of homosexual relationship. Despite the fact that Wolfe's attraction to women has not been proven, according to the plot of the picture, in a fit of feelings, she kisses her sister. Unhappily married Laura Brown kisses her friend, and Clarissa Vaughn is openly bisexual and lives with the woman she loves.
4. An imperfect suicide. On this day, the writer Wolfe decides to commit suicide, which she will carry out 18 years later. She also contemplates the death of her character Dalloway, but then transfers it to another character. Laura Brown takes sleeping pills but survives, while Clarissa decides to leave the world in the wake of her dying friend and former lover.
5. Separate connection between Wolfe and Brown, between Brown and Vaughn. The waves of the river that claimed the life of Virginia exactly 10 years ago seem to overwhelm Laura in a dying dream. The connection between Laura and Clarissa is Richard Brown, dying of AIDS, the son of the first woman and the lover of the second.

Shooting process

As mentioned above, the director of the film "The Hours" was made by the Englishman Stephen Daldry, previously known for his film "Billy Elliot", and later filmed the famous films "The Reader", "Extremely Loud, Incredibly Close" and "Junkyard". Screenplay by David Hayer, which got intohanded by Daldry in 2000, impressed the director so much that he read both it and Michael Cunningham's original of the same name in one day, firmly deciding to film the material.

The story about each heroine was filmed separately. First, all the material with Meryl Streep was filmed in New York - it was not difficult, because Clarissa Vaughn existed in modern times, and the places where she appeared during the day were described in detail by the author of the book.

The second in line was Julianne Moore - her place of residence, namely Los Angeles in the 50s, was the modern resort town of Fort Lauderdale, located in South Florida. It is curious that the scene in which the unconscious Laura is overwhelmed by streams of river water was filmed for real: a giant pavilion cube with room decorations was immersed on a special cable inside an even larger tank filled to the brim with water taken from a nearby lake.

Nicole Kidman's scenes were filmed last. The suburbs of London, in which Virginia Woolf lived at that time, had to be filmed in London itself - the real area has changed a lot since the famous writer lived there and committed suicide. Kidman began each day of shooting with elaborate make-up, using a false nose to give a portrait likeness to Wolfe. The producer of the picture, Harvey Weinstein, was against the "disfigurement" of the actress, but the director insisted and was not mistaken - Nicole herself later admitted that in this form it was easy for her to get used to the image only onlooking in the mirror for a second.

Did not escape the need to make up and Julianne Moore, playing the role of the elderly Laura Brown in the novel about Clarissa Vaughn. For the sake of a short appearance on the screen, the actress spent 6 hours in the make-up chair.

The visual "rhymes" that fill the film were cleverly woven together by cinematographer Seamus McGarvey and editor Peter Boyle. The costume designers and environment decorators of the heroines also tried to create multiple "calls" - in the style of clothes, similar wallpapers, mirrors and interior items.

Technical data

The duration of the movie "The Hours" is 114 minutes. It was filmed by Miramax in English, in the US and UK, on a $25 million budget.

The film premiered in the US on December 15, 2002, followed by limited screenings in US and Canadian theaters from December 2002 to January 2003. On February 9, 2003, "The Hours" was presented as part of the Berlin Film Festival, and on February 14, timed to coincide with Valentine's Day, the world premiere of the picture took place in the USA, Great Britain, Ireland and South Korea. The Russian premiere took place on April 3, 2003. The last was the release of the film in Croatia - on July 19, 2015 it was presented at the Pula Film Festival. The total box office for the entire rental period brought the creators more than $100 million.

Soundtrack

The soundtracks for The Hours were written by American composer Philip Glass, best known for his scores on The Thin Blue Line, The Truman Show and Leviathan. For a job well done, Glass received a BAFTA award for "Best Original Score" and was also nominated for an Oscar, Golden Globe and Grammy awards. The film's soundtrack was released as a separate album by Elektra and Nonesuch in 2002.

Quotes

Many viewers of the film "The Hours" found thoughtful and touching quotes in their hearts and memories.

All women's life is like one day. Just one day. And this day is her whole life.

We do it. All people do this. They live for others.

I wanted to write about everything. About everything that happens around. About your flowers when you bring them. About this towel. About the smell. About how it feels. About all our feelings - yours and mine. About history. What we were … About everything together, dear! Because everything is mixed. I could not. I couldn't. Whatever he swung at, it came out less. Naked, ridiculous pride. Stupidity. I wanted to hug the immensity…

She is a hostess, self-confident, and she is going to have a party. And maybe because she's confident, everyone thinks she's okay. But it's not.

All my life I've been able to do anything. Except the only thing I wanted.

- What happens when we die?- What happens?We're going back to where we came from.

When I'm with him, I feel… I'm alive. And when I'm not with him, everything seems so stupid.

I remember waking up one day at dawn and it felt like anything was possible. And I remember how I thought then: "Here it is - the beginning of happiness, And, of course, there will be more of it." But then I did not understand that this was not the beginning. That was happiness itself. Right then, at that moment.

Someone has to die so that others can appreciate life more.

Look life in the face. Always look life in the face and understand it for what it is. Finally understand her. And love her for who she is. And then… give it up.

Always years between us. Always years. Always love. Always a watch.

If I could think clearly, I would say that I am fighting alone in the dark in complete darkness and only I know, only I understand my condition.

Interesting facts

During the filming of such an extraordinary picture could not do without a number of curious stories, unusual cases and just funny incidents. For example, the following fact is well known: Meryl Streep was mentioned in Cunningham's novel. In the short story about Clarissa Vaughn, the Hollywood celebrity was filmed near the flower shop, where the main character was in the story. Given this fact, and unable to cast Streep as both a lead and a guest star, Stephen Daldry chose to make a cameo appearance himself, playing the role of a passer-by outside a flower shop.

Fans of actress Nicole Kidmanknow perfectly well that the star is left-handed. But since the writer Virginia Woolf was right-handed, Kidman learned to write with her right hand and has made some progress - now she can use both hands equally well.

During filming, Kidman got very used to the false nose. Later, she repeatedly used Virginia Woolf makeup to move around the city and remain unrecognizable to fans and paparazzi.

It was the name "The Clock" that Virginia Woolf suggested for her famous work "Mrs. Dalloway".

It is curious that the filmmakers did not keep track of what books Laura Brown "reads" - in addition to "Mrs. Dalloway" the books "Under the Shade" by A. Murdoch and "Lord of Melbourne" by D. Sessil lie by the woman's bed. These works were first published in 1954, so Laura, who lives in 1951, could not have had them.

The film shows Leonard Wolfe, the writer's husband, editing proofs. In fact, he never did the layout himself because of the tremor that appeared in the course of a chronic illness - this was exactly what Virginia herself was doing, enjoying, calm and inspired from painstaking monotonous work.

Awards and nominations

The "Clock" tape was awarded a huge number of not only nominations for the most prestigious film awards in the USA and other countries, but also victories in most of them. However, despite as many as 9 Oscar nominations in the Best Picture categories,Best Director, Adapted Screenplay, Leading Actress, Supporting Actress, Supporting Actor, Editing, Costumes and Best Soundtrack only Nicole Kidman was able to get the coveted statuette, becoming the best 2003 Academy Award Actress of the Year. In addition, Nicole Kidman was nominated 9 more times for Best Actress in The Hours, winning Berlin Film Festival, BAFTA and Golden Globe awards.

In total, the picture received more than 80 awards from all major film awards in the world. 23 nominees were awarded victories, among which, in addition to the above:

• "Best Film" from the National Board of Film Critics and the Vancouver Film Awards.
• "Best Foreign Film" from the Norwegian Amanda Film Festival and the German Lola Film Awards.
• "Best American Film" from the Danish Robert Film Awards.
• "Best Director" for Stephen Daldry from the Vancouver Film Awards.
• "Best Actress" for Meryl Streep from Berlin Film Festival and Outfest LGBT Film Festival.
• "Best Actress" for Julianne Moore from the Berlin Film Festival and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association.
• "Best Supporting Actress" for Toni Collette from the Boston Film Critics Association andVancouver Film Awards.
• "Best Screenplay" for David Hayer and Michael Cunningham from California Drama University.
• "Best Adapted Screenplay" for David Hayer from the Writers Guild of America.
• "British Screenwriter of the Year" for David Hayer from the Society of London Film Critics.
• "Best Score" for Philip Glass from BAFTA.
• "Best Cinematography" for Seamus McGarvey from the Evening Standard British Film Awards
• "Best Casting" for Daniel Sui from CSA.
• "Best Drama Trailer" from the Golden Trailer Awards.

Critic Opinion

From professional critics, the film "The Hours" received a large number of positive reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an 80% positive rating based on 192 reviews, a very high score for an intelligent film.

Metacritick gives the film a rating of 8 out of 10. Most reviewers found the film very deep, touching, noting a bright beginning, despite the tragic plot and thoughts of the main characters about suicide.

The critics of the film "The Hours" reviews Nicole Kidman stand apart. Her game was called surprisingly accurate, soulful, soulful. Film critics agreed that, without using a large number of biographical clichés about the famous writer, the actress managed toconvey her personality traits more vividly than anyone else.

But negative reviews of the 2002 film "The Hours" also found a place. The remaining dissatisfied critics wrote down the lack of a plot basis that exceeded or at least equaled the declared pathos as a minus of the picture.

Audience reviews

The film "The Hours" since 2002 still finds its loyal audience around the world. On the Russian resource "Kinopoisk" the number of positive reviews of the film is 10 times more than negative - this suggests that allegorical cinema, touching on the topics of suicide, loneliness and same-sex love, is not at all alien to our viewer.

In the positive reviews of the film "The Hours" the audience often mentions not only the excellent acting, the unusual plot, and to this day the actual problems of human relationships. Many people like the film because of its sophisticated poetic beauty - the metaphorical scenes, thought out to the smallest detail, fascinated viewers who have lost the habit of picturesque cinema and left a mark in their hearts forever.

In the negative reviews of the film "The Hours" dissatisfied viewers agreed with the critics - the plot seemed to them unfinished, weak or boring (to some all together). At the same time, almost everyone who spoke negatively, anyway, positively noted the game of all actresses, calling this aspect the main (or only) merit of the picture.