Hours (Hours, The)

Production and year: USA, UK, 2002Genre: DramaScreenplay: David HareDirector: Stephen DaldryMusic: Philip GlassCast: Nicole Kidman, Julianne Moore, Meryl Streep, Allison Janney, Ed Harris Medicalthemes: mental illness, AIDS Description: Stephen Daldry adapted Michael Cunningham’s intriguing novel of the same title for the screen. The film depicts fragments of the lives of three women whose fates are in some way intertwined, even though they lived in different eras. The plot is partly based on elements of the biography of the famous 20th-century writer Virginia Woolf, who suffered from mental illness, likely depression or bipolar disorder. We accompany her as she writes the novel *Mrs. Dalloway*, as well as through her nervous breakdowns and suicide, much to her husband’s despair. The second woman is Laura Brown, an American living in the 1950s who devours *Mrs. Dalloway* and dreams of escaping the stagnation of her mundane, gray life—a path that soon leads her down a course, one might say, similar to Virginia Woolf’s fate. The last of the women is Clarissa Vaughn, who cares for a talented poet dear to her heart, who has long been suffering from AIDS. It quickly turns out that this story connects in an unexpected way with the lives of Laura and Virginia as well. The film is worth watching not only for its intriguing plot, but also for its excellent cast.