Virginia Woolf and “The Hours”

In our presentation Maria and I, Louise, are going to explore how modernism is portrayed in literature and film, through the writer Virginia Woolf’s work.

The plot of the 2002 movie “The Hours” is based on the 1998 novel “The Hours” by Michael Cunningham. The movie stars: Nicole Kidman as Virginia Woolf, Julianne Moore as Laura Brown, and Meryl Streep as Clarissa Vaughn. Taking a page from Virginia Woolf’s “Mrs. Dalloway”, “The Hours” looks at one day in each of the three women’s lives: the day that Virginia Woolf starts writing “Mrs. Dalloway” and later kills herself; the day that Laura bakes a cake for her husband’s birthday and considers overdosing on sleeping pills and tranquilizers; the day that Clarissa picks up her flowers for the party, only to have the party cancelled to mourn Richard’s suicide. Each of these woman’s lives are connected by the book “Mrs. Dalloway” and their struggle to find meaning in their lives.

“Someone has to die in order that the rest of us should value life more. It's contrast”. This is the quote that Nicole Kidman as Virginia Woolf says in the movie “The Hours.” The reactions to death, the struggle to find purpose in one’s life, and the struggle to understand the ending of another’s life seems to be the main theme that “Mrs. Dalloway”, the book “The Hours”, and the movie “The Hours” are dealing with. It is the inevitable event of death, and the questioning of life that connects all people together.

The questioning of life and death became an escape for Woolf, as she was considered insane to even consider what the ending of her life would be like. Her character Mrs. Dalloway struggles with the stifling atmosphere of her life: she lives in a nice house, has a rich husband, but at what price? Mrs. Dalloway’s parties are her only way to show her creativity, but she plays a sacrificial role in catering to the indulgences of others; she considers her thoughts naïve and not worth any notice. Woolf’s own restlessness about her life can be seen in the regrets and resignations of Clarissa Dalloway.

For another opinion on the way that Michael Cunningham’s “The Hours” uses a similar writing style and conventions to Virginia Woolf’s, please check out this website: http://lisa.revues.org/2912 .

We couldn’t find any good clips to attach from youtube.com of the movie “The Hours”, but please do watch it on your own time! It is an awesome movie; very artistic, with beautiful music, and poignant speeches. And very powerful in the fact that; when you watch it you keep waiting for something to happen, without realizing that it is happening, life is happening for these women.

We hope you continue to read Virginia Woolf’s work, and look into “The Hours”.

Sources Used

Pillière, Linda “Michael Cunningham’s The Hours : echoes of Virginia Woolf”, Revue LISA/LISA e-journal [Online] , Vol. II - n°5 | 2004 , Online since 02 November 2009, connection on 27 March 2011. URL : http://lisa.revues.org/2912

The Hours. Dir. Stephen Daldry. Perf. Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore, Nicole Kidman, and Ed Harris. Paramount, 2002. Film

Woolf, Virginia. Mrs. Dalloway. 1925. Orlando, Florida: Harcourt, Inc, 2005. Print

Woolf, Virginia. The Broadview Anthology of British Literature Concise Edition Vol. B. Ed. Don LePan. Peterborough: Broadview Press, 2008.

Images are from google search of ‘Virginia Woolf’