The Hours

Suicide, lesbianism, feminism, mental issues, AIDS, family abandonment. Pretty tough themes for such a tastefully done movie.

The originality of this film layed on the continuity of the three stories, the connections, both in what happened to them and what they did as well as how it was cinematographically achieved by camera work, screenplay and storyline.

The performances are almost all excellent. My dearest Meryl Streep cannot be bad, never ever, absolutely never. She's stunning, in a role I wouldn't have imagined for her, I really admire the way she mutates from character to character and just how versatile she is. I had never pictured her as a lesbian (or rather bisexual) for instance, and though she's such a lady, in this movie she plays a very vulgar woman with a very vulgar life. Nicole Kidman, though, is the real revelation in this film. Her Virginia Woolf is very, very well achieved, not trying to imitate her, but portraying her own version of the acclaimed writer. And the best part is, I forgot I was watching Nicole Kidman, I was actually thinking of her as Virginia Woolf, and that's a consequence of her stunning performance and that hideous nose prosthesis. It was with Julianne Moore's performance I had trouble. I don't think it was believable enough, I think she's a mannered, vain camera searcher. She's thinking about how she looks on camera and what will they say about her rather than concentrating on the portrayal of the character. The rest of the cast works perfectly as an ensemble.

I have not read Michael Cunningham's novel, but I have read Mrs Dalloway, and I found the making so amazing, how the integrated the story to three different time periods. I'm also familiar with Woolf's life, so I found this film very touching.