January 06, 2004The Hoursi watched the hours last night, an interestingly told story about the virginia woolf novel mrs. dalloway. now i have never read the book (the hours) or the novel it deals with; so i don't know whether it is true to the book(s) or not, none the less, i really liked the movie. it started really slow and took more time than i'd prefer to develop the characters, but i think it did it's job well. it was very easy, at least for me, to really feel how some of the characters felt. also, despite the excellent make-up job and the character she was playing (virginia woolf), nicole kidman's sexiness seeped out. that only enhanced the movie! So on a summer's day waves collect, overbalance, and fall; collect and fall; and the whole world seems to be saying "that is all" more and more ponderously, until even the heart in the body which lies in the sun on the beach says too, That is all. Fear no more, says the heart. Fear no more, says the heart, committing its burden to some sea, which sighs collectively for all sorrows, and renews, begins, collects, lets fall. And the body alone listens to the passing bee; the wave reaking; the dog barking, far away barking and barking. like any good movie, it was filled with many memorable quotes and invokes emotion even after the fact. i know it pushed a lot of buttons for me. i think of the looks on little ritchie's face in both the good times and the bad then seeing where he ends up as an adult -- richard, the award winning poet. i must admit i chuckled when he said he mixed xanax and ritalin as he tore away the window coverings. Richard Brown: Ah, Mrs. Dalloway...always giving parties to cover the silence. the most compelling character aside from virginia was laura brown -- the woman in the 50's reading woolf's novel. a depressed housewife, pregnant and married to an outrageously happy husband. she too had secret lesbian tendencies which tied the three female characters together quite nicely. she had one of the most moving lines of the movie -- What does it mean to regret when you have no choice? It's what you can bear. And there it is...It was death. I chose life.when she explained to clarissa vaughan when they met after richard's death. her depression was too much for her to deal with, so after giving birth to the couples second child, she left in the night. it was clear to me that she made that monumental sacrafice in an effort to provide her husband and children a happier life when she found she was unable to kill herself. that moment hit me like a two tons of bricks. i felt so bad for this woman. not only for her making such a difficult decision, but then to find out her son (richard) ended up being a depressed poet who throws himself out a window. damned if you do, damned if you don't, i thought. The beauty of the world ... has two edges, one of laughter, one of anguish, cutting the heart asunder. --virginia woolf
Posted by ac at January 6, 2004 09:50 PM
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