Insights

Box office. But, the film reveals the far reaching effects of such an "admirable" act. But in the end, few in the gay community are likely to argue that it is not a positive event when a film that deals so openly and sensitively with issues of lesbianism and bisexuality garners so much praise and visibility in Hollywood–as evidenced by the fact that The Hours made GLAAD’s list of this year’s Media Awards for best film, which is bestowed annually upon movies that provide “fair, accurate and inclusive representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and the issues that affect our lives.”, To many, just the fact that the movie explores these issues so sensitively, and with such a high-profile cast, gives a rare de facto legitimization to lesbianism and bisexuality that overrides any negative aspects of the movie, especially since overall, the film clearly comes down on the side of promoting understanding and tolerance. It was picked for nine Academy Awards and won one, Best Actress for Kidman. Read the Study Guide for The Hours (Film)…, Suppression and Insight: Comparative Analysis of Mrs Dalloway and The Hours, The Details of The Minutes of The Hours: How Mise-en-Scene Creates Narrative Connections, View Wikipedia Entries for The Hours (Film)…. © 2020 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. In Los Angeles in 1951, Laura Brown fills her purse with pills and checks into a hotel to kill herself. Clarissa was left to watch a man she loved end his life before her very eyes. Lesbian and bisexual women don’t have special dispensation to only see the happy events of their lives portrayed on screen, of course, and obviously there are lesbian and bisexual women who experience depression and suicidal tendencies. We may never get a clear answer, but the question is at least worth considering. After you claim a section you’ll have 24 hours to send in a draft. She starts reading the book and then we see what it is through her mind – she suddenly imagines that there is a lot of water coming up, like she is drowning. You can help us out by revising, improving and updating The film opens with Woolf”s suicide and, although it can only go up from there, each of the stories is, as the Hollywood Reporter describes it,”haunted with the specter of suicide.”The characters are reportedly very realistic and multi-faceted, but the thread of despair and depression that connects each woman’s story is reminiscent of the days in which lesbians were commonly portrayed as sick or mentally imbalanced. It doesn’t matter if the kiss was supposed to more representative of the strong bond between the sisters than anything sexual, it smacks of exploitation and reinforces the “ick” response to homosexuality. Her friend Kitty is going to a doctor; something is wrong with her. Her sister Vanessa Bell comes over. The movie moves from one character to another many times and each character is shown for a similar amount of time. The Hours follows three women through one day in their lives. The Hours Analysis. But it seems unfortunate that this particular emotional state is such a dominant force and overarching theme in one of the few high-profile Hollywood films to seriously explore issues of lesbianism and bisexuality. The Hours begins with the final act in the life of feminist author Virginia Woolf. Each character represents a seed planted, maturing and finally springing forth. Laura Brown (Julianne Moore) lives in 1951 in a wealthy Los Angeles suburb. Previous Next . All linked in a way by a novel. Although most of the professional film reviewers have overlooked this connection in their rush to praise The Hours, it has been mentioned in a few reviews like the one by Steve Sailor of United Press International, who noted: “This movie offers the dubious and disturbing conceit that insanity and homosexual inclinations are deeply linked. I think she felt tremendous gratitude to her husband for being so tolerant of her.” And the site also devotes considerable space to the explanation that “one of the most moving aspects of Laura’s story for Moore is the complicated relationship she had with her son, one that had an affecting resonance for the actress because she herself has two young children.”. No small feat for a movie in which every one of the main characters is involved in some kind of sapphic activity. In other words, the website emphasizes motherhood and heterosexual relationships and minimizes the lesbian sexuality in the film as much as possible without outright lying about it. Laura then represents the woman Mrs. Dalloway's desire to live no more, but instead leaves her family without notice. It also doesn’t help that the writers/director chose to resurrect the tired old lesbian-incest link by having Kidman’s character kiss her sister (played by Miranda Richardson) in a non-sisterly way. AFTERELLEN.COM IS A PROPERTY OF LESBIAN NATION, LLC. Yet here we are in 2003 faced with that very scenario. An editor It was picked for nine Academy Awards and won one, Best Actress for Kidman. With Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman, Julianne Moore, Stephen Dillane. In Sussex in 1941, the novelist Virginia Woolf fills the pockets of her coat with rocks and walks into a river to drown. The movie is about three women living in different times. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of The Hours (Film), directed by Stephen Daldry. The film represents the ability for one's life to live one through one's ideas, how the effect of an idea can change the course of history. This page was last changed on 14 February 2017, at 14:52. The Hollywood Reporter, for example, enthusiastically recommends it because “the themes of repressed desires, longing for happiness and the need to face one’s demons ring clearly in all three stories.”eval(ez_write_tag([[300,250],'afterellen_com-box-4','ezslot_1',117,'0','0'])); But delving deeper into the story, I’m reminded less of “Mrs. Laura is depressed and does not like her life. Suppression and Insight: Comparative Analysis of Mrs Dalloway and The Hours Dalloway” in 1923 England; Laura (Moore), a suicidal housewife and mother in 1951 Los Angeles whose repressed sexuality manifests itself one day in impulsively kissing her female neighbor (played by Toni Collette); and Clarissa (Streep), a New York literary editor in 2001 who lives with her female partner (played by Allison Janney) and her daughter (played by Claire Danes), but is secretly in love with her ex-lover who is dying of AIDS (played by Ed Harris).eval(ez_write_tag([[300,250],'afterellen_com-medrectangle-4','ezslot_4',115,'0','0'])); The Hours has already earned seven Golden Globe nominations, including best motion picture, best director, best screenplay, best actress (for Kidman and Streep), best supporting actor (for Ed Harris), and best musical score, and is likely to garner several Oscar nominations as well. He often calls her "Mrs. D" or "Mrs. Dalloway" in reference to the novel. The Hours (Film) study guide contains a biography of director Stephen Daldry, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis. Three suicide attempts, two successful. These notes were contributed by members of the GradeSaver community. Thus, the psychological gesture of holding the womb by characters in the film is representative of the deep loss that is occurring within them. Where to Stream Scary Lesbian Stories All October Long, Atypical Isn’t The Lesbian Representation You’d Think, Ratched: The Power of Reclaiming An Iconic Female Villain, Raising Dion’s Lesbian Representation is Anything but Super, Sad Sex, Sailor Hats, and Silly Phrases: "Earthlings" Points to Ponder. $108,846,072. She’s not a person who’s even present in her life. GradeSaver, 9 March 2019 Web. Setting What's Up With the Epigraph? Interestingly, the official web site for the movie (which is otherwise very comprehensive and well-done) doesn’t once mention the lesbian or bisexual aspects of the women’s storylines in the plot summary or the character descriptions (although it is mentioned in the reviews included on the site), except for a quote from Streep which happens to name Clarissa’s lover, Sally, thereby giving away the gender as female. It is based on Michael Cunningham's novel The Hours. Almost all who have seen it so far have praised The Hours as a moving, well-written, and well-acted film. Dalloway” and more of the classic tale of the tragic lesbian in “The Well of Loneliness.”. She spends a lot of time preparing food and decorations for the party. The movie begins with her suicide where she fills her pockets full of rocks and drowns herself in the river Ouse in Sussex. One of the narrative strands explores the day in 1923 when Virginia Woolf begins to write Mrs. Dalloway.Another centers around a day in the life of Laura Brown, an American housewife, in 1949, in which she spends part of her time reading Mrs. Dalloway. It’s an easy conclusion to draw if mainstream films are the only exposure you have to the lives of lesbian and bisexual women–which sadly still applies to many Americans. The story of how the novel "Mrs. Dalloway" affects three generations of women, all of whom, in one way or another, have had to deal with suicide in their lives. The Question and Answer section for The Hours (Film) is a great There is an instinct that something is being lost, a knowing that whatever it is that has fractured inside of them can either be healed or allowed to fester with the hours that pass -- the hours of life that one can choose to live or die based on the experiences of one's life. In flashback, it shows her difficulty writing. The film begins with British writer Virginia Woolf (Nicole Kidman) putting stones inside her pockets before drowning herself (in real life, she walked in to the River Ouse on 28th March 1941).

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