The Hours (film) - Plot

Plot

With the exception of the opening and final scenes, which depict the 1941 suicide by drowning of Virginia Woolf (Nicole Kidman) in the River Ouse, the action takes place within the span of a single day in three different years, and alternates among them throughout the film. In 1923, renowned author Woolf has begun writing the book Mrs Dalloway in her home in the town of Richmond outside London. In 1951, troubled Los Angeles housewife Laura Brown (Julianne Moore) escapes from her life as a conventional housewife by reading Mrs Dalloway. In 2001, New Yorker Clarissa Vaughan (Meryl Streep) is the embodiment of the title character of Mrs Dalloway as she spends the day preparing for a party she is hosting in honor of her former lover and friend Richard (Ed Harris), a poet and author living with AIDS who is to receive an award for career achievement. Richard tells Clarissa he has stayed alive for her sake, and the award is meaningless because he didn't get it sooner, until he was on the brink of death. She tells him she believes he would have won the award regardless of his illness. Richard often refers to Clarissa as "Mrs. Dalloway", due to her distracting herself from her own life and self the way the Woolf character did.

Virginia, who has experienced several nervous breakdowns and suffers from bipolar disorder, feels trapped in her home, intimidated by servants and constantly under the eye of her husband Leonard (Stephen Dillane) who has begun a publishing business, Hogarth Press, at home to stay close to her. Woolf both welcomes and dreads an afternoon visit from her sister Vanessa (Miranda Richardson) and her children. After their departure, Virginia flees to the railway station where she is awaiting a train to central London when Leonard arrives to bring her home. He tells her how he lives in constant fear that she will take her own life. She says she fears it also, but argues that if she is to live she has the right to decide how, and where, as much as any other.

Very pregnant with her second child, Laura spends her days in her tract home with her young son, Richie. She married her husband, Dan (John C. Reilly), soon after World War II and on the surface they are living the American Dream but she is deeply unhappy. She and Richie make a cake for Dan's birthday, but it is a disaster. Her neighbour Kitty (Toni Collette) drops in to ask her if she can feed her dog while she's in the hospital for a procedure. Kitty pretends to be upbeat, but Laura senses her fear and boldly kisses her on the lips. Kitty accepts the kiss without comment, and both women ignore any hidden meaning it might have. Laura and Richie successfully make another cake and clean up, and then she takes Richie to stay with Mrs. Latch (Margo Martindale). He is terrified of being left without her and she insists she will be back, but instead of running errands she checks into a hotel where she intends to commit suicide. Laura removes several bottles of pills and Woolf's novel from her purse, and begins to read Mrs Dalloway. She drifts off to sleep, and dreams the hotel room is flooded, awakening with a change of heart, and caresses her belly. She picks up Richie and they return home to celebrate Dan's birthday.

Clarissa appears equally worried about Richard, and his depression, and the party she is planning for him. Although Clarissa herself is a lesbian who has been living with Sally Lester (Allison Janney) for 10 years, she and Richard were lovers during their college days, and he has spent the better part of his life in gay relationships, including one with Louis Waters (Jeff Daniels), who left him years ago but returns for the festivities. Clarissa's daughter, Julia (Claire Danes), comes home to help her prepare. Richard has taken all sorts of pills but tells her Clarissa is the most beautiful thing he ever had in life, before he throws himself out a window to his death. Later that night Laura, who is Richard's mother, arrives at Clarissa's apartment. It is clear that Laura's abandonment of her family was a profound trauma for Richard, but Laura reveals it was a better decision for her to leave the family after the birth of her daughter, rather than commit suicide. She has led an independent, happier life as a librarian in Canada. She does not apologize for the hurt she caused to her family (Dan and their daughter are also both dead), and suggests that it's not possible to feel regret for something over which she had no choice. She acknowledges that no one will forgive her, but offers an explanation: "It was death. I chose life." When Julia spontaneously hugs her, she looks stunned and surprised, then moved by the demonstration of compassion.