The Hours

An existential examination of the female mind in a state of uncertainty, doubt and dissatisfaction. A haunting subject filmed by a man better than a woman ever could. I couldn’t identify with the suffering characters in every moment, but I could see myself in ninety percent of the runtime. Stephen Daldry pulled off a miracle. With another viewing, I will probably raise my rating to five stars. It’s impossible to take it all in the first time. (08/02/2003)

I wouldn’t want to see this dubbed, the performances are fantastic. Nicole Kidman with her fake nose and wig is really unrecognizable and she is great as an introverted, depressed woman. But Julianne Moore is even better, she should have got the Oscar, it is “her” film. Her scene in the hotel is such an emotional barrage that it would be enough for one film on its own. But Daldry doesn't spare the audience and the film is emotionally gripping from start to finish. In short, The Hours is a hundred minutes of crackling emotion, perfectly enhanced by Phillip Glass's magnificent score. It's not very often that I get chills when I watch a movie these days, but it happened a lot with this film. I am really happy that films like this are still being made. It was a massive surprise, I didn’t expect much and it was so good! (07/01/2003)

An unquestionably effective film with great direction and superb performances (Julianne Moore!), but I was unable to relate to the characters. The women’s worldviews are portrayed so perfectly that I could not understand them. In short, my ideas simply don’t agree with this film. It took about two years and then she told him: Hey, I’m lesbian. Wow. (02/12/2011)

The Hours is a classic film about which you can’t form a clear opinion during a single watch. Not only because the film is divided in a postmodern way into three time-spaces, connected both motivically and through characters. From this perspective, this is one of those simpler jigsaw puzzles, the principle of which you can unveil very easily, because Stephen Daldry's goal is not to confuse the viewer... In the first space-time, Virginia Woolf experiences a difficult struggle with illness and misunderstanding (phenomenal performance by Nicole Kidman!). Her novel Mrs Dalloway grows out of feelings of misunderstanding, loneliness and uprooting. This book was read in the 1950s by Laura Brown (the fragile and closed-off Julianne Moore), a mother living in the illusion of a happy family but struggling inside with similar feelings of misunderstanding as Virginia. In 2001, Clarissa Vaughan (suggestively played by Meryl Streep) gets the name of the heroine of the novel half jokingly... it's probably not worth emphasizing that she too struggles with life disillusionment, misfortune and the fateful man she loves, who threw her away long ago... All of the protagonists are connected by Woolf's novel, a similar emotional state and lesbian tendencies. All of this is intertwined in a difficult complex of relationships and emotions, and they go through a painful catharsis during a single "film" day. On one fateful day, the three levels of the story intertwine into a relatively coherent film ensemble, which at first lacks gradation and drowns in big words (the intellectual patheticity still holds on to it at a tolerable level), but at crucial moments it always has a great emotional charge and the gift to grab on to the viewer and make us think. A bit of an obstacle for me is the gender filter in seeing men as a) submissive and effeminate intellectuals (Leonard Woolf), b) wrecked and aimlessly wandering artists (Richard Brown), c) dull and inattentive domestic animals (Richie Brown). Despite the partial antipathies, however, I admit that The Hours has great inner strength and considerable stylistic maturity. Thanks to which, and also thanks to the sensitive directing and excellent music of Philip Glass, they amount to a great spectator experience... (09/13/2004)

If it weren't for Stephen Glass's music in The Hours, they would be at least half as good. But even if so, we are left with an incredible acting concert by three actresses and one actor. It is a quite depressing experience to see all the heroines sail through a very sad day, incomparable and sometimes completely the same. Above all, absolute concentration is required, otherwise the motivations of the heroines might seem ridiculous and their reactions hysterical to many people. And also, a sign prohibiting cynics should not be missing from the cover. At first, I kept some reservation, big or small, but the gradual crescendo is breathtaking and leaves no room for doubt. With the twist or the devastating final monologue, a very specific and oppressive impression remains in the heart. With distance, however, I sober up a bit and adjust my rating slightly lower. The crescendo, despite its first-class ending, stutters slightly in some places, and as a whole, the film is perhaps a little elusive. Nevertheless, significantly positive impressions and let me not forget to mention my favorite from the fateful trio - Nicole Kidman. (02/04/2006)

For me, unfortunately, it's a clear case of a film that pretends to be great art and yet is boring and uninteresting to the point of shame. Really, the only thing that impressed me in that dreary flood of boredom was the beautiful music and the excellent performances of everyone present; except perhaps Nicole Kidman, who played her difficult role perfectly, but after the hard work of the make-up artists she looked so ugly that I didn't have the strength to watch her consistently. In the end, however, all the shining ladies were overshadowed by the absolutely stunning Ed Harris, whose performance only added to the list of "The Oscar should have gone to...". Maybe it would take one more viewing to absorb it all, but to be honest I'll probably never find the courage to do that. (06/13/2013)

The way three stories are connected here is truly unique, as is the unique connection not only in content, but also in the actual linking of individual plotlines. Formally and in terms of acting, I really liked the film. However, I can't help but feel that in the end, the movie didn't tell me that much. (12/20/2014)

Stephen Daldry and his college drama, where an ambitious storytelling style is aptly matched by impressive performances (though the focus is on the central female trio, Ed Harris leaves a damn strong stamp on it). The problem comes at the level of some deeper identification with the characters, as the whole thing felt like it had to come automatically. With Philip Glass's fantastic score, the aforementioned performances by the cast, and the crafted, essentially flawless direction, you just can't help but feel the slightest emotional emptiness at the end. I may not be the target audience (and I'm a pretty big target even at 31) and I can't connect to the fates of the female characters as deeply as Stephen Daldry, but I still have to say that everything else here is great. I find it fascinating that such a powerful female story could be so intimately and sensitively directed by a man, hats off to him. [80%] (11/29/2020)