{"id":8998,"date":"2025-08-01T01:25:31","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T05:25:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=8998"},"modified":"2026-07-02T15:53:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T19:53:17","slug":"the-hours-2002","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=8998","title":{"rendered":"The Hours-2002"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Hours-2002<\/strong><\/p>\n

Director Stephen Daldry<\/strong><\/p>\n

Starring Nicole Kidman, Julianne Moore, Meryl Streep<\/strong><\/p>\n

Top 250 Films #169<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Scott’s Review #803<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Reviewed August 17, 2018<\/p>\n

Grade: A<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Hours (2002) is a film containing the ultimate in acting riches. With names like Nicole Kidman, Meryl Streep, and Julianne Moore associated with the film, this is not surprising.<\/p>\n

Not solely belonging to the ladies, however, Ed Harris, in particular, is dynamic in his role, as are all the other males who appear in the film.<\/p>\n

Told in three different sections in chronological order, but going back and forth, the stories all share connections via the novel Mrs. Dalloway<\/em>, written by Virginia Woolf.<\/p>\n

One of the best films of the decade!<\/p>\n

Each segment of the film takes place within a single day, but decades apart.<\/p>\n

Wisely, director Stephen Daldry frequently switches between the stories, leaving a sort of cliffhanger and making the drama more compelling and spicy.<\/p>\n

In 1923, a depressed Virginia Woolf is portrayed by an unrecognizable Nicole Kidman in a role that won her the Best Actress Oscar.<\/p>\n

Woolf resides outside of London and struggles to complete her novel amid nervous breakdowns and the watchful eye of her husband, who is aware of her mental pain.<\/p>\n

In 1951, Laura Brown (Julianne Moore) seemingly has it all, living the “American Dream”. Residing in a nice neighborhood with a loving husband, she is pregnant with her second child and spends her days at home raising her young son, Richie, whom she is very close to yet does not understand.<\/p>\n

After a fleeting lesbian dalliance with a neighbor, Laura goes off to a hotel with bottles of pills, intending to kill herself. She changes her mind after reading Woolf’s novel and dozing off, deciding instead to make a different decision.<\/p>\n

Finally, in 2001, Clarissa (Meryl Streep) is bisexual and in a same-sex relationship. She lives with Richard (Harris), whom she dated in college, and is now the best of friends.<\/p>\n

He is gay, stricken with the AIDS virus, and close to committing suicide as he plans to jump out of a window.<\/p>\n

This story (set in the present) is crucial to the film because it involves two characters from the 1951 story. These characters intersect with others in a touching and heart-wrenching way.<\/p>\n

The greatest parts of The Hours are the brilliant acting and the richly written storytelling.<\/p>\n

Arguably, Kidman, Streep, and Moore could all have won Oscars for their performances.<\/p>\n

I must mention that, as brilliant as Kidman is (she is the sole Oscar recipient) and as universally good as Streep is, I would have given the Oscar to Moore, the standout in my opinion.<\/p>\n

Glamorous and intelligent, warm to her son, she makes a monumental and controversial decision. The character should not be sympathetic- yet she is<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n

This is a testament to Moore’s infusion of the character with confidence, reasonable thought, and even some empathy. We finally understand<\/strong><\/em> why she does what she does.<\/p>\n

May I boast for a moment about Harris’s performance? Richard, once known as Richie as a kid (this will give something away), has lived a difficult life.<\/p>\n

Abandoned, wounded, and suffering much loss, he is a tragic figure, pained beyond belief. His suffering is so monumental that we almost welcome his demise, and Harris offers so much of himself in this difficult role.<\/p>\n

He is both physically and emotionally hurt, and Harris portrays this in spades.<\/p>\n

Uniquely, all three stories work independently of each other. Yes, characters from one appear in another, but they are like well-crafted vignettes.<\/p>\n

Similarly, they each begin with breakfast, then involve the planning of a party or celebration of some sort, and culminate in sadness.<\/p>\n

Yet the film does not feel like a downer or preachy in any way; rather, it is good, solid, humanistic storytelling, which I adore.<\/p>\n

Sure, the film is considered a drama, but it also contains multiple gay or bisexual characters and therefore must be included in the chambers of LGBT filmmaking.<\/p>\n

With an A-list cast, the film helps lead the charge (successfully so) to bring more rich LGBT films to the center stage and garner mainstream audiences.<\/p>\n

The great aspect of The Hours is that it is a mainstream film- a good, solid drama.<\/p>\n

Based on a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Michael Cunningham, The Hours (2002) does not try to draw parallels between the stories or necessarily connect them in an obvious fashion.<\/p>\n

Rather, the film version provokes thought both with LGBT and feminist approaches. Each female central character lives in a world run by men, as Woolf argues in her novel.<\/p>\n

The film brilliantly adapts the novel and brings it to large audiences in a fantastic, riveting fashion.<\/p>\n

Oscar Nominations: 1 win-<\/strong>Best Picture, Best Director-Stephen Daldry, Best Actress-Nicole Kidman (won)<\/strong>, Best Supporting Actor-Ed Harris, Best Supporting Actress-Julianne Moore, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Score, Best Costume Design, Best Film Editing<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Hours-2002 Director Stephen Daldry Starring Nicole Kidman, Julianne Moore, Meryl Streep Top 250 Films #169 Scott’s Review #803 Reviewed August 17, 2018 Grade: A The Hours (2002) is a film containing the ultimate in acting riches. With names like Nicole Kidman, Meryl Streep, and Julianne Moore associated with the film, this is not surprising. … Continue reading The Hours-2002<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[87,192,339,122,11788,7464],"tags":[7803,1925,2280,1632,2204,1198,1993,1037,11912,2279,2183,2278,1824,2274,11871,2109],"class_list":["post-8998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2002-films","category-dramas","category-lgbt-dramas","category-gay-films","category-psychological-drama","category-top-250-films","tag-169-favorite-film","tag-allison-janney","tag-claire-danes","tag-ed-harris","tag-eileen-atkins","tag-jeff-daniels","tag-john-c-reilly","tag-julianne-moore","tag-linda-bassett","tag-margo-martindale","tag-meryl-streep","tag-miranda-richardson","tag-nicole-kidman","tag-stephen-daldry","tag-stephen-dillane","tag-toni-collette"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8998"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8998\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23652,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8998\/revisions\/23652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}