The Hours – not just about Virginia Woolf

(See also what the International Movie Database says about The Hours.)

Please note: This article may spoil your spontaneous enjoyment of the film. A number of significant events are revealed, so if you want to watch the film without preconceptions, we advise you to read the article afterwards. 

The Hours (2002), with screenplay by David Hare, was directed by Stephen Daldry and is based on Michael Cunningham’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel of the same name.

The Hours was also the working title of Virginia Woolf’s famous novel Mrs Dalloway, published in 1925, which depicts one June day in the life of a middle-aged, upper-class woman, Mrs Clarissa Dalloway (wife of a member of parliament), as she plans a party to which the prime minister is invited. The protagonist goes shopping and sets about her daily tasks, but beneath her light-hearted, fashionable exterior lie a sadness, emptiness and loneliness that have to be kept locked up.

An encounter with the man who was once the love of her life creates unease and disturbs her daily rhythm. Anyway, this is not what happens in the film, but I don’t want to reveal the narrative twist straight away. The film is worth watching first. Not because it presents an exciting – or even true – picture of Virginia Woolf's life or person, but because of a cinematic approach that adds a whole new dimension. The film is well cast (note 1), even down to the smallest supporting role.

Three very different women

We are introduced to three very different women from different eras, who are united by the fact that, as the director has described it, one is writing, one is reading and one is acting out the story of Mrs Dalloway (note 2). Virginia Woolf believed that, by observing a person over a single day in the course of her life, you could build up a picture of her entire existence. Or, in other words, that everything you need to know about human life can be found in individual, mundane daily events (note 3).

The music, composed by Philip Glass, links the film sequences, subtly blurring the boundaries of time, space and person. It starts and stops, starts and stops – until eventually it flows continuously, like a river with strong and slightly disturbing undercurrents, thus alluding both to Virginia Woolf's suicide and to the stream of consciousness (cf. Ulysses by James Joyce) in her novels. The music is painfully present, driving the story forward inexorably and fatefully.

Virginia Woolf

The true protagonist is the English writer Virginia Woolf (note 4), who, with her husband, the critic and publisher Leonard Woolf, opened her home in London’s Tavistock Square in the early years of the twentieth century to a circle of friends who later became known as the Bloomsbury Group.

Another famous name among the group was Virginia's artistic sister Vanessa (played on screen by Miranda Richardson), who, in one sequence in the film, pays a fleeting visit with her unruly sons and young daughter, which immediately marginalizes the sickly, isolated Virginia. Virginia's marriage to Leonard was intentionally childless but was otherwise a union of soulmates, both intellectually and emotionally.

Mental illness

The film centres on Virginia's efforts to finish her novel Mrs Dalloway while battling with mental illness. Her husband Leonard (Stephen Dillane) has taken her away from the bustle of London life to the peace and quiet of suburban Richmond, an existence Virginia cannot stand.

The small publishing business Leonard has started (which later grew into the famous Hogarth Press) is intended as therapy for his wife, but her depression and death wish increasingly intrude on their rural way of life until eventually, after several earlier suicide attempts, she drowns herself in the River Ouse. Virginia Woolf is played by Nicole Kidman, physically distorted for the role, who won an Oscar for her performance (or, as one critic unkindly put it, for her artificial nose).

Confused and reluctant

However, some of the other female leads are more impressive. We meet one of them in 1950s America. Laura Brown (Julianne Moore ) is a confused and reluctant suburban wife, expecting her second child. She is having difficulty finding her identity, and books appeal to her more than real life.

One of the books she reads is Mrs Dalloway. In one scene she leaves her young son, screaming, with a kindly neighbour, on the pretext of an appointment at the hairdresser's. She then checks in to a luxury hotel, planning to commit suicide. However, she changes her mind and returns home, to the relief of her son, who, with the emotional antennae of a child, has sensed the imminent danger.

Modern counterpart

In contemporary Greenwich Village, New York, the publisher Clarissa Vaughan (Meryl Streep ) is living in a lesbian relationship. She is Mrs Dalloway's modern counterpart, in the process of preparing a party for her friend Richard, who is suffering from aids and was the love of her youth.

Richard (the same name as Mrs Dalloway's husband; played by Ed Harris) has just won an award for his writing, which he ascribes to his illness. He calls Clarissa "Mrs Dalloway" with great tenderness and is staying alive, tormented and scarred, mainly for her sake. But today is his last day, and he can go on no longer. He sits in the window of his gloomy room, high above street level, and, after a brief conversation, slips over the edge with appalling ease before the very eyes of the unsuspecting Clarissa.

At this point, the stories are unexpectedly tied together: when Richard's mother comes to visit after his death, it transpires that her name is Laura Brown. Quietly and unsentimentally, she tells the story of how she did the unthinkable and left her husband and two children to make her own life as a librarian in Canada. "What does it mean to regret when you have no choice?" So, the despairing little boy who watched his mother drive away was none other than Richard. The drama intensifies, and viewers are forced to re-evaluate what they have already seen, construed and taken on board.

DEPRESSION AND SUICIDE – ASPECTS OF THE FILM FROM A PSYCHIATRIST'S PERSPECTIVE

Depression is an endemic condition that ranks highly on the WHO list of the overall global sickness burden. At superficial level, the traditional stress/vulnerability model may explain its onset; there is often a genetic or inherited vulnerability which, in combination with external stress, may trigger the condition.

We do not know the cause of this stress – it may be difficult life events, other illness (e.g. Parkinson's, thyroid problems, cardiovascular disease, stroke, vitamin B deficiency), environmental factors, medication (e.g. beta blockers) or other factors. Nevertheless, the condition should be treated adequately, with consideration given to the suffering of the individual patient and his/her family, the risk of suicide and, not least, the risk of recurrence, which increases with every bout – the more frequent the recurrences, the less identifiable the external stress factors seem to be. In addition, there are high costs to society as a result of excessive sick leave, for instance.

Lengthy periods in hospital

The real Virginia Woolf suffered from an affective disorder (described by earlier literary historians as schizophrenia and by contemporary English-speaking scholars as bipolar disorder; it may have been a variant with elements of both), with repeated bouts of depression but also manic phases and intensive psychotic episodes in which she would hear voices. She spent lengthy periods in hospital being treated with the very limited range of drugs available at that time, such as barbiturates and morphine preparations.

At one point in the film, her husband cries out imploringly, "This is not you speaking, Virginia, it is an aspect of your illness" (note 5). The boundary between ill and healthy, between illness and character/disposition/personality is not always crystal clear, although the diagnostic criteria generally provide sufficient guidance.

Bipolar disorder and creativity

In particular, the link between bipolar disorder (formerly known as manic-depressive psychosis) and creativity further complicates the matter. What aspects of an artist's creative life are a consequence of the illness? In what way does the illness influence the art?

There are innumerable examples of writers, composers, artists and the like with some form of mental illness, even considering that such illness is endemic among the population at large. Just as in Hemingway's family, for example, there were a number of people in Virginia's family with depression or bipolar disorder.

The available information varies somewhat, but her paternal grandfather, mother, sister, brother and a niece or nephew all seem to have suffered from recurrent depression; her father and another brother had at least a cyclothymic temperament, and her cousin died in a state of acute mania.

Depressive symptoms

In The Hours, all three women exhibit depressive symptoms of various kinds and to various degrees. Laura, for instance, feels down (although her sleep pattern does not seem to be disturbed – generally one of the most common symptoms), is unable to concentrate on baking a normally simple cake (which makes it less credible that she would manage to read a work of literature…), apparently has to force herself to get down to her daily chores, appears ambivalent and broody, uneasy and anxious, is emotionally unstable, finds it hard to feel enthusiasm even for her son, and is seriously contemplating suicide (with specific plans).

All this can be seen if you look for it; appetite is often affected, as is libido, and varying degrees of self-reproach are common (and sometimes misinterpreted as generally low self-confidence).

Suicide common cause of death

Another important aspect of depression and especially bipolar disorder is that, in addition to the suffering and the risks of the current depression or mania, there is a clear tendency for the condition to worsen over time. The bouts tend to occur with increasing frequency, and to be more severe and increasingly resistant to treatment.

Abuse in various forms often follows, and the risk of other somatic illness such as cardiovascular disease increases. Suicide is the most common cause of death among men aged 18–45, and the second most common after breast cancer among women in the same age group. It is important to assess the risk of suicide each time a patient attends – and relatives should be involved as a matter of course at an early stage, in order to shed light on the condition and facilitate a treatment alliance.

When Leonard in the film asks Virginia why someone has to die in her book, she replies that it is in order that the rest of us should value life more. The poet will die, the visionary. You cannot find peace by avoiding life. "Dear Leonard, to look life in the face… always… to look life in the face and to know it for what it is. At last… to know it, to love it for what it is and then to put it away. Dear Leonard, always the years between us, always the years, always the love, always the hours. "

POINTS FOR DISCUSSION

• On the surface, Laura Brown does not appear depressed. Discuss the importance of asking leading questions.

• Discuss ways of facilitating diagnosis of depression in the primary-care sector.

• Are rating scales used? MADRS-S? What should be done to ensure that day-to-day work remains tolerable?

• A simultaneous secondary illness within the “serotonin spectrum" is very common, e.g. general anxiety, panic attacks, obsessive-compulsive disorder, social anxiety disorder. Screening is required. How, who, when? Any previous hypomanic/manic symptoms?

• How to catch simultaneous risky behaviour such as “self-medication" with alcohol? What to do in the event of a positive outcome?

• We know that compliance/adherence/concordance (= inclination to follow the prescribed course of treatment) is very low. What can be done to improve the situation?

• What information should be given, in writing and verbally – and by whom?

• How should we cater for those patients needing temporary support or more regular therapy (e.g. cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), which has been shown to make a positive contribution)? At what stage? By whom? How to prioritize (necessary given the prevalence of the conditions)?

• What does the optimum working relationship with psychiatry involve – in terms of correct level of care, consulting role as required, training, etc.?

• How can we, from the primary-care side, help reduce the stigma that is still associated with mental illness – even an endemic condition such as depression?

• Exercise: Pretend you are offering information, motivation and treatment to a patient with depression… and translate everything you say, and the patient's reactions, to the context of, say, hypertension: a condition that is usually asymptomatic, but requires lifelong treatment. If nothing else, this will provide a sense of perspective.

FOOTNOTES

Note 1

Nicole Kidman has given superb character performances in films such as Dead Calm, Portrait of a Lady, Moulin Rouge, Eyes Wide Shut and Dogville. Julianne Moore made her name in Robert Altman's Short Cuts, subsequently appearing in Far From Heaven and many other films. Meryl Streep has played the leading role in countless movies including Kramer vs. Kramer, Silkwood, Sophie's Choice, Out of Africa (about Karen Blixen) and The French Lieutenant's Woman .

Stephen Dillane is a celebrated actor, as is Miranda Richardson (whose notable roles have included T.S. Eliot's first wife in Tom and Viv and a brilliant performance as the fickle Queen Elizabeth in Blackadder) and last, but not least, the veteran Ed Harris (seen in the film about the artist Jackson Pollock). The supporting cast includes John C. Reilly as Laura's naively contented husband, Claire Danes as Clarissa's clear-sighted daughter (a test-tube baby!), Jeff Daniels as Richard's former boyfriend, and Toni Collette (whom I remember from the delightful Muriel's Wedding) as Laura's neighbour Kitty.

Note 2

Other famous works by the author include the novels The Waves and To the Lighthouse. Also of particular interest, in the light of Woolf's bisexual tendencies, is the highly original fantasy novel about the androgynous Orlando.

Note 3

The writer Nigel Nicholson, whose famous mother, Vita Sackville-West, had a brief affair with Virginia Woolf, recalled in an interview his mother's inquisitive friend, who would constantly interrogate the children about seemingly banal everyday events. She encouraged them to keep a journal, write letters, etc. "Nothing has happened until it is written down."

Note 4

Virginia Woolf (1882–1941) was the daughter of the critic Leslie Stephen, later knighted, and his wife Julia. Both her parents had been married before, and a half-brother abused Virginia, who was only 13 when her mother died. As usual in those days, the daughters did not attend high school or university, but their childhood home was full of books and offered them the chance to mix in literary circles. After their father's death in 1904, Virginia and her sister Vanessa moved to the Bloomsbury district of London.

In the years leading up to the First World War, this was home to the Bloomsbury Group, whose notable members included (in addition to Virginia and Leonard Woolf) John Maynard Keynes, the economist, and Lytton Strachey, author of the satirical essay collection Eminent Victorians. Vanessa and her husband, the art critic Clive Bell, were also members.

Note 5

Virginia also had a happy and adventurous side which is seldom discussed. She and some other members of the Bloomsbury Group were behind an outrageous practical joke, which made the front page of Daily Mirror at the time: The emperor of Abyssinia and a four-man retinue had inspected HMS Dreadnought and her crew, with full military honours on both sides.

The black visitors subsequently turned out to be none other than Virginia and her friends, disguised beyond recognition! They wished to break all the rules and to think and act freely, but were accused of elitism, lack of reality, and promiscuity.

The ideas of the Cambridge philosopher G.E. Moore concerning the value of friendship and aesthetic experience heavily influenced the group. Mrs Dalloway is frightened by the fragility of life and attempts to offer her guests what little she can of that which she perceives as important. She offers her fellow humans the chance to come together for a while, in the hope that it will play an important, if small, part in their life.