May Flowers? Mrs Dalloway Buys Them Herself!
Tuesday, May 14, 2013 at 11:36AM How soon into a movie or book or anything do you know you'll love it? When I first read The Hours, Michael Cunningham's transcendent riff on Virginia Woolf's "Mrs Dalloway" I knew as soon as Clarissa had entered the flower shop. With the film version I knew even sooner, perhaps having been prepped for the movie by the book but also because of the unfussy simplicity of the kick-off to this glorious triptych. (The Hours isn't always unfussy, of course, but note how the music drops out completely in this absolutely key moment when Virginia finds her first sentence.)
All we're left with is three women, three eras, three great actresses, and three separate temperaments.
Virginia: Mrs Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself.
Laura: Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself.
Clarissa: Sally, I think I'll buy the flowers myself.
How utterly perfect and succinct - Art, uttered first in the imagination, is then received and contemplated, and finally lived-in and through, having made its mark. (It's a subtle thing but how beautiful that Stephen Daldry's camera pulls out a bit with each repetition, making more room in the world for the words)
"Mrs Dalloway", Virginia Woolf's masterpiece -- or one of them at least (I can't live without "Orlando") -- was first published 88 years ago on this very day!. The concept, a woman's whole life in a single day. And as the later book and film helpfully extrapolates and reminds us ... and in that day her whole life.
I love the cut to Allison Janney's blunt exclamation, that pulls us out of this first sentence reverie before it gets to precious.
[to Clarissa] WHAT? What flowers?
[to Self] Shit.
Which books do you wish would inspire not straight adaptations but spun off works of art that stand beautifully on their own? How soon did you love The Hours?
Previously in The Hours
Nathaniel talks to Nicole Kidman about her Oscar win
Joe & Nick discuss The Hours its kisses, hands, actresses and tics at length
Reader Comments (20)
Will you be doing a Nicole Kidman restrospective,25 years since her hollywood debut and 10 years since she won Best Actress.
I know Kidman is the one you would save from drowning if you had to make a choice.
I knew I would love The Hours right after hearing Kidman read Woolf's letter — just haunting from start to finish.
What's with all this "Clara" nonsense?? Must be having a long day, Nathaniel ;) Clarissa Vaughn buys the flowers herself, thank you very much.
though, really, who am I to complain. I love everything about this blog, but it's the mindful returns to "The Hours" that keeps me coming back most. I read the novel in the late summer of 2002 because I read somewhere about the movie. it was my first year following such things. I was young enough to still have never read any Woolf, and I'm pretty sure I still thought "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" was a bio-play of some kind. but boy, did I weep many a tear reading through that first time. once I finished, I picked it up and started all over again. I've carried the book (and its accompanying film) with me the rest of my life.
The film left me cold for a while, but that was because I was/am such a fan of the book. It couldn't quite capture some of its more startling passages. But I saw it again recently and absolutely loved it.
Two books I treasure:: Allende's The House of the Spirits and Garcia Marquez's Love in the Time of Cholera. Imagine my despair when the film adaptations were released. Both unholy messes.
The Hours: opening scene with Virginia standing next to the river filling her tweed pockets with rocks. FYI--still think that was the year of major category fraud for BA and BSA. And Moore should have taken it with her other performance.
I'd absolutely love to see what someone like Jane Campion or Todd Haynes could do with Jeffrey Eugenides' Middlesex.
I fell in love with the trailer, and read the book before it came out. It felt like settling into a gorgeous vision. I loved it from the start.
And Then There Were None is my favorite Agatha Christie novel and despite many adaptations, it has yet to be done right. Of course ideas from the film have been stolen (I can think of a John Cusack film that steal its ideas, for example), but no one has even attempted the story from Vera Claythorne's point of view, which was pretty much how the novel was written. They also screw up the ending. I would love to see Kauffman or Demme or even Daldry give it a whirl.
I love the differences in the versions of Hairspray. Completely different. Maybe they should make more regular films into musicals by way of Broadway.
I'm still amazed by how many times I can watch The Hours and never get tired of it. Few recent films have that effect, by recent I mean post 2000. The other one would be Lost in Translation.
I think Alison Janney's 'what?' moment most perfectly got its dues in the Adam and Joe's reimagining of the film as a 90s trance hit:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FqJNQ2-K9g
First time I saw it, I didn't like it because I was bored and it lef tme cold. But then after I returned the library copy, I couldn't stop thinking about it then I rented it again, watched it and loved it. It's in my Top 5 ever. How is that possible?
Why did Kidman beat Moore for BA? It makes no sense. Kidman was really
supporting - category fraud.
Mark -- Kidman was not supporting! it's a triple parallel narrative. Take anyone of those three characters away and the film collapses. Each is the lead of her own section. And there are three sections. The end.
I loved The Hours immediately upon seeing it. I bought the book and must have read it about four times that year and I watched the movie just as obsessively. I still love it today, though my affection for it is complicated and full of contradictions. I love it in spite of its flaws. I find it fascinating that it's both ambitious and yet still plays it a little safe. I love what a relic it is. A little more than a decade later and I do firmly believe that the cinematic landscape has so shifted that The Hours may not have been made today. What I love most about it though is how it serves as such a clear marker for my personal cinematic narrative. I was 16 and the film seemed to kick into high gear my already blossoming obsession with movies and, in particular, all things Oscar. I knew Kidman from Moulin Rouge, but I hardly had a grasp of any of these performers, so unsophisticated was my movie-watching. My main point of reference for Julianne Moore was Hannibal and for Meryl, it was probably Death Becomes Her. Whether the movie itself is "great" is debatable, but it opened that door for me as a teenager. If it weren't for The Hours, I honestly don't know that I would have ever been compelled to go back and watch Boogie Nights or Safe or Silkwood or Eyes Wide Shut, etc, etc. Very influential movie for me.
Every black person I know (myself included) who read Zora Neale Hurston's "Their Eyes Were Watching God" had a very strong reaction to it, be it negative or positive. I remember reading the novel for school right around the time The Hours hit theaters and foolishly daydreaming about a similar story involving Hurston writing her book and the impact it had on black women throughout history. Hurston and Woolf seemed like spirit animals, in a way. Tortured lives, ambiguous sexuality. Facile Oprah-produced television adaptations starring Halle Berry notwithstanding, I still think that a spun-off, stand-alone work of art inspired by "Their Eyes Were Watching God" could be quite powerful with the right touch.
Great movie. Please Hollywood make another film with these three daring actresses.
Yes, I agree with Nathaniel, the real category fraud was putting Julianne in supporting for "The Hours"... The film had three leads... But I agree that Julianne should have won for "Far from Heaven", even if Nicole was great.... And I love both "The Hours" book and film so much...
I loved the book, but for some reason the film not as much, I think I saw it straight after reading the novel. I loved Julianne's and Nicole's sections, but found Meryl's interpretation of her character really grating (and I always love me some Meryl Streep). She was really over the top when I never saw her character written like that, the characterization was not what I expected so it really took me out of the narrative whenever she was on screen. I should watch it again with fresh eyes removed from the novel being so fresh in my mind.
it seems this film has grown for you over the years, I remember it was only #8 in your top ten(yes, long time reader here) where do you rank it now?
I have watched it at least 20 times and i still LOVE it