Virginia Woolf

“The Hours” focuses on three stories of women as they revolve around Virginia Woolf’s story Mrs. Dalloway. I struggled with Laura and Clarrisa’s characters because they both seemed somewhat bland to me. At least, I think Meryl Streep and Julianne Moore did not perform their parts well. However, I would say that Nicole Kidman did deserve her 2002 Academy Award for her performance as Virginia Woolf.

The way Nicole portrays Virginia is extremely interesting. Virginia seems attached from society, as she constantly finds ways to shut herself away from Leonard. This goes back to her mental illness. There are many times throughout the movie where I question Virginia’s actions. I am left to wonder, is she currently out of it, or is she in her right frame of mind? I believe there is a sort of interpretation for the viewer to decide. I believe that what makes Nicole Kidman’s performance of Virginia Woolf stand out. She gives the character a sense or the estranged and bizarre (“Someone has to die in order that the rest of us should value life more. It's contrast”). I personally think that a great writer has to be strange and different, and this is how Kidman sets up the character. There is also a tie between Mrs. Dalloway and Virginia. The book almost seems therapeutic in its nature, as it opens up a world for Virginia to act by. The story sets up Virginia’s own suicide.