Date Watched: July 25, 2010
Source: Netflix
What an interesting movie. This takes place during a single day in the lives of three women in three different time periods, and they are all tied together by a book entitled Mrs. Dalloway. The three women are Virginia Woolf in the 1920s as she was beginning to write the story, Laura Brown in the 1950s as a deeply depressed Los Angeles housewife who finds escape reading the story, and Clarissa Vaughan in 2001 who is essentially the title character of the story.
The opening scenes depict Virginia Woolf’s suicide by drowning in the early 1940s, but the rest of her scenes in the film follow her struggle with depression and mental illness as she tries to write the book. A visit by her sister and her children set a series of things in motion and Virginia’s outlook on everything about her life is changed forever.
Laura Brown is, on the outside, the typical 1950s housewife living the “American dream” with her husband Dan and son Richard. On the inside, however, Laura is despondent with her life, right down to her failed attempt to bake her husband a birthday cake, which, according to her friend Kitty, “anybody can bake a cake!” After Kitty tells her she’s going to the hospital for a procedure, just like Virginia, her life is forever changed as well.
Clarissa is planning a party for her former lover and now gay friend, Richard (“Stephen King people” alert! Ed Harris again!). Richard is receiving an award for his poetry, which he feels he only won because he is dying of AIDS. Clarissa tries valiantly to drag him out of the depression, though he doesn’t budge. Her visit to Richard, like the other two stories, sets a ball rolling that will change Clarissa’s life for good.
It’s hard to write about this movie because there are three different stories, all happening in the span of one day, and my refusal to post spoilers of any kind really throw a wrench in the gears here. Suffice it to say that this movie has one of those delicate webs of intertwining characters that I love, and it spans over decades. I love the detail that goes into these stories to make them work. When you have such interwoven lives, great attention must be paid to detail, or it fails. This one doesn’t fail at all.
Meryl Streep (as Clarissa Vaughan) is quickly becoming one of my favorite actresses, and she definitely brings her unique brand of talent to the table in this movie. Nicole Kidman (as Virginia Woolf) may have won the Academy Award, but I think Streep is the one who shines in this film.
Oh, and this movie… it has… THE TWIST. And I do love a good twist.
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