The Hours

SYNOPSIS

Despite being director Stephen Daldry's follow up to Billy Elliot, much of the initial interest in this drama has focused on Nicole Kidman's prosthetic nose - as renowned English writer Virginia Woolf, she is virtually unrecognisable. The physical transformation she has undertaken for the role is somewhat distracting at the beginning, but as David Hare's magnificent screenplay unfolds, it is the drama's beauty and eloquence that take centre stage. Adapted from Michael Cunningham's complex novel, this poignant exploration of longing, desire and regret interweaves the lives of three women from different eras. Kidman's neurosis-driven Woolf is the most developed and compelling character, but co-stars Julianne Moore and Meryl Streep are also interesting, as a stifled 1950s housewife and a present-day lesbian book editor, respectively. Had Moore and Streep's scenarios been made weightier and less clichéd, the feature would have been a masterpiece. As it stands, it's a sophisticated and deeply poetic triumph that marks out Daldry as a talent to watch.