The Hours': The Role of the Book in Feminism

I first saw the 2002 film, The Hours, an adaption of The Hours by Michael Cunningham and Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf, I had just turned 14. I watched it again and again, drawn to it but not sure why. Years later, when I had come to terms with my bisexuality, I understood that I was drawn to the themes of repressed sexuality in the movie. The film follows three women across three different decades, one of them Virginia Woolf herself. They face different issues of oppression according to the time they are living in, but all face suppression and suffer from quiet desperation that many women experience. In this paper I will discuss the feminist themes of The Hours, it’s downfalls, and why this text helps me.

The Hours follows one day in the life of Virginia Woolf in 1923, Laura Brown in 1951, and Clarissa Vaughn in 2001. The movie does not flow in chronological order, instead the focus shifts from timeline to timeline, following each of the women. Further, the movie begins in 1941 with Virginia Woolf’s suicide before cutting back to 1923. This intertwines the women’s stories, displaying their similarities, without putting them in the same scene or even the same decade. Despite their differences in appearance, life, and time, Virginia, Laura, and Clarissa all suffer from misogyny in some form. This represents the universal need for feminism: all women’s stories are different, but we all suffer from oppression.

The first of the stories focuses on Virginia Woolf in 1923 on the day she begins writing the novel that will be Mrs. Dalloway. She is a brilliant and talented writer who suffers from various mental illnesses that greatly impact her life. She is married to a good, patient, devoted man named Leonard who tries continuously to help Virginia with her happiness and mental health. No matter what Leonard does, no matter how grand the gesture, he cannot succeed in making Virginia happy. This is proven when he agrees to return to London after Virginia tells him she feels trapped living in the countryside, claiming she is suffocating and will die in this suburban hell, but she still ends up killing herself. Her confusion with her sexual identity is displayed when she shares a passionate kiss with her older sister. She feels trapped, by both the world that cannot yet handle a troubled, brilliant artist, her sexuality, and by her husband, Leonard. Virginia says to him, “I wrestle alone in the dark, in the deep dark and only I can know...only I can understand my own condition.” when describing her mental illnesses. This introduces the main theme of the film, that women are such endlessly complex and unknowable creatures, men will never succeed in knowing them, meeting their needs, or making them happy.

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The second story focuses on Laura Brown in 1951, who is a housewife who feels trapped by the domesticity of her suburban life. She is extremely anxious and deeply depressed, but presents a fake smile to her husband and son and carries on with her wifely duties. Laura struggles from what Betty Friedan calls “the problem with no name”- the widespread unhappiness of women in the 50’s and 60’s who are not happy trying to achieve or living the idealized life of the suburban housewife. On top of this, Laura struggles with repressed sexuality. Laura shares a passionate kiss with her neighbor Kitty, who also has a husband. Laura’s young son witnesses this kiss to represent that she feels that it is wrong. She loves her son, but does not want the life she is currently living. She considers suicide, but does not go through with it. As she eats dinner with her family, her husband describes how the thought of a suburban life with Laura is what got him through the war, unaware to the fact Laura nearly committed suicide hours earlier. He does not understand Laura or her depth and that the simple life they are living will never make her happy. This continues the theme that men will never know women or know how to meet their needs. We discover that the next morning, Laura abandons her family and escapes her life by running to Canada. However, decades later, she is still not happy.

The third and last story follows Clarissa Vaughn in 2001 who is open about her sexuality and has been in a lesbian relationship for a decade. Despite being self-sufficient, well off, deciding to have a daughter despite not having a partner at the time, and having a successful career, Clarissa is not happy. She spends the day planning a party for her friend and ex-lover, Richard, both a symbol of the past she misses and the youth she can’t get back. Richard commits suicide after telling Clarissa he “is only still alive for her.” Him and taking care of him are the only things that bring Clarissa happiness. However, Richard is demeaning, rude, and no longer has feelings for Clarissa. In the end, we discover Laura Brown is Richard’s mother when Laura and Clarissa meet after his death.

Virginia, Laura, and Clarissa all cling to unattainable ideas of happiness and want what they can’t have. Even in present day, Clarissa, who does not struggle with hiding her sexuality, has all the components of “a good life,” and is living in the present day, which means the most rights have been achieved for women when compared to the other two time periods, is not happy with herself or her life. Women will always be unhappy, despite the advances in feminism and what they achieve in life. Also, men will never be able to understand women because they are too complex. This is a disheartening narrative, which is why it’s problematic. Women are not different beings than men, we are all human and deserving of equality. Virginia, Laura, and Clarissa are also all of similar socioeconomic status and white. This limits our view which can be dangerous, especially when displaying a typical day in the life of a woman. The white, well-educated, well-off perspective is the only perspective we receive as the audience.

While the movie presents real, complex women characters, it presents them as different creatures that cannot be understood nor can they be happy. This makes me feel as if the movie was directed by a man because of his failure to understand women. Further, we only see the perspective of white, middle class women. Despite these issues, I often turn to The Hours when I’m down or in need. It reminds me of who I am and how far we’ve come in the feminist movement and the furthering of gay rights, but there is more work to be done. Can I say it’s a feminist text? I’m not sure. Beyond the issues previously mentioned, the film barely grazes over feminist issues. However, it reminds me of when I was young and unsure of myself and my sexuality. Now I am confident with myself and my sexuality, but that doesn’t mean I don’t need a reminder of where I came from to re-energize me.