Synopsis for
The Hours (2002) More at IMDbPro »

The film begins with British writer Virginia Woolf (Nicole Kidman) putting small stones inside her pockets before drowning herself - (in real life, she jumped from a London bridge over the Thames)

Laura Brown (Julianne Moore) lives in 1951 at a Los Angeles wealthy suburbia. She is going to celebrate his husband's birthday. She makes a chocolate cake for Dan Brown (John C. Reilly) and their older child helps her with it. She is heavily pregnant of her second child. She is also reading a hardback copy of Mrs Dalloway, what is cosidered Virginia Woolf's best novel. As Laura is not satisfied with the cake, -which is ugly as hell- she throws it to the dustbin and makes another on her own, just to end with the same ugly-as-hell chocolate cake. His son Richie (Jack Rovello) watches closely all her antics.

Clarissa Vaughan (Meryl Streep) lives in modern 2001 New York and is celebrating a party for the prize which her close friend Richard Brown (Ed Harris) is receiving. Rich has been suffering AIDS for many years. He's a famous poet and Clarissa is his editor. Clarissa worries about Richard a lot, and takes care of him as if she were his mother. Back at home, when she is preparing the party almost on her own, she has trouble with her girlfriend Sally Lester (Allison Janney), who has been unfaithful to her for some time. Several people appear for the party: Clarissa's daughter Julia (Claire Danes) and the most cherished of Richard's ex-boyfriends Louis (Jeff Daniels), who has another relationship with a younger man but who is still a bit sad and melancholic.

Back to the UK, where Virginia has just started to write a novel. She and her husband Leonard Woolf (Stephen Dillane) have commuted to a small village close to London because London's hectic and frenzy life had made her psychologically ailing. She had tried to commit suicide twice, and used to hear voices. Leonard is busy with his printing press business, but he watches over her tenderly. One sunny day they are visited by Vanessa (Miranda Richardson), Viriginia's sister, and her two sons Quentin and Julian (George Loftus and Charley Ramm) and daughter Angelica (Sophie Wyburd). They are talkative and full of life, but their visit causes some anxiety to Virginia. To have lunch and tea prepared as she wants, their cook and main maid Nelly Boxall (Linda Bassett) has to travel to London to buy some things and then travel back. Virginia has problems to make herself obeyed by their servants, especially pushy Nelly. In real life, many pages on Woolf's diary were about Nelly, a person she used to fear so much that she wouldn't even dare to give the sack. This time Virginia must be obeyed.

Angelica finds a dead bird recently deceased at the Woolfs' garden. They bury it with much pomp, and this puts a bigger strain on Virginia's damaged emotions. At the end of the day, they four go back to London merrily and Virginia and Leonard stay at home.

Back at LA, Laura learns that Lottie Hope (Lyndsay Marshal) is about to have surgery performed, as she is seriously ill, and that's why she couldn't have any children. They talk about their lives, and Laura and Lottie kiss each other. However, Lottie behaves and talks as though nothing had happened. That night, Laura's husband dines with his family and eats the cake. He is a contented quiet men and says that the cake is delicious, and appreciates the fact that Laura has done it. Next day Laura leaves Richie with a neighbour of hers (Margo Martindale) and drives around. She sees the sign for a hotel and decides to book in. There, he takes all the medicines from her home medicine cabinet together. She puts herself on top of the perfectly-made bed and reads Mrs Dalloway while she awaits death. For her, death is like a flood, a river overgrown which will drown her from under the hotel bed. Suddenly she wakes up. She has just decided that she will wait for her second child to be born and then she will leave her family. When she comes back home as though nothing special had happened, Richie knows that she's lying.

In New York, Richard Brown [he is Laura's older son as a grown-up person and renown writer] wants to skip the party. He tells Clarissa that she has been the only reason he had to live, but that now, she has to let him go. Clarissa is a lesbian, but she wonders if she is still in love with Richard. However Clarissa is not strong enough to prevent Richard from jumping from the window. Instead of a party, she has to prepare Richard's funeral. Laura Brown appears. She has become a sweet old lady, not the moster as, according to Julia, late Richard Brown used to describe her. Laura tells how she moved to Canada to become an independet life as a librarian in Canada, but she won't apologise for the hurt she has caused to her family because her pain doesn't make any difference now to her late husband (of a stroke) and children (her younger daughter had also died).

In the UK, Virginia has changed her mind: her character Mrs Dalloway won't die, another character in her novel, a rambling poet married to his lonely Italian nurse, will do so. When Leonard asks her why somebody must die in her novels, she tells him "so that we all appreciate life." Anyway, Virginia tries to run away to London, but Leonard catches her while she is waiting at the train station. Virginia talks to him, and Leonard can't put up with her anymore: he promises they will be back to London soon. As the audience knows, Virginia will end up committing suicide there.

And that's how the film ends: as it has begun, with Virginia Woolf committing suicide. -In real life, she wrote some other novels after Mrs Dalloway and before committing suicide-