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DVD Mrs. Dalloway
Vanessa Redgrave glows from within as the heroine of this superb adaptation of Virginia Woolf's novel. As Clarissa Dalloway prepares to host a sumptuous party, her mind wanders back to a summer in her youth, when she was courted by an eager young man--a young man whose much older self will come to the very party she's preparing. Mrs. Dalloway moves fluidly between the past and the present, exploring the shifts in perspective and understanding with an unsentimental but graceful eye. What's most stunning is the remarkable interplay between the younger and older actors, who truly seem to be different versions of the same character (the young Clarissa is played by Natascha McElhone). Beautifully directed by Marleen Gorris (Antonia's Line), the movie also features Rupert Graves as a shell-shocked soldier who crosses Clarissa's path. --Bret Fetzer
What a movie! What a classic! Classic as they come.All should have taken home an Oscar.
An excellent going away gift...
...for someone you detest, but for whom convention dictates such: Prospective movie heaven transmutes into actual movie hell. By comparison, "My Dinner With Andre" is action-adventure.
Mrs. Clarissa Dalloway (the older, portrayed by Vanessa Redgrave) reminisces (ad nausea, as do others) about past relationships, love affairs (with lesbian overtones), or lack thereof. Between reminiscences, she plans that evening's house party. The reminiscences are interminable flash-backs, flash-forwards and flash-sideways between the cast of characters as young adults and two modern-day threads thirty years later. The film's first 53 minutes contains 41 such flashes, averaging every 1.3 minutes. The total 92 minutes contain 49 such flashes, averaging every 1.88 minutes. (The horror this reviewer experienced, dear reader, in the interests of an accurate review!) Sporadically (sowing more confusion) parallel, irrelevant and unrelated side-flashes occur: Ex-soldier Septimus experiences post-traumatic stress syndrome because of the battlefield death of war-buddy Evans. Sixty minutes and eight side-flashes in, Septimus commits suicide, fortuitously ending these irrelevant detours.
Young Clarissa is portrayed by Natascha McElhone. Peter Walsh, rejected lover from Clarissa's early life, is alternately portrayed by Michael Kitchen (older) and Alan Cox (younger); Richard Dalloway, the rival who Clarissa married, by John Standing (older) and Robert Portal (younger). Summing the time jumps in this flick would give whole new meaning to the title of Carl Claudy's 1933 novel "A Thousand Years A Minute". Moral: When doing 30-year flash-backs, minimize them and avoid character close-ups at all costs! Clarissa is half a head taller than both Peter and Richard in older age, previously being inches shorter, with other attribute disparities. Even sneaky camera angles (including platforms?) don't succeed.
Dialog is mostly trite drivel. Clarissa's voice-overs reach a peak of foppish snobbery and arrogance (shades of "Scarlet Pimpernel") during the big party, where her over-riding thought, amidst all this past love-life havoc, is the house party's success. (Is the film's whole point Clarissa's fundamental shallowness and Peter's great good fortune in inadvertently not marrying her?)
This reviewer has not read the book, but this turkey offers nothing which would motivate such. The DVD's picture is fine, except the presentation is non-anamorphic widescreen, meaning that using a system which assumes anamorphic input (for example a high-end HDTV and compatible DVD player) will likely produce unexpected results! Sound volume tends to be uneven.
Completes the Original Novel
I recommend this film as an afterthought to the original novel by Virginia Woolf; it will clarify any confusion and bring an intimacy to Woolf's wordy explanations.
Mrs. Dalloway (Vanessa Redgrave/Natascha McElhone) begins her day on a journey to buy flowers for her party. Along the way she encounters a mysterious man ravaged by the memory of war named Septimus Warren Smith (Rupert Graves) who will become a factor towards the end of her delightful day of contemplation. Clarissa Dalloway meets a man from her past, Peter Walsh (Michael Kitchen/Alan Cox) and memories of her exuberant youth flood her with thoughts as she goes about her day as an English upper crust wife. Added to Clarissa's memories are thoughts of her long lost friend Sally (Sarah Badel/Lena Headley) a young woman who once embraced the immaturity of whims. So that in the end a day of celebration becomes a deeper exploration into life than Mrs. Dalloway could have ever expected.
Virginia Woolf wrote the original novel, "Mrs. Dalloway," in 1925 and she intentionally wanted to stir a contemplated thought process into the art of a novel. She succeeded in that her novel is considered a modern classic and is timeless but extraordinarily complicated. However once read I believe that this film will bring about a closeness to Woolf's original characters and some closure to the reading experience. The actors in this film are all very good with a few standouts like, Redgrave, Graves and McElhone. Thankfully the film stays very close to the original novel and any changes are more of an awakening thought than true alterations. Add "The Hours," (novel/DVD) as an added exploration into Woolf's mind as a writer.
I couldn't bear to watch the whole DVD--it was too different from one of my favorite books, Virginia Woolf's "To the Lighthouse." Like the recent "adaptation" of John Galsworthy's "The Forsyte Saga," this seemed to have little in common with the literary masterpiece behind it except for the setting, the title, and the names of the characters. Very disappointing! More Info about this DVD Director(s): Colin Gregg DVD Release Date: Released the 09 March 2004 Usually ships within 24 hours
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Delicate and hypnotic, The Hours interweaves three stories with remarkable skill: in the 1920s Virginia Woolf (Nicole Kidman) grapples with her inner demons and slowly works on her novel Mrs. Dalloway; in 1949 housewife Laura Brown (Julianne Moore) feels her own destructive impulses; and in 1999 book editor Clarissa Vaughn (Meryl Streep)--much like the title character of Woolf's novel--prepares to throw a party, in honor of her dearest friend, a seriously ill poet (Ed Harris). Small details reverberate from story to story as a powerhouse cast (including Allison Janney, Toni Collette, Claire Danes, Jeff Daniels, John C. Reilly, Stephen Dillane, and Miranda Richardson) gives subtle and beautifully modulated performances. In the hands of director Stephen Daldry... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Nicole Kidman - Julianne Moore - Meryl Streep Director(s): Stephen Daldry DVD Release Date: Released the 24 June 2003 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Howards End is E.M. Forster's beautifully subtle story of the crisscrossing paths of the privileged and those they disdain--and of a remarkable pair of women who can see beyond class distinctions. Dramatic and tragic, but also surprisingly funny, this James Ivory film focuses on a pair of unmarried sisters (Emma Thompson, who won an Oscar, and Helena Bonham Carter) who befriend a poor young clerk (Sam West) and, without meaning to, ruin his life. Meanwhile, Thompson also makes the acquaintance of a dying neighbor (Vanessa Redgrave), who leaves her a family home in her will--which her husband (Anthony Hopkins) destroys. But, ironically, he meets and falls in love with Thompson, even as their paths once more intersect with the increasingly miserable young clerk. Nuanced acting,... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Emma Thompson - Anthony Hopkins Director(s): James Ivory DVD Release Date: Released the 15 February 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Breathtaking and practically nondiscursive, Sally Potter's audacious Orlando overcomes some dodgy performances and a narrative structure that could most generously be described as "loose" to emerge as a haunting, discussion-provoking trans-historical and transsexual drama. Commanded never to age by Queen Elizabeth (played with surprisingly little camp by legendary cross-dresser Quentin Crisp), the title character becomes immortal; we then follow Orlando through 400 years of dreamlike British history. Midway through the film, Orlando changes genders--to Potter's immense credit, the transformation is handled with little fanfare and no explanation. Tilda Swinton, in the lead role, is far more convincing as a woman than as a man, and even during the film's latter half, her... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Tilda Swinton Director(s): Sally Potter DVD Release Date: Released the 03 August 1999 Usually ships in 24 hours
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