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The Hours (M)
Directed by Stephen Daldry
 Right now, Australia has its fingers crossed for Our Nicole - and her fake nose - hoping that she can add an Oscar to her Golden Globe award for her stunning portrayal of Virginia Woolf in The Hours.
The film, directed by British director Stephen Daldry (Billy Elliot), cleverly weaves together three individual stories about three interconnected women living in three different decades. It's based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Michael Cunningham.
Author Virginia Woolf (Kidman) is battling mental illness in 1920s England as she writes her first great novel Mrs. Dalloway.
In Los Angeles in the 50s, Laura Brown (Julianne Moore) reads the novel, while enduring a loveless marriage with her WWII veteran husband (John C. Reilly) and contemplates making a devastating change to her life. And modern day New York, book publisher Clarissa Vaughn (Meryl Streep) is a contemporary Mrs Dalloway as she plans a party for her dying ex-lover, Richard (Ed Harris), who recently won a literary prize.
Their stories intertwine and finally come together in a surprising transcendent moment of shared recognition.
The performances by all three women are so outstanding that in some ways it's hard to see why Kidman was singled out for praise (although she is unrecognisable behind that nose).
It's a film that plumbs the emotional depths of the women as they struggle to find meaning in their lives and stave off madness.
It's a moving story about the bonds in our lives, and a meditation on mortality and eternity that speaks to anyone who's ever felt cut off or alienated.
With a compelling musical score from Phillip Glass, The Hours is a powerful, clever movie deserving of its nine Academy Award nominations.
- Freebie: To win one of 70 double passes to see The Hours next Wednesday, March 12, at 6.30pm, call The Echo on 6622 2888 between 5pm and 5.20pm, this Monday, March 10, and tell us the name of the writer played by Nicole Kidman. The first 70 correct answers will receive a double pass, to be picked up from the cinema.
Evelyn Gough is unwell. Get better Ev!
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