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With the exception of the opening and finalscenes, which depict the 1941 suicide bydrowning of Virginia Woolf in the River Ouse, the action takes place within thespan of a single day in three different years and alternates between them throughoutthe film. In 1923, Virginia has begun writingthe book Mrs Dalloway inher home in the town of Richmond outside London.In 1951, troubled Los Angeles housewife Laura Brown escapesfrom her conventional life by reading MrsDalloway. In 2001, New Yorker ClarissaVaughan is the embodiment of the novel’s title character, as she spends the daypreparing for a party she is hosting in honor of her former lover and friendRichard, a poet and author living with AIDS who is toreceive a major literary award. Richard tells Clarissa he has stayed alive forher sake, and the award is meaningless because he didn’t get it sooner, untilhe was on the brink of death. She tells him she believes he would have won theaward regardless of his illness. Richard often refers to Clarissa as “Mrs.Dalloway”---her namesake---because she distracts herself from her own life theway the Woolf character does.
Virginia, who has experienced several nervousbreakdowns and suffers from bipolardisorder, feels trapped in her home. She is intimidated by servantsand constantly under the eye of her husband, Leonard,who has begun a publishing business, Hogarth Press,at home to stay close to her. Virginiaboth welcomes and dreads an afternoon visit from her sister Vanessa andher children. After their departure, Virginiaflees to the railway station, where she is awaiting a train to central London, when Leonardarrives to bring her home. He tells her how he lives in constant fear that shewill take her own life. She says she fears it also but argues that if she is tolive, she has the right to decide how and where.
Pregnant with her second child, Lauraspends her days in her tract home withher young son, Richie. She married her husband, Dan, soon after World War II.On the surface they are living the AmericanDream, but she is nonetheless deeply unhappy. She and Richie make acake for Dan’s birthday, but it is a disaster. Her neighbor Kitty drops in toask her if she can feed her dog while she’s in the hospital for a procedure.Kitty reveals that the procedure is related to the fact that she has beenunable to conceive, and may portend permanent infertility, and that she reallyfeels that a woman is not complete until she is a mother. Kitty pretends to beupbeat, but Laura senses her sadness and fear and boldly kisses her on thelips; Kitty laughs it off as if it didn’t happen. Laura and Richie successfullymake another cake and clean up, and then she takes Richie to stay with Mrs.Latch. Richie runs after his mother as she leaves, fearing that she will nevercome back. Laura checks into a hotel, where she intends to commit suicide.Laura removes several bottles of pills and Mrs. Dalloway from her purse and begins to read it. She driftsoff to sleep and dreams the hotel room is flooded. She awakens with a change ofheart and caresses her belly. She picks up Richie, and they return home tocelebrate Dan’s birthday.
Clarissa appears equally worried aboutRichard’s depression and the party she is planning for him. Clarissa, who isbisexual and has been living with Sally Lester for 10 years, had been in arelationship with Richard during their college days. She meets with Richard’sex-lover Louis Waters, who has returned for the festivities. Clarissa’sdaughter, Julia, comes home to help her prepare. Richard has taken acombination of Xanax and Ritalin andtells Clarissa she is the most beautiful thing he ever had in life, before hecommits suicide in front of her. Later that night, Laura (the same who is thecentral character of the middle story), who is Richard’s mother, arrives atClarissa’s apartment. It is clear that Laura’s abandonment of her family wasdeeply traumatic for Richard, but Laura reveals it was a better decision forher to leave the family after the birth of her daughter than to commit suicide.She has led an independent, happier life as a librarian in
The film ends with a voice-over in which Virginia thanks Leonardfor loving her: “Always the years between us. Always the years. Always thelove. Always the hours.”
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