MICHAEL CUNNINGHAM’S THE HOURS

1. MICHAEL CUNNINGHAM’S THE HOURS

2. The Hours-Trailer • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmFDGAPiKJE

3. THE HOURS-Laura and Kitty’skiss • Kittynodsagainst Laura’sbreasts. The questionhasbeensilentlyasked and silentlyanswered, itseems. They are bothafflicted and blessed, full ofsharedsecrets, strivingevery moment. They are eachimpersonatingsomeone. They are weary and beleaguered; theyhavetaken on suchenormous work. Kittyliftsher face, and theirlipstouch. Theybothknowwhatthey are doing. Theyresttheirmouths, each on the other. Theytouchtheirlipstogether, but do notquitekiss. ItisKittywhopullsaway. “You are sweet,” shesays. Laura releasesKitty. Shesteps back. Shehasgonetoo far, they’ve bothgonetoo far, butitisKittywho’spulledaway first. (Cunningham, 110)

4. The Hours- Laura and Kitty’skiss • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPF9nzzuMfo

5. The Hours- Virginia’skiss • Hereis Nelly with the tea and ginger and here, forever, is Virginia, unaccountably happy, betterthan happy, alive, sittingwith Vanessa in the kitchen on anordinaryspringdayas Nelly, the subjugated Amazon queen, Nelly the everindignant, displayswhatshe’sbeencompelledtobring. Nelly turnsaway and, althoughitisnot at alltheir custom, Virginia leansforward and kisses Vanessa on the mouth. Itisaninnocentkiss, innocentenough, but just now, in thiskitchen, behind Nelly’s back, itfeelslike the mostdelicious and forbiddenofpleasures. Vanessa returns the kiss. (Cunningham, 154)

6. The Hours- Virginia’skiss • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrllO4wkJm4

7. The Hours-Richard’sdeath • The apartment is full of light. Clarissa almost gasps at the threshold. All the shades have been raised, the windows opened. Although the air is filled only with the ordinary daylight that enters any tenement apartment on a sunny afternoon, it seems, in Richard's room, like a silent explosion. Here are his cardboard boxes, his bathtub (filthier than she'd realized), the dusty mirror and the expensive coffeemaker, all revealed in their true pathos, their ordinary smallness. It is, quite simply, the tenement apartment of a deranged person. (Cunningham, 195)

8. The Hours-Richard’sdeath • He seems so certain, so serene, that she briefly imagines it hasn't happened at all. She reaches the window in time to see Richard still in flight, his robe billowing, and it seems even now as if it might be a minor accident, something reparable. She sees him touch the ground five floors below, sees him kneel on the concrete, sees his head strike, hears the sound he makes, and yet she believes, at least for another moment, leaning out over the sill, that he will stand up again, groggy perhaps, winded, but still himself, still whole, still able to speak (Cunningham, 200).

9. The Hours-Richard’sdeath • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWZapP8b11s

10. The Hours-Richard’sdeath • The candles are lit. The song is sung. Dan, blowing the candles out, sprays a few tiny droplets of clear spittle onto the icing's smooth surface. Laura applauds and, after a moment, Richie does too. • 'Happy birthday, darling', she says. • A spasm of fury rises unexpectedly, catches in her throat. He is coarse, gross, stupid; he has sprayed spit on the cake. She herself is trapped here forever, posing as a wife. She must get through this night, and then tomorrow morning, and then another night here, in these rooms, with nowhere else to go. She must please; she must continue (T. H., 205)

11. The Hours-Richard’sdeath • " It is possible to die. Laura thinks, suddenly, of how she- how anyone- can make a choice like that. [...] She could decide to die. (T.H., 151)

12. The Hours-Richard’sdeath • She strokes her belly. I would never. She says the words out loud in the clean, silent room: ‘I would never”. She loves life, loves it hopelessly, at least at certain moments; and she would be killing her son as well. She would be killing her son and her husband and the other child, still forming inside her. (T. H., 151-152)

13. The Hours-Tokill or nottokill the heroine • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_f0TNK7fb1w