FILM REVIEW: THE HOURS By Agathi Glezakos, Ph.D., California State University, Long Beach The Hours, which received multiple In the course of the movie, a series of accolades at the 2003 Academy Awards, back and forth movements - between (including a best actress Oscar for Nicole Virginia's preoccupation with writing a novel Kidman), has recently been released on video that centers on one day in a woman's life, and DVD. Laura's desperate aftempts, years later, to This is not a fihn for those seeking light immerse herself in reading that very novel, and entertainment or laughter. The Hours is filled the modem-day Clarissa's planning of a party with sadness, human misery, misunderstand- as did the fictional Mrs. Dalloway - can be ing, hopelessness and self-destruction. The confusing. Familiarity with Virginia Woolf s film leaves one, however, with a deep appre- novel Mrs. Dalloway would almost certainly ciation of the multiple forms that art, human enable the viewer to follow the unfolding ingenuity, and creativity can take. The rela- events more easily. tionships portrayed and explored are nuanced The personal, relational and ethical issues and complex. The viewer is forced to con- and dilemmas that occur in the socio-cultural sider questions about social norms and ex- contexts of the 1920s, 1950s and the pectations, and a person's right to make fi-ee beginning of the new millennium, seem to be choices - choices which might ultimately lead more similar than different. In three relational to personal destruction, or even death. sets—^Wginia and her husband, two upper- The film focuses on the defining moments middle class Britons, and the Euro- in the lives of three women: Virginia, Laura, Americans, Laura and her husband and and Clarissa (played respectively by Nicole Clarissa and her fiiend Richard—^we witness Kidman, Julianne Moore, and Meryl Streep). similar intrapsychic conflicts, expression of The women are of three different eras; we caring, interpersonal misunderstandings, and are presented with a day in each of their lives self-annihilation of will. It is neither lack of as it unfolds during their different chronological material goods nor inability to access extemal periods. resources that lead these women into crises. Vitginia, the author, has been exiled fi-om Rather, it is an intrapsychic war with the self the fast-paced London of the early 192O's to that leads them to a state of Durkeim's a quiet suburb for mental health reasons; she anomie, in which no amount of support and is in the painful early development stages of a caring fi-om loved ones is powerful enough to novel which she will eventually title Mrs. alleviate their despair and hopelessness. The Dalloway. Laura, a 195O's-era Los Angeles ravaging effects of Virginia's clinical homemaker, is the mother of a young son and depression interfere with her creativity; the pregnant. Her challenge for the day is to bake need to continue to write, coupled with the her husband a birthday cake; we, and her expectation to manage her household, and to intuitive and sensitive son, watch as Laura maintain her relationships with her husband, struggles to meet the expectations of her roles sister, niece and nephews, threaten to as a wife and mother. In New York City, eventually overpower her. The efforts that Clarissa is fi-antically planning a party for her Laura's husband makes to help make her daily close fiiend Richard, a poet who is dying of tasks as the mother of a young son and AIDS. pregnant woman less taxing and to assure her 66 REFLECTIONS - SUMMER 2003 Film Review: The Hours ofhis love for her, are not sufficient to stem clinical diagnoses and treatment plans, and her despair and desperation. And Clarissa, what choices to make about treatment despite her frantic attempts to elevate her dear interventions. Students are instmcted to use and long-time friend Roger's spirit by their knowledge and skill in their direct celebrating his literary and poetic practice with clients from all walks of life. The accomplishments, is unable to deter him from mission of the social work profession, from his course of self-destruction. this perspective, is to assist individuals in need The socio-political atmosphere during of material, concrete services as well as each of the time periods that the protagonists' individuals in need of clinical services. On lives evolve are different. Nonetheless, their the other hand, in their exchanges with both intrapersonal and interpersonal issues do not instructors and practitioners, the same differ qualitatively. It is these issues, the caring students also hear that the mission of the social attempts by loved ones to help with their work profession is to help the poor, the resolution, and the choices each person disenfranchised, the discriminated against, the makes which have implications for mental oppressed; clinical practice takes second health professionals. place. The movie's implications for competent More than once I have engaged in lengthy practice are multiple. The clinician's abuity to conversations with students trying to jointly listen carefully in order to connect with the understand who is a "legitimate" social work client's indirect verbal messages as well as client and who is not. During my 30 years of with the client's unspoken words is social word practice, I have worked with underscored. The importance for the clinician destitute and disenfranchised clients. I have to empathize with and validate the client's also worked with privileged and affluent subjectively felt predicament and to respect chents. In both cases the clients represented the client's ultimate right for autonomy and diversity in the areas of culture and ethnicity, self-determination is demonstrated clearly. gender, sexual orientation, religious belief There are events which reflect the inherent systems, disability, and age. I have come to limitations of mental health practice and from believe that while their needs and problems which the clinician can leam to view client self- might be different, they aU deserve our services destmctive behaviors, not as a reflection of equally. If we teach our students the his or her lack of skill or knowledge, but knowledge and skills of direct practice, they instead, as possible characteristics of human should be expected to use these in their work nature which, in some situations, can lead the with all who might benefit from that knowledge client to self-annihilation. Witnessing how the and those skills. Chents who stmggle to meet individuals are the ultimate decision-makers basic human needs might not, in the end, suffer in their life's course is simultaneously an more than do clients who fight relentless empowering, as weU as a humbling experience intrapsychic torment - a lesson that the fihn for the mental health professional. makes vividly clear. The fihn has also implications for social The Hours is skillfully directed and work curriculum content and for the two magnificently acted. The metamorphosis of opposing camps in the profession of social Nicole Kidman as Virginia Woolf is tmly work which have fought to define the astonishing. The film well deserves the critical profession's mission. On the one hand, direct acclaim that it has received, and I recommend practice courses in social work focus on The Hours to the readers of Reflections. helping MSW students leam how to conduct biopsychosocial assessments, how to develop REFLECTIONS - SUMMER 2003 67 Copyright of Reflections: Narratives of Professional Helping is the property of Cleveland State University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use..