The Hours Communicated Visually

As I sat thinking about how Michael Cunningham’s The Hours could be effectively made into a movie, I came to the hasty conclusion that it cannot. However, I quickly realized that I must be wrong, because in 2002 The Hours hit Hollywood and had vast success among its viewers. As I reconsidered, I came up with a set of criteria which would have to be fulfilled in order for the movie to be effective.

First and foremost, the producer would have to defeat the obstacle of accurately portraying the wondering thoughts and mental conditions of the three women. Many aspects would have to contribute to this. Music would have to convey the mental states and overall moods of the three women. For instance, when Mrs. Woolf begins getting one of her headaches and hearing voices, the music would pulse loudly and frantically, signifying the battle going on in her head. However, when she finally walks into the river and floats motionlessly downstream, the music might switch to something sad, slow, and dramatic. Another way of showing the women’s thoughts and emotions would be by using makeup. When someone is stressed or depressed, wrinkles might be necessary or dark eye shadow. The makeup would have to run alongside of the actual facial expressions and body language of the actors and actresses. Thoughts should be able to be detected by the audience without the actress saying anything at all.
Secondly, the history of the three main characters must be made known to the viewer. One very effective way of doing this would be to show flashbacks of previous important happenings. Another way would be through the obvious way of monologue or even an audible diary entry read by that specific character.

So, in order for the audience to fully experience the storyline, music, makeup, and history would have to play vital roles. Overall, The Hours would be a very difficult piece of literature to visually communicate; nevertheless, with these few tips, and many more, it could be done.