The Hours Movie Differences

I'm pleasantly surprised at how good this movie is. To be honest, I was expecting a boring, overly dramatic soap opera complete with long, intensely obvious close-ups and meaningful silences. I though it would be impossible to relate this story to film and still see all the subtle relationships, but I was wrong. They translate really well into the movie.

Even though the movie stays pretty true to the book, there are some differences. For one, some of the things that are only thoughts in the book are actually said out loud in the movie. For example, the conversation between Kitty and Laura is extended and they talk more openly than they do in the book. Kitty says something about wanting what Laura has. In the movie she actually says it to Laura, in the book it is just implied.

In Virginia’s story, there is a lot of dialogue at the bird’s funeral. I think it is the little girl that says the bird looks peaceful, but also very small. In the movie, Virginia isn’t thinking these things, she is just agreeing with what the little girl says.

The conversation between Clarissa and Louis is far more dramatic in the movie than in the book. In the movie, Clarissa actually breaks down in front of Louis and starts crying. That definitely doesn’t happen in the book. In the book, Clarissa would never break down in front of Louis, she wouldn’t let herself, but I think it works in the movie because we see how much she is really struggling to keep it all together, even though she acts alright most of the time. In the movie, we don’t have the novelty of getting to hear the characters thoughts, so they have to display emotions in other ways.

Overall, I am very happy with the movie and think they did a great job adapting it to the screen.