The Hours as a Movie

First off, I would like to make it known that I would never attempt to make this book a movie. Too much of the book is about what is going on in people’s minds and not what is happening to them externally. It would be so hard to convey the internal struggles and private monologues that they have with themselves. The filmmaker would have to walk a fine line between what to show and what to simply imply. It would be really tricky to portray this type of book as a movie and it is not a task I would like to take on. But if I had too, there are many tricks and techniques I would attempt to use.

I would use lots of close-ups and zoom-ins to show when something is important so the viewer knows the character is thinking deeply about it. For example, I would zoom in on the mistakes in Laura’s cake, the dead bird in Virginia’s lawn, and the flowers that are sitting in Clarissa’s apartment. I would want to make it obvious that these things are important to the character and reveal something about their true nature.

I think there would have to be some sort of internal dialogue, like a voice over, so the audience could hear what the women were thinking. So much of the book depends on the women’s thoughts and views of the world around them and I think you would have to make those obvious to the audience watching the movie. If the audience can’t tell what the women are thinking, they won’t know the motivation behind what makes them act the way they do, and I think that is crucial to what makes the story work.