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The Hours
Directed by Stephen Daldry, The Hours portrays the effects of Virginia Woolf’s novel Mrs. Dalloway on three generations of women played by Nicole Kidman, Julianne Moore, and Meryl Streep. Through the talented and moving cast, also starring Ed Harris, The Hours radiates a structurally sound Secular Humanist worldview. The characters in this film take their worldview to its logical conclusion, and thus, there is nothing “wrong” with The Hours from a worldview Perspective.
Reflecting Mrs. Dalloway, each character struggles to find purpose and meaning in his or her life. Daldry opens the film with 1920’s character Virginia Woolf passing “the hours” in the English countryside after her attempted suicide. Played by Nicole Kidman, Virginia shows signs of madness, as she feels that she cannot enjoy her country life after being a lively, social, and London-living woman. Daldry’s second character Laura Brown, portrayed by Julianne Moore, lives as a 1949 suburban housewife caring for her husband and son. Throughout her strict daily routine and uneventful life, Laura attempts to put on a false happiness to please her husband and to meet the cultural expectations of suburban housewives. The last woman, Clarissa Vaughn, played by Meryl Streep, is a present day Greenwich Village book editor who cares for her former lover Richard. Clarissa attempts to bring joy to AIDS-stricken Richard, despite the lack of any real happiness in her own life.
Each of these characters takes their solid Secular Humanist worldview to its full reasonable conclusion – hopelessness. Secular humanism states that the universe is “self-existing and not created” and “the values that human beings hold are rooted in their human experiences and culture" (Humanist Manifesto I). One scene with Virginia and her niece hints on the hopelessness of the Secular Humanist worldview. In this scene, Virginia’s niece is sitting with her looking at a bird dying. Her niece asks, “What happens when we die?” Virginia questions, “What happens?” Virginia pauses, thinks for a moment, and says, “We return to the place where we came from.” The young girl remarks, “I don’t remember where I came from.” Virginia agrees saying, “Nor do I.” This scene quickly gives way to the deep existentialism embedded in each character, as the lack of any metanarrative is very evident at this point of the film. Both Virginia and her niece firmly hold to the first principle of existentialism – “Man is nothing else but that which he makes of himself” (J.P. Sartre).
Three major themes present themselves in The Hours. First, beauty can be seen with all the women attempting to use flowers to brighten their otherwise hopeless lives. Second, the theme of life and death are apparent with the constant questioning of life’s purpose in a search for any real meaning. The characters are constantly searching for answers, but never consider anything larger than themselves. The supporting character, Lewis, brings great insight to the life and death of the other characters as he reflects on Richard’s book. Lewis, Richard’s former boyfriend, says, “The whole thing seems to go on forever and then… wam! For no reason, she kills herself.” These words not only describe Richard’s book, but also the other characters that are trapped by their hopeless lives. Third, the theme of being alone is woven throughout the film with the use of a solo piano score and the attempt by all the characters to connect to those around them. This connection is often dysfunctional and causes more problems. For example, Richard points out Clarissa’s emptiness when he says, “Ahh, Mrs. Dalloway, always giving parties to cover the silence.” Richard’s comment clearly reveals Clarissa’s loneliness.
Overall, The Hours reveals the full negative consequences of Secular Humanism’s core beliefs, as the three female main characters lives are in disarray while they simply wonder “why.” With these solid examples of the Secular Humanist view, there is nothing fundamentally wrong with The Hours from a worldview perspective.
