The agony and the ecstasy

The Hours is a magnificently ambitious intellectual exercise - literary, audacious and challenging - but what makes it a great film experience is its brilliantly subtle emotional core.

Resonating - or rather raging - with the simultaneous agony and ecstasy of being alive and human, this movie probes deeply and painfully beneath the surface of its characters without ever becoming heavy-handed, contrived or in the least bit pretentious, thanks to a masterful screenplay by David Hare, the impeccably restrained direction of Stephen Daldry, and the transcendent performances of the cast. My recommendation: Do NOT read revealing reviews; go in without knowing anything about the story or the structure of the film and you will have a far richer experience.