The Art of Film

To mark 100 years since the publication of Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway in 1925, we invite you to join us at the fascinating Cinema Museum London (which is not regularly open and is worth a visit in itself) for a special showing of The Hours on 13 June, the date in 2023 when Mrs Dalloway embarked on her walk through the streets of London.

The centenary of the publication of Mrs Dalloway has given us a perfect opportunity to approach the innovative and multi-layered text of this ground-breaking book with new vigour. As part of our celebration of the anniversary we will show The Hours, the 2002 film based on Michael Cunningham’s acclaimed novel. Adapted by David Hare and with a stellar cast including Nicole Kidman, Meryl Streep and Julianne Moore, the film portrays the lives of three women, all facing heart-breaking realities at different times, their different stories bound into a whole by the novel Mrs Dalloway.

The evening will begin at 7.00pm with a presentation about the film and its relationship to by novel by LitSalon founding director Toby Brothers and fellow LitSalon facilitator, Woolf scholar Karina Jakubowicz. Toby and Karina are particularly interested in examining the shifts between Woolf’s original idea for Mrs Dalloway and how this vision has been reconsidered across time and in different genres. Aspects that may have seemed muted in Woolf’s original construction – perhaps most notably the expression of female desire – become more vivid in later interpretations. What are the risks of this kind of re-writing? What are the possibilities?

There will be opportunities for questions from the audience before a short intermission (refreshments available) and the film will be shown from 8.00pm. We expect the event to finish at around 10.00pm.

The Cinema Museum is located in Kennington, an easy walk or bus ride from Kennington or Elephant and Castle tube stations.

EVENT DETAILS:

• Presentation and film, Friday 13 June 2025, 7.00-10.00pm (doors open at 6.30pm)
• The Cinema Museum, 2 Dugard Way (off Renfrew Road), London SE11 4TH
• Tickets bookable in advance at £15.00 each (plus £0.95 booking fee) using the Cinema Museum’s booking system here.