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Allow me to introduce 2003 new Globe Award Winner－－劇情類的最佳影片、同時讓妮可基嫚成為影后的『時時刻刻』。It is about a great female soul -- Virginia Woolf who struggled between mental illness( 躁鬱症), solitude (although lived with her husband Leonard), sensitivity, and her talent. 本片以吳爾芙於 1925 年的名著『戴洛維夫人』Mrs. Dalloway為主軸，穿插生平事蹟與其餘兩位現代「戴洛維夫人」以呈現女性巨大而被社會周遭長期忽略的疏離感與孤立狀態；去年金馬影展演了"Who Afraid Wolf (WerAngstWolf) , 但片名用此劇只是引子, 也是用電影中兩對夫婦的疏離與壓抑對照呈現現實的荒謬。( WerAngstWolf影評參考本站介紹)

莉史翠普及茱莉安摩爾都是實力派女星，『時時刻刻』中三位女演員一時之選，同片競技，評審團主席加拿大名導演艾騰伊格言將三人同片並列影后，破柏林影展紀錄，連同妮可基嫚三人同抱銀熊獎。自推出以來，『時時刻刻』縱橫於各大影展。梅莉史翠普飾演的現代都會女性(紐約製作人)，與1949 年洛杉磯家庭主婦茱莉安摩爾，同時呼應妮可基嫚飾演的1923年自殺的吳爾芙心境。

演技上Streep 已無懈可擊，Moore 正臻於巔峰，而Kidman 則另闢蹊徑，值得期待。妮可基嫚已在金球獎得到影后，強勢問鼎本屆奧斯卡影后，柏林影后更是錦上添花。而 2002 洛杉磯影評人協會最佳影片亞軍【陌路天堂(Far From Heaven)】女主角茱莉安‧摩爾(Julianne Moore) 卻以本片與【時時刻刻(The Hours)】兩部作品獲得最佳女主角獎殊榮，並因【陌路天堂(Far From Heaven)】獲威尼斯影展觀眾票選最受歡迎女主角。排名第二的則是【鋼琴教師(The Piano Teacher)】女主角伊莎貝‧雨蓓(Isabelle Huppert)。

電影『美麗佳人歐蘭朵』也是改編自吳爾芙1928的作品『歐蘭朵』Orlando，『歐蘭朵』是Woolf 和小她十歲的美麗女詩人及作家Vita Sackville-West ( 照片見下) 談戀愛而激發的作品, 後者同性戀史不斷, 還包括愛德華七世情婦的女兒, 兩人甚至相約棄夫私奔 ,因雙方夫婿懇求而阻止。Vita 的祖先是在Kent 郡的Knole 家族, 她繼承了此Knole 城堡，悠遠的貴族史與其特殊的氣質是Woolf的此書靈感所在。2002年底出版的新書『找不到出口的靈魂』(左岸出版)，作者 Nigel Nicoleson 是著名的英國傳記作家，也是Vita 之子，他溫情而細膩地描繪出他自小眼中看到的Virginia，自然比啃讀Virginia書信猛猜測她內心的其他傳記作家真切許多。

有趣的是，繼普魯斯特（1871-1922）之後的兩位意識流巨匠Woolf與Joyce，竟然同年生死（1882-1941）！

死前不久，即便對戰爭與靈感漸失的絕望，Woolf 都還信心滿滿地在日記中寫著：「我還是會克服它, 並且燦然飛翔...... 」。然而在1941年3-28，59歲的VW 還是把口袋裝入一大塊石頭，自溺於她Sussex home附近的river Ouse。VW 其實會游泳，此事件數天前，她也曾全身濕漉漉地返回孟克小屋，自稱無意失足落水。事後，家人才懷疑，之前那次恐怕已經是在嘗試自殺。她把兩封遺書(另一給畫家姐姐Vennesa)放置於花園的寫作小木屋內，帶著手杖，越過草原，沉入自己選擇的墓場。

在寫給丈夫Leonard Woolf 的信中，她說到自己的決定。”'Dearest, I feel certain I am going mad again. I feel we can't go through another of those terrible times. And I shan't recover this time. I begin to hear voices, and I can't concentrate. So I am doing what seems the best thing to do. You have given me the greatest possible happiness. You have been in every way all that anyone could be. I don't think two people could have been happier till this terrible disease came. I can't fight any longer. I know that I am spoiling your life, that without me you could work. And you will I know. You see I can't even write this properly. I can't read. What I want to say is I owe all the happiness of my life to you. You have been entirely patient with me and incredibly good. I want to say that - everybody knows it. If anybody could have saved me it would have been you. Everything has gone from me but the certainty of your goodness. I can't go on spoiling your life any longer. I don't think two people could have been happier than we have been. “

4-18，三週之後，她的遺體才被戲水小孩在下游發現，原本，她意圖讓肉身「石沉大海」。

誰能不為之動容？她的自殺不是放棄，, 在那個對會幻聽的精神病(應是Maniac-depressive Psychosis)缺乏適當藥物的時代, 她只是想在"自己"還完整時把"故事"劃定句點。

雖然1912 Leonard Sidney Woolf ( 1880-1969) 娶了深愛的 Virginia ( 1882-1941)，伴她至死，然而他是否曾真正觸及這個女子的內心，是個不解之謎。他的goodness 感動了她，然而隨著Mrs. Dalloway 的出版，她與生活週遭的疏離昭然若揭。

Leonard 也是Virginia 在Bloomsbury Group 的舊識，畢業劍橋大學，在Virginia 與此團體另一成員Lytton Strachey ( 慧慧提醒是他是gay)於1909解除婚約維持二十四小時的婚約後，自錫蘭當行政官員歸國的Leonard 向她求婚，時年她三十，受到老她許多的劍橋大學國王學院講師Walter Headlam熱烈追求，並遊戲於與Bloomsbury Group成員Hilton Young欲擒故縱的虛偽愛情中。Leonard 是個經濟學作家與評論家，即使蜜月看似幸運愉快，繼1895那次喪母發病後，VW再度於1915 病發，Leonard 形容她 "She talked almost without stopping for 2 or 3 days, paying no attention to anyone in the room or anything said to her ... Then gradually it became completely incoherent, a mere jumble of dissociated words." ，他仍然以深情見證參與了這位才女的後半生，並於她死後整體其散文日記出版。兩人早期的性關係使Virginia發現她無法從中得到期望的感受，這對夫婦逐漸捨棄肉體關係而成為真正的「靈魂伴侶」。

1917 年兩人共同成立Hogarth Press，並同時活躍於Bloomsbury Group聚會中，她的作品除前兩本外全由Hogarth Press出版。Bloomsbury Group始於1904，一群劍橋大學畢業生好友於敦倫此地定期每週四聚會飲酒談論，成員另有Lytton Strachey, Leonard Woolf（Virginia 夫）, E. M. Forster, Vita Sackville-West, Roger Fry, Clive Bell（姐夫）, and John Maynard Keynes （經濟學大師）。此團體自識甚高、立場左傾、並嚴格唾棄各領域任何代表封建保守勢力的圖騰，舉凡宗教、藝術、社會、性別議題皆然，此討論約延續至二次大戰左右，是1920年代英國文化界的特異份子。

有些人認為Leonard Woolf 應該為沒有預防到Virginia 的自盡負責，然而今日我們應該瞭解，對於躁鬱症患者而言，支持可能永遠不能完全避免悲劇，而Leonard長年默默伴隨，已屬不易。在Mrs. Dalloway 書裡，Virginia 已借女主角之意識說明，死亡只是維持人生命的完整與價值的陳述方式( Woolf saw death as a way to make a statement and a way to maintain the integrity and worth that is essential to giving life meaning. Death was a preservative in which to submerge the person when he might be compromised by the inanities and contamination of always bending to society.)

她的自盡早已自我預示，朋友凋零、靈感漸失，只是催化其步履。墓誌銘引用了1931出版的The Waves最後第九章Night 裡的一句話：Against you I will fling myself, unvanquished and unyielding, O Death!


孟克小屋	花園的寫作小木屋與附近教堂

1882. Born (25 Jan) Adeline Virginia Stephen, third child of Leslie Stephen (Victorian man of letters - first editor of the Dictionary of National Biography) - and Julia Duckworth (of the Duckworth publishing family). Comfortable upper middle class background. Brothers Thoby and Adrian went to Cambridge, and her sister Vanessa became a painter. Virginia was educated by private tutors and by extensive reading of literary classics in her father's library.

1895. Death of her mother. VW has the first of many nervous breakdowns. Father later remarries.

1899. Brother Thoby enters Trinity College, Cambridge and subsequently meets Lytton Strachey, Leonard Woolf, and Clive Bell. These Cambridge friends subsequently become known as the Bloomsbury Group, of which VW was an important and influential member.

1904. Death of father. Beginning of second serious breakdown. VW's first publication is an unsigned review in The Guardian. Travels in France and Italy. VW moves to Gordon Square.

1906. VW writing, reviewing, and teaching at Morley College evening institute for working men and women. Travels in Greece. Death of brother Thoby Stephen.

1907. Marriage of sister Vanessa to Clive Bell. VW moves with brother Adrian to live in Fitzroy Square. Working on her first novel (to become The Voyage Out).

1909. Lytton Strachey [homosexual] proposes marriage. VW meets Ottiline Morell, visits Bayreuth and Florence.

1911. VW moves to Brunswick Square, sharing house with brother Adrian, Maynard Keynes, Duncan Grant, and Leonard Woolf. Travels to Turkey.

1912. Marries Leonard Woolf. Travels to Provence, Spain, and Italy. Moves to Clifford's Inn.

1915. Purchase of Hogarth House, Richmond. The Voyage Out published and well received. Another bout of violent madness.

1917. L and VW buy hand printing machine and establish the Hogarth Press. First publication The Mark on the Wall. Later goes on to publish T.S. Eliot, Freud, and VW's own books.

1919. Purchase of Monk's House, Rodmell. Night and Day published. Brief friendship with Katherine Mansfield. Both are conscious of experimenting with the substance and the style of prose fiction.

1922. Jacob's Room published. Meets Vita-Sackville West with whom she has a brief love affair. Writing encouraged by E.M. Forster, Strachey, and Leonard Woolf.

1924. Purchase of lease on house in Tavistock Square. Gives lecture that becomes 'Mr Bennett and Mrs Brown'.

1925. The Common Reader [essays] and Mrs Dalloway published. Major break with the traditional novel, its form and techniques.

1928. Orlando published - a fantasy dedicated to and based upon the life of Vita Sackville-West and her love of her ancestral home at Knowle, Sussex.

1929. A Room of One's Own published - essays on women's exclusion from literary history which have become of seminal importance in feminist studies. Travels to Berlin.

1931. The Waves - a novel composed of the thoughts of six characters which takes VW's literary experimentation to its natural limits.

1938. Three Guineas extends the feminist critique of patriarchy, militarism, and privilege started in A Room of One's Own.

1941. VW completes Between the Acts, her last novel, then fearing the madness which she felt engulfing her again, filled her pockets with stones and drowned herself in the River Ouse.

The quality of the sound is not high. She is talking about 'words', and says: "....purity or their impurity discussed. If you start a society for pure English they will show their resentment by starting another for impure English. Hence the unnatural violence of much modern speech."

This is a very short extract from a broadcast she made on on 29th April, 1937, later published in The Listener on 5th May 1937. Hussey ('A to Z of Virginia Woolf') says that only part of this talk survives, that it is the only surviving record of her voice, but that Quentin Bell 'has said it does not give a very accurate idea of how she sounded'.