This movie has beautiful acting and cinematography but it is difficult to pick up the various threads and make sense of them, particularly if you are unfamiliar with the Virginia Wolfe novel, "Mrs. Dalloway". The movie centers around three women, Virginia Wolfe, played by a hard-to-recognize Nicole Kidman; an unhappy young housewife from the 50's, played by Julianne Moore; and a modern-day woman played by Meryl Streep. Their stories interweave with one another and there are common themes of mental illness, lesbianism and unhappy women with death wishes. Not exactly light entertainment! There were times when I wanted to tell the main characters to snap out of it and get on with life rather than wallow in the melancholy and self-pity which they display. This is a movie designed more for art than for entertainment, so be forewarned.