Mrs. Dalloway

June 13, 1923: "It can be dangerous to live for only one day," remarks Mrs. Dalloway as she ventures out to buy flowers for her "pahtee." It can also be dangerous to make a movie about it. But director Marleen Gorris (Antonia's Line), screenwriter Eileen Atkins and the venerable Vanessa Redgrave have done Virginia Woolf's introspective novel proud. On the outside, Mrs. Dalloway is the very model of a proper wife. But her thoughts reveal a more rebellious and rueful side. When a shop clerk refers to her as "Mrs. Dalloway," she sighs to herself, "It's never Clarissa anymore." (In flashback we see her beaming younger self, her future before her). Her friends include a "dangerous" suitor, Peter, and the impulsive Sally, who seems to be courting her, too. "You could do so much, be so much," Peter tells her. Instead, she will settle on staid, dutiful Richard, a politician. The excessive voice-over can be off-putting, but Redgrave is superb, and while this might be too much like Merchant-Ivory for less patient viewers, Woolf aficionados will find this as thrilling as Deep Impact. Recommended. (K. Lee Benson)