Virginia Woolf
Virginia Woolf is the most important character in the movie although she does not have the most on-screen time. Her importance is in the fact that the entire storyline relates back to the eponymous character in her novel "Mrs Dalloway". At the time of writing the book, Virginia is not herself suicidal but she is obsessed with the theory of suicide and wants very much to add a suicidal character to her book. Initially she thinks she will make Mrs Dalloway suicidal but changes her mind when she thinks that she is too well adjusted and happy and decides to add a more over-sensitive character instead. This lets us know that she believes that only over sensitive and emotionally delicate people kill themselves. Virginia is sometimes treated with kid gloves by her husband because she is highly strung and a little given to madness but not as much as he believes. She misses London and gets writers block in the suburban surroundings she is currently living in. She seems fascinated by the possibility of a woman loving another woman and the kiss she shared with Vanessa makes her explore this possibility for her characters.
Clarissa Vaughn
Clarissa is the most current in terms of time and place of all the characters. She was nicknamed Mrs Dalloway by her ex-partner Richard. At the start of the film when she is leaving her apartment to buy flowers for a party she is the most direct link back to Woolf's book. Clarissa seems at first to be the wronged woman whose ex was hiding his homosexuality in a relationship with her; however we learn quickly that she was doing the same thing and now, in her relationship with her girlfriend, Sally, she feels overly-domesticated and bourgeois despite the unorthodox living situation among her peers. She has a daughter but they have an abrasive and scratchy relationship. It seems that she still loves Richard very much and they remain best friends.
Laura Brown
Laura is a housewife living a Stepford wife style life in post World War Teo California. Of all the characters she is the most trapped by circumstance. Her life is picture perfect on the outside but on the inside is wholly unfulfilling. This sense of being unfulfilled makes Laura feel very guilty. She hides from her real life in the world of books and is reading Woolf's "Mrs Dalloway". This makes her think about suicide and she realizes that although she would like to escape her life circumstances she doesn't want to escape life all together and therefore concludes that she does not have the capacity to kill herself. She has a young son, Richie, and at the end of the movie we learn that Richie is Richard, the dying ex of Clarissa Vaughn.
Richard Brown
Richard is the only character whom we meet twice in the movie, first as a kid and then as a dying man. When we first meet him he is Richie Brown, son of Laura. We get to know him as Richard, best friend and ex-partner of Clarissa Vaughn, and declining mentally as he watches his body decline because of AIDS. He is flamboyant and theatrical but both of these characteristics are dimming as he himself dims too. Of all the seemingly suicidal characters in the movie it is Richard who ends up killing himself by jumping from his apartment to his death.
Leonard Woolf
Leonard is Virginia's husband and could be seen as either overly-protective of his wife or as controlling, depending on one' sympathies. He wants to live in the suburbs and has made this happen under the guise of making things less stressful for Virginia, but has made things more stressful because he has added missing London to the list of things that make her crazy. He is highly educated and a hard working man but sometimes seems remote and withdrawn, preferring the company of the written word to the company of people.
Vanessa
Vanessa is Virginia's sister. She is wife and mother to three. She seems to enjoy both roles and is engaged with her children. She seems to delight in surprising Virginia, for example arriving much earlier than planned. She and her sister have a strong and positive relationship.
Sally
Sally is Clarissa Vaughn's girlfriend who can sometimes act in a way that makes Clarissa feel left out of her own life and relationship. This is something she is aware of and tries to redress when she realizes it. She seems genuinely fond of Clarissa but also seems a little star struck and will make room for her celebrity friends at the drop of a hat.
