Julia (1977 Film)
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''Julia'' is a 1977 American
drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...
directed by
Fred Zinnemann Alfred Zinnemann (April 29, 1907 – March 14, 1997) was an American film director and producer. He won four Academy Awards for directing and producing films in various genres, including thriller film, thrillers, western (genre), westerns, film ...
and written by Alvin Sargent. It is based on a chapter from
Lillian Hellman Lillian Florence Hellman (June 20, 1905 – June 30, 1984) was an American playwright, Prose, prose writer, Memoir, memoirist, and screenwriter known for her success on Broadway as well as her communist views and political activism. She was black ...
's 1973 book '' Pentimento'' about the author's relationship with a lifelong friend, Julia, who fought against the
Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...
s in the years prior to
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. The film stars
Jane Fonda Jane Seymour Fonda (born December 21, 1937) is an American actress and activist. Recognized as a film icon, Jane Fonda filmography, Fonda's work spans several genres and over six decades of film and television. She is the recipient of List of a ...
as Hellman and
Vanessa Redgrave Dame Vanessa Redgrave (born 30 January 1937) is an English actress. In her career spanning over six decades, she has garnered List of awards and nominations received by Vanessa Redgrave, numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a Tony A ...
as Julia. It co-stars
Jason Robards Jason Nelson Robards Jr. (July 26, 1922 – December 26, 2000) was an American actor. Known for his roles on stage and screen, he gained a reputation as an interpreter of the works of playwright Eugene O'Neill. Robards received numerous accola ...
,
Hal Holbrook Harold Rowe Holbrook Jr. (February 17, 1925 – January 23, 2021) was an American actor. He first received critical acclaim in 1954 for a one-man stage show that he developed called ''Mark Twain Tonight!'' while studying at Denison University. H ...
,
Rosemary Murphy Rosemary Murphy (January 13, 1925 – July 5, 2014) was an American actress of stage, film, and television. She was nominated for three Tony Awards for her stage work, as well as two Emmy Awards for television work, winning once, for her perfo ...
,
Maximilian Schell Maximilian Schell (8 December 1930 – 1 February 2014) was a Swiss actor. Born in First Austrian Republic, Austria, his parents were involved in the arts and he grew up surrounded by performance and literature. While he was still a child, his fa ...
, and
Meryl Streep Mary Louise "Meryl" Streep (born June 22, 1949) is an American actress. Known for her versatility and adept accent work, she has been described as "the best actress of her generation". She has received numerous accolades throughout her career ...
(in her film debut). ''Julia'' released theatrically on October 2, 1977 by
20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film studio, film production and Film distributor, distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the ...
. The film received positive reviews from critics, grossed $20.7 million against its $7 million budget, and received a leading 11 nominations at the 50th Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director (for Zinnemann) and Best Actress (for Fonda), and won three awards: Best Supporting Actor (for Robards), Best Supporting Actress (for Redgrave) and Best Adapted Screenplay. At the
35th Golden Globe Awards The 35th Golden Globe Awards, honoring the best in film and television for 1977, were held on January 28, 1978. Winners and nominees Film The following films received multiple nominations: The following films received multiple wins: Televi ...
, the film received a leading seven nominations, including for Best Motion Picture – Drama, Best Director and Best Supporting Actor (for both Robards and Schell), with Fonda and Redgrave winning for Best Actress - Drama and Best Supporting Actress respectively. It also received a leading 10 nominations at the 32nd British Academy Film Awards, including Best Direction and Best Actor in a Supporting Role (for Robards), and won four awards, including Best Film and Best Actress (for Fonda).


Plot

The young
Lillian Hellman Lillian Florence Hellman (June 20, 1905 – June 30, 1984) was an American playwright, Prose, prose writer, Memoir, memoirist, and screenwriter known for her success on Broadway as well as her communist views and political activism. She was black ...
and her friend Julia, daughter of a wealthy family being brought up by her grandparents in the United States, enjoy a childhood together and a very close friendship in late adolescence. Later, while medical student Julia attends the
University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...
and the
University of Vienna The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...
and studies with such luminaries as
Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud ( ; ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating psychopathology, pathologies seen as originating fro ...
, Lillian, a struggling writer, suffers through revisions of her play with her mentor and lover, famed author
Dashiell Hammett Samuel Dashiell Hammett ( ; May 27, 1894 – January 10, 1961) was an American writer of hard-boiled detective novels and short stories. He was also a screenwriter and political activist. Among the characters he created are Sam Spade ('' The Ma ...
, at a beach house. Julia's university in Vienna is overrun by Nazi thugs, and she is severely injured trying to protect others. Lillian receives word of Julia's condition and rushes to Vienna to be with her. Julia is taken away for "treatment", and Lillian is unable to find her again since the hospital denies any knowledge of her being treated there. She remains in Europe to try to find Julia but is unsuccessful. Later, during the
Nazi era Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...
, Lillian has become a celebrated playwright and is invited to a writers' conference in the
USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
. Julia, having taken on the battle against
Nazism Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was fre ...
, enlists Lillian ''en route'' to smuggle money into Germany to assist the anti-Nazi cause. It is a dangerous mission, especially for a Jewish intellectual on her way to Russia. Lillian departs for the USSR via Berlin, and the movements of her person, and the placement of her possessions (a hat and a box of candy), are carefully guided by colleagues of Julia through border crossings and inspections. In Berlin, Lillian is told to go to a cafe, where she finds Julia. They speak only briefly. Julia divulges that the "treatment" she received in the hospital in Vienna was the amputation of her leg. Julia tells her that the money she has brought will save 500 to 1,000 people, many of them Jews. Lillian also learns that Julia has a daughter, Lilly, who is living with a baker in
Alsace Alsace (, ; ) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in the Grand Est administrative region of northeastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine, next to Germany and Switzerland. In January 2021, it had a population of 1,9 ...
. After Lilian leaves Julia in the cafe and boards the train to Moscow, a man tells her to avoid passing through Germany again after she leaves the USSR. When Lillian reaches Moscow, the atmosphere is gloomy and oppressive. She receives word that Julia is dead. Returning to London, she is told that Julia has been killed in the Frankfurt apartment of a friend by Nazi agents, although the details of her death are shrouded in secrecy. Lillian unsuccessfully looks for Julia's daughter in Alsace. She returns to the United States and is reunited with Dashiell Hammett. She is haunted by Julia's memories and is distraught at not finding Julia's toddler. She is shocked that Julia's family pretends not to remember Lillian as Julia's friend, clearly wanting to excise from their memory a granddaughter who refused to conform at a time when conformity caused the murder of many innocent people. The film ends with an image of Lillian Hellman many years later seated in a boat alone, fishing. She reveals in voiceover that she continued to live with Hammett for another thirty years and outlived him.


Cast

The film marked the film debut of
Meryl Streep Mary Louise "Meryl" Streep (born June 22, 1949) is an American actress. Known for her versatility and adept accent work, she has been described as "the best actress of her generation". She has received numerous accolades throughout her career ...
and
Lisa Pelikan Lisa Pelikan (born July 12, 1954) is an American stage, film, and television actress. Born in Berkeley, California, Pelikan studied drama at the Juilliard School on a full scholarship. She subsequently made her Broadway theatre, Broadway debut i ...
.


Production

''Julia'' was shot on location in England and France. Although
Lillian Hellman Lillian Florence Hellman (June 20, 1905 – June 30, 1984) was an American playwright, Prose, prose writer, Memoir, memoirist, and screenwriter known for her success on Broadway as well as her communist views and political activism. She was black ...
claimed the story was based on true events that occurred early in her life, the filmmakers later came to believe that most of it was fictionalized. Director
Fred Zinnemann Alfred Zinnemann (April 29, 1907 – March 14, 1997) was an American film director and producer. He won four Academy Awards for directing and producing films in various genres, including thriller film, thrillers, western (genre), westerns, film ...
would later comment, "Lillian Hellman in her own mind owned half the Spanish Civil War, while
Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway ( ; July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer and journalist. Known for an economical, understated style that influenced later 20th-century writers, he has been romanticized f ...
owned the other half. She would portray herself in situations that were not true. An extremely talented, brilliant writer, but she was a phony character, I'm sorry to say. My relations with her were very guarded and ended in pure hatred." The film was based on the "Julia" chapter of Hellman's memoir '' Pentimento''. On June 30, 1976, as the film was going into production, Hellman wrote about the screenplay to its producer: In a 1979 television interview with Dick Cavett, author Mary McCarthy, long Hellman's political adversary and the object of her negative literary judgment, said of Hellman that "every word she writes is a lie, including 'and' and 'the'." Hellman responded by filing a US$2,500,000 defamation suit against McCarthy, interviewer
Dick Cavett Richard Alva Cavett (; born November 19, 1936) is an American television personality and former talk show host. He appeared regularly on nationally broadcast television in the United States from the 1960s through the 2000s. In later years, Cave ...
, and
PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...
.Martinson, ''Lillian Hellman'', pp. 354–56 McCarthy produced evidence she said proved that Hellman had lied in some accounts of her life. Cavett said he sympathized more with McCarthy than Hellman in the lawsuit, but "everybody lost" as a result of it.
Norman Mailer Nachem Malech Mailer (January 31, 1923 – November 10, 2007), known by his pen name Norman Kingsley Mailer, was an American writer, journalist and filmmaker. In a career spanning more than six decades, Mailer had 11 best-selling books, at least ...
attempted unsuccessfully to mediate the dispute through an open letter he published in the ''New York Times''. At the time of her death in 1984, Hellman was still in litigation with McCarthy; her executors dropped the suit. In 1983, New York psychiatrist Muriel Gardiner became involved in the libel suit between McCarthy and Hellman. She claimed to be the model for the character named Julia in ''Pentimento'', and in the movie ''Julia'' based on a chapter of that book. Hellman, who never met Gardiner, said that "Julia" was somebody else. Gardiner wrote that, while she never met Hellman, she had often heard about her from her friend Wolf Schwabacher, who was Hellman's lawyer. By Gardiner's account, Schwabacher had visited Gardiner in Vienna. After Muriel Gardiner and Joseph Buttinger moved into their house at Brookdale Farm in Pennington, New Jersey in 1940, they divided the house in two. They rented half of it to Wolf and Ethel Schwabacher for more than ten years. Many people believe that Hellmann based her story on Gardiner's life. Gardiner's editor cited the unlikelihood that there were two millionaire American women who were medical students in Vienna in the late 1930s.


Reception

''Julia'' holds a 73% rating on
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
based on 30 reviews, with an average rating of 6.7/10. The consensus summarizes: "''Julia'' is a handsomely crafted and stirringly performed meditation on friendship and political activism, although its tasteful formalism often undercuts the multifaceted passion of these historical figures." On
Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
, the film earned a weighted average score of 75 out of 100, based on 10 reviews, signifying "generally favorable" reviews. '' Variety'' gave it a positive review, praising Jane Fonda and Vanessa Redgrave as being "dynamite together on the screen", Richard Roth's production as "handsome and tasteful", as well as the period costumes and production design. Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat of ''Spirituality & Practice'' described the film as "extraordinary", writing: "''Julia'' gives us a genuine and affecting portrait of a friendship between two women who confirm each other and strengthen their bonds over the years." The film received some criticism as failing to adequately portray the friendship between the two leads.
Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...
called the film a "fascinating story", but felt the film suffered from being told by Lillian Hellman's point of view. "The film never really establishes a relationship between the two women," he wrote. "It's awkward, the way the film has to suspend itself between Julia – its ostensible subject – and Lillian Hellman, its real subject." He gave it two and a half out of four stars. John Simon said of ''Julia'' "Very little of what happens in the film is intrinsically interesting." ''
TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media In mass communication, digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, vi ...
'' gave it three out of five stars and declared it "Beautifully crafted, nominated for 11 Academy Awards, a big hit at the box office--and a dramatic dud ... If you like red nail polish, faux-cynicism, painfully brave smiles and European train stations, ''Julia'' may be your kind of cocktail." The film earned $7.5 million in North American rentals.


Awards and nominations

After Redgrave was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, the Jewish Defense League objected to her nomination because she had narrated and helped fund a documentary entitled '' The Palestinian'', which supported a Palestinian state. They also picketed the Oscar ceremony.


Notes


References


External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Julia 1977 films 1977 drama films 1970s American films 1970s buddy drama films 1970s English-language films 1970s female buddy films 20th Century Fox films American buddy drama films American female buddy films Best Film BAFTA Award winners Cultural depictions of Dashiell Hammett Films about the German Resistance Films based on American novels Films directed by Fred Zinnemann Films featuring a Best Drama Actress Golden Globe–winning performance Films featuring a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award–winning performance Films featuring a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award–winning performance Films featuring a Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe–winning performance Films scored by Georges Delerue Films set in London Films set in the Soviet Union Films set in Vienna Films set on trains Films shot at EMI-Elstree Studios Films whose writer won the Best Adapted Screenplay Academy Award Films whose writer won the Best Screenplay BAFTA Award Films with screenplays by Alvin Sargent English-language buddy drama films