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JULIA (1977) (***)

This true-life tale follows the friendship of playwright Lillian Hellman (Jane Fonda, KLUTE) and her politically active friend Julia (Vanessa Redgrave, A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS).

The two were very close as young girls, but began to grow apart after college. At the start, Hellman is struggling to become a writer, living with her lover and fellow writer Dashiell Hammett (Jason Robards, MAGNOLIA). For a good portion of the film, we watch as Hellman struggles to become famous and how she reacts to celebrity when it comes. Meanwhile, Julia is actively engaged in the resistance going on in Germany against the new Nazi leadership.

Due to its structure where it periodically flashes back to when Lillian and Julia were kids, the film seems to take too long to solidly develop the friendship and because we follow Hellman’s life after Julia we loose track of Julia and her opinions. As it stands, the film acts more as a sad longing for a past friendship that has slipped away and the guilt that Hellman feels for not being as exceptional as Julia.

And it is true that Julia is exceptional and that’s why we want to follow her more. Then when Hellman’s life reaches its most frivolous level, Julia presents a difficult choice to Lillian, risking her life for the cause. The film presents a wonderful set-up to Hellman’s decision that highlights what Julia’s friendship has meant to her.

The detailed thriller aspect of the following section is the most engaging part of the film. The conclusion brings in a nice emotional current that saves the film from falling down due to the weaknesses of its point of view. Having been based on Hellman’s own novel (which is unread by me), might have created a difficult task for screenwriter Alvin Sargent to adapt into a compelling feature. He captures Hellman’s awe and sad guilt she felt for Julia very well.

Fonda is dynamic and Redgrave makes Julia mysterious. For a film that puts its female character’s relationship as its core, the story looks more intimately into the relationship between Hellman and Hammett, who is played by Robards as an educated man’s man, who has little patience for the glitzy life of fame. With a title character witnessed more at a distance then truly understood, the film takes on an uneasy "what if" nature. It captures the right longing for a positive connection to our pasts. With its dramatic flaws, the reminiscing tone adds weight to the film, even though we still desire more. Though it may be frustrating, the film kind of stands as a tribute to the people in our lives that we respect greatly and wish we would have gotten to know more completely.

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Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks