The Charge

"Your old friend Julia, she's turned into a wild socialist, giving away all her money…"

Opening Statement

The movie Julia is a true story adapted from a chapter of writer Lillian Hellman's bestselling 1974 memoir, Pentimento.

Facts of the Case

Lillian (Jane Fonda, Monster-In-Law) and Julia (Vanessa Redgrave, Girl, Interrupted) were close childhood friends, who both grew up on sprawling estates at the turn of the century, dreaming of the wonderful lives ahead of them. While the two were inseparable as children, when they enter adulthood Julia journeys to Oxford while Lillian begins her career as a playwright.

The two remain estranged for several years, only meeting periodically; once, when Lillian visits Julia at Oxford, and again, years later in Austria, after Julia is hospitalized by a violent gang of Nazi thugs. Soon after this incident Lillian loses touch with her close friend, and returns to America to rededicate herself to writing. With the help of her live-in lover, Dashiell Hammet (Jason Robards, Magnolia), she gains wide acclaim for her play The Children's Hour. While traveling in Paris she is approached by a mysterious acquaintance of Julia's. He asks her to smuggle $50,000 into Nazi Germany to help secure the release of political prisoners. Though she is nearly crippled by nerves, Lillian risks her life to help a friend she thought she hadn't seen in years, and thought she might never see again.

The Evidence

As advertised boldly on the cover art for this DVD, Julia was nominated for 11 Oscars. Eleven. To give you some perspective, that's the same number of nominations Titanic and Lord of the Rings: Return of the King had. That's some pretty rarified company. Yet, I don't think one out of 10 people under the age of 30 has ever heard of this movie. Nowadays, the only time the film ever seems to receive mention is in reference to Vanessa Redgrave's gauche acceptance speech at the 1978 Oscars in which she castigated the United States government for its treatment of Palestinian refugees (Redgrave won the Best Supporting Actress award for playing the titular Julia).

After watching the film, I understand why the movie is falling into obscurity. Julia is the prototypical "important" film with a subject matter so righteous and meaningful that a failure to recognize its brilliance seems like a moral failing. As a film about an apolitical playwright risking her life to fight the Nazis, Julia would have had to be putrid (like Shining Through) to be ignored by the Academy. The fact that the film is based on a true story, and stars two strong women, surely made the movie even more appealing. Yet, when viewed nearly 30 years after its release, Julia proves to be a rather vapid experience.

The most obvious problem is that the movie focuses on the far less interesting woman. Julia, the movie, may be based on Lillian Hellman's autobiography, but her character fails to sustain our interest through the first half. Despite the filmmakers' attempt to make Lillian's struggles with her writing cinematic—she pounds on her keyboard and throws the typewriter out the window—her troubles are simply not engaging. By comparison, Julia lives in Austria and spends her personal fortune to defeat the emerging Nazi party. But we don't get to see that. Julia's life is lived off screen, leaving the most interesting part of the movie a mystery to us (as it surely was to real life Lillian Hellman as well). Still, Julia's engrossing counter story casts a long shadow over the banal scenes of Lillian and her unexceptional home life. Ultimately, watching Julia is akin to attending a staid dinner party while a raucous house party is taking place next door.

The action does pick up as soon as Lillian agrees to smuggle $50,000 into Nazi Germany. Jane Fonda sweats and fidgets her way through low-tech cloak and dagger business that will raise your pulse several times over the extended 40-minute scene. The action culminates in a face-to-face meeting with her old friend, Julia. Their five-minute conversation, which takes place in a run down Berlin café, is the clear high point of the movie. Redgrave's engrossing performance over the truncated scene single-handedly justifies her Oscar win. Unfortunately, these five minutes with Julia only remind us again how far more intriguing the life of a political dissident in Nazi Germany is than that of a mediocre playwright in cosmopolitan New York.

Neither the picture nor the sound on this 20th Century Fox release are spectacular. Director Fred Zinneman has done a fine job recreating the America and Europe of the 1930s, but his great work is undermined by colors that are muted and slightly dull. Perhaps if there was more interest in this film's DVD release, Fox would have been more diligent with this transfer.

Unfortunately, the only extra is the theatrical trailer. As mentioned earlier, Julia now seems to be more famous for Vanessa Redgrave's Oscar acceptance speech than for the actual film itself. With the dearth of extras here, the inclusion of the infamous speech would have been a welcome addition to the DVD. It's also unfortunate that Fox didn't include any additional information about the real life Lillian Hellman or her friend Julia.

The Rebuttal Witnesses

Vanessa Redgrave rarely receives high profile roles anymore, but she makes a lasting impression here in her too brief performance. Jason Robards also won an Oscar for his stoic portrayal of the writer Dashielle Hammett. For those who only recognize Redgrave and Robards as aging character actors, Julia will be an effective introduction to the work of two fine, underappreciated actors.

Closing Statement

Julia may feature strong acting and some engaging moments but, as time has shown, it proves to be an utterly forgettable movie.

The Verdict

The movie is guilty of camouflaging a colorless story with a grave and important subject matter.

Similar Decisions

• Topsy-Turvy
• Losing Isaiah
• Breaking And Entering
• Sins Of The Father

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