Julia

Friendships and love. Memory and longing. A film that lets you dwell without forcing you to. The story, a true account, told by Lillian Hellman in "Pentimento" was debased by one of Hellman's fans that became her assistant. Imagine. Trying to destroy your mentor. Real or imaginary the story lived in Hellman's heart and mind. Fred Zinnemann created a world for the story to acquire a true human dimension. A triumph. Jane Fonda and Vanessa Redgrave are extraordinary as the inseparable childhood friends, Lilli and Julia. Jason Robards, is utterly wonderful as Dashiell Hammett. The film is also the first for Meryl Streep in a short, very short but memorable character. The script by Alvin Sargent, magnificent. Highly recommended.

Just cast an eye at the credits (Jane Fonda, Vanessa Redgrave, Jason Robards, Maximillian Schell, Hal Holbroke, Meryl Streep, John Glover and others directed by Fred Zinneman in a story by Lillian Hellman) and you know this film is worth seeing. It delivers fabulous performances by some of the best actors of our time, in a carefully -- yeah, sumptuously -- produced film directed by one of Hollywood's most respected veterans, based on a narrative by a gifted dramatist and tale-spinner.

The screenplay blends the two longest episodes in Lillian Hellman's PENTIMENTO, the third, most engaging, and most imaginative of her memoirs. It traces the (largely factual) struggle of Hellman to develop her talents as a playwright under the tutelage of her long-time lover, Dashiell Hammett, and the (largely fictional) course of her friendship with an anti-Nazi activist. The character of Julia seems to be part fantasy, part composite of women Hellman admired.

The film suffers from this blend of fact and fiction and even more from the episodic nature of the intermixed stories. In addition (and to its credit), it does not minimize Hellman's famously abrasive personality. But the characters are so compelling, the performances so outstanding, and the pacing so canny that it holds the viewer's interest for a full two hours.

A flawed but fascinating flick!

JULIA is a fine film. Fonda as Hellman is very good as is Robards as Dashell Hammett. But the real prize is the performance of Vanessa Redgrave as Julia. Though her part is small she is absolutely glowing as Julia. Her face is very radiant and she projects so much with her eyes. She is a great actress indeed.

Most remarkable, to me, about "Julia" is the understated acting of Vanessa Redgrave. For the amount of time she's on the screen, one would not assume her to be worthy of an Academy Award nomination, let alone the Oscar itself (1977, Best Supporting Actress). But there is something about that marvelous, tension-filled scene in the Berlin restaurant that comes across as nothing short of superior. Much the same can be said of Jason Robards as Dashiell Hammett, i.e. understated and short, and he, too, got the equivalent Oscar, rightfully outpointing co-star Maximillian Schell. What I had supposed would be a "chick flick" faux-biopic turned out to be a gripping drama on the highest order worth four stars from me.

The story of Julia is taken from Pentimento the second of three volumes of memoirs by American playwright Lillian Hellman. Hellman who was still alive at the time this film was made surely must have been flattered by what Jane Fonda and the rest of the cast did with an intimate and painful portion of her life.

Lillian Hellman was a radical and unorthodox character in her life and times. She was the first major American writer to bring a lesbian theme to the stage in The Children's Hour. What she gives us in Julia is a look at her life and how she was able to create the characters of Karen and Martha the schoolteachers from The Children's Hour.

In this story Karen and Martha are Jane Fonda as Lillian Hellman and Vanessa Redgrave as her most intimate friend Julia. Both are Jewish, but Redgrave is British and Hellman is American. Their destinies seeming to be fated for togetherness are driven apart as Julia decides to go to university in Vienna to study under Sigmund Freud.

But while Hellman struggles to create a play under the tutelage of lover and mentor Dashiell Hammett as played by Jason Robards, Jr., Julia gets herself involved in the anti-fascist activities in an Austria already preparing for Anschluss. While Hellman is visiting Julia sustains some very serious injuries during a Nazi inspired riot.

As the story continues Hellman meets great acclaim with her first major hit which turns out to be The Children's Hour, but her communications from Julia become more and more infrequent and somewhat bizarre. Then she's asked on another trip to smuggle money into the Third Reich to aid Julia and others fleeing Hitler's tyranny.

Director Fred Zinneman who was also a refugee from the Anschluss of Austria knew his subject well. He successfully transfers his memories and visions of a frightened people with good reason to be frightened. Fonda's American experience doesn't prepare her for this, but as Hellman she adapts to the environment well for her survival. Her budding celebrity no doubt helps insure her survival.

But the one you will remember is Vanessa Redgrave who won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar as Julia. The last scene of her and Fonda together at a Berlin train stop café is no doubt what won her the Oscar. It will haunt you long after you've seen the film.

Julia won two other Oscars, one for Best Screenplay adapted from another source and Best Supporting Actor for Jason Robards, Jr. as Dashiell Hammett. Sharing sex, literature, and politics wasn't enough for the Hammett/Hellman duo, Robards as Hammett knows well that he runs second as will anyone else in Fonda's life to her lost Julia. But he's secure enough to realize it and enjoy what he has.

Maximilian Schell was also up for Best Supporting Actor in a small, but vital role as an anti-Nazi German who gives cryptic guiding instructions to Fonda on her last visit to Julia. It's through him that the fright of the opposition is seen mostly. Meryl Streep made her screen debut as an upper class snob of a friend that Fonda has and Strepp has a brother in John Glover. Glover specializes in portrayals of truly hateful people on the big and small screen. He confesses a breaking a major taboo to Fonda while drunk and then snickers at her relationship with Redgrave. Jane handles him appropriately.

Julia was also up for a flock of other Oscars including Best Picture, Best Director for Fred Zinneman and Best Actress for Jane Fonda. It's a beautiful and haunting film about Lillian Hellman writing from the heart about a lost love.