Julia (1977)

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Movie
German title Julia
Original title Julia
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1977
length 118 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Fred Zinnemann
script Alvin Sargent
production Richard Roth
music Georges Delerue
camera Douglas Slocombe
cut Marcel Durham, Walter Murch
occupation

Julia is a film drama that was distributed by 20th Century Fox in 1977 and is based on the autobiographical book Julia ( Pentimento ) by Lillian Hellman . It describes the close friendship between two American women against the backdrop of National Socialism . Both Vanessa Redgrave , who won an Oscar for it , and Jane Fonda impressed with their acting performances and the film was also a success with the audience.

action

Julia, from a wealthy Jewish family, and Lillian Hellman have been friends since they were young. Julia studied medicine in Oxford and Vienna (including with Sigmund Freud ) during the emergence of National Socialism in the mid-1930s and became politically active. Hellman, on the other hand, pursues a career as a playwright and lives in New England with the older crime writer Dashiell Hammett.

The film shows them both in a beach house, where Hellman reached a dead point while writing and remembers her childhood friend, with whom she stayed in correspondence. She looks for her friend - who is beaten up by the National Socialists and goes on crutches - briefly in Vienna. Shortly afterwards, she disappears from the hospital without any news. A few years later, Hellman was invited to the Soviet Union as a recognized writer after the success of her play "A Children's Hour". Julia gets her through the contact person Johann to smuggle money for the resistance movement while passing through Germany.

They meet for the last time in Berlin. Hellman learns that Julia has a child in Alsace who she named Lily after her friend. She promises to take care of the child if necessary. After returning to the States, she learns that Julia was murdered, which is only hinted at in the film. Hellman's inquiries into the child were unsuccessful, and the Julias family did not want to hear about it either.

Prices

Academy Awards

Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences (AMPAS)

  • Best cut

BAFTA Awards

  • Richard Roth for the best film
  • Jane Fonda best actress
  • Alvin Sargent best adapted screenplay
  • Douglas Slocombe best cameraman

Others

The role of Julia was first offered to Faye Dunaway , who turned it down. The role of Hellman was offered to Barbra Streisand , who also declined. Julia was originally supposed to play Jane Fonda, who then took over Hellman when there were casting problems with the role. Meryl Streep has her first film role here, as does Lisa Pelikan.

Lillian Hellman appears in a shadowy cameo at the beginning and the end of the film (sitting in a boat).

The self-confessed socialist Vanessa Redgrave used the 1978 Academy Awards for a militant speech against fascism on the occasion of threats by the right-wing Jewish Defense League , which protested against their commitment to the Palestinians. However, this did not detract from her career in Hollywood, and she was nominated again for the Academy Award in 1985 and 1993.

Reviews

"[...] sensitively staged, the description of the political situation in the mid-30s has a very dense atmosphere and, thanks to its good presentation, is also convincing on a human level."

- Lexicon of international film

“Jane Fonda and Vanessa Redgrave act with the kind of strain that is always considered 'Oscar-worthy'. Only Jason Robards, who plays Miss Hellman's partner Dashiell Hammett, counteracts the sweetish theatrics of the film with grumpy understatement. 'Julia' is anything but a new, even politically accentuated women's film, at best a half-hearted re-edition of Hollywood's tried and tested 'soap operas'. "

- Hans-Christoph Blumenberg , Die Zeit , 1978

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Vanessa Redgrave Wins Supporting Actress: 1978 Oscars on YouTube , accessed May 28, 2019.
  2. ↑ Julia. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  3. ^ Hans-Christoph Blumenberg : Film Tips . In: Die Zeit , No. 5/1978