Julia is a 1977 drama film directed by Fred Zinnemann, from a screenplay by Alvin Sargent. It is based on Lillian Hellman's book Pentimento, a chapter of which purports to tell the story of her relationship with an alleged lifelong friend, "Julia," who fought against the Nazis in the years prior to World War II. The film was produced by Richard Roth, with Julien Derode as executive producer and Tom Pevsner as associate producer. It was nominated for eleven Academy Awards and won three, including best screenplay. Vanessa Redgrave won the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role as the title-named character, Julia, and Jason Robards won his second consecutive Best Actor in a Supporting Role award.
| Julia | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Theatrical release poster by Richard Amsel |
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| Directed by | Fred Zinnemann |
| Produced by | Richard Roth |
| Screenplay by | Alvin Sargent |
| Based on | story by Lillian Hellman |
| Starring | Jane Fonda Vanessa Redgrave Jason Robards Hal Holbrook Rosemary Murphy and Maximilian Schell |
| Music by | Georges Delerue |
| Cinematography | Douglas Slocombe |
| Editing by | Walter Murch Marcel Durham |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
| Release date(s) |
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| Running time | 118 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $7,840,000[1] |
| Box office | $20,714,400[2] |
Julia is a 1977 drama film directed by Fred Zinnemann, from a screenplay by Alvin Sargent. It is based on Lillian Hellman's book Pentimento, a chapter of which purports to tell the story of her relationship with an alleged lifelong friend, "Julia," who fought against the Nazis in the years prior to World War II. The film was produced by Richard Roth, with Julien Derode as executive producer and Tom Pevsner as associate producer. It was nominated for eleven Academy Awards and won three, including best screenplay. Vanessa Redgrave won the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role as the title-named character, Julia, and Jason Robards won his second consecutive Best Actor in a Supporting Role award.
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Plot[edit]
The young Lillian and the young Julia, daughter of a wealthy family being brought up by her grandparents in the U.S., enjoy a childhood together and an extremely close relationship in late adolescence. Later, while medical-student/physician Julia (Vanessa Redgrave) attends Oxford and the University of Vienna and studies with such luminaries as Sigmund Freud, Lillian (Jane Fonda) suffers through revisions of her play with her mentor and sometime lover, famed author Dashiell Hammett (Jason Robards) at a beachhouse.
After becoming a celebrated playwright, Lillian is invited to a writers' conference in Russia. Julia, having taken on the battle against Nazism, enlists Lillian en route to smuggle money through Nazi Germany which will assist in the anti-Nazi cause. It is a dangerous mission, especially for a Jewish intellectual on her way to Russia.
During a brief meeting with Julia on this trip, Lillian learns that her friend has a child named Lily, living with a baker in Alsace. Shortly after her return to the United States, Lillian is informed of Julia's murder. The details of her death are shrouded in secrecy. Lillian unsuccessfully looks for Julia's daughter in Alsace and also discovers that Julia's family wants nothing to do with the child, if she exists. They even pretend not to remember Lillian, clearly wanting to excise the embarrassment of Julia from their lives.
Cast[edit]
- Jane Fonda as Lillian Hellman
- Vanessa Redgrave as Julia
- Jason Robards as Dashiell Hammett
- Maximilian Schell as Johann
- Hal Holbrook as Alan Campbell
- Rosemary Murphy as Dorothy Parker
- Meryl Streep as Anne Marie
- John Glover as Sammy
- Lisa Pelikan as Julia (younger)
- Susan Jones as Lillian (younger)
- Lambert Wilson as Walter Franz
Production[edit]
The film was shot on location in England and France. Although Lillian Hellman 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 would later comment, "Lillian Hellman in her own mind owned half the Spanish Civil War, while Hemingway 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."[3]
Julia features the first film performances of Meryl Streep and Lisa Pelikan.
Reception[edit]
The film earned $13,050,000 in North American rentals.[4]
Awards[edit]
Julia won Academy Awards for:
- Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Jason Robards);
- Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Vanessa Redgrave);
- Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium (Alvin Sargent)
It was nominated for an Academy Award for:
- Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Maximilian Schell);
- Best Actress in a Leading Role (Jane Fonda);
- Best Cinematography;
- Best Costume Design;
- Best Director;
- Best Film Editing;
- Best Music, Original Score;
- Best Picture.
Accepting the Academy Award, Redgrave said:
| “ | My dear colleagues, I thank you very much for this tribute to my work. I think that Jane Fonda and I have done the best work of our lives, and I think this is in part due to our director, Fred Zinnemann.
And I also think it's in part because we believed and we believe in what we were expressing--two out of millions who gave their lives and were prepared to sacrifice everything in the fight against fascist and racist Nazi Germany. And I salute you, and I pay tribute to you, and I think you should be very proud that in the last few weeks you've stood firm, and you have refused to be intimidated by the threats of a small bunch of Zionist hoodlums whose behaviour is an insult to the stature of Jews all over the world and their great and heroic record of struggle against fascism and oppression. And I salute that record and I salute all of you for having stood firm and dealt a final blow against that period when Nixon and McCarthy launched a worldwide witch-hunt against those who tried to express in their lives and their work the truth that they believe in. I salute you and I thank you and I pledge to you that I will continue to fight against anti-Semitism and fascism. |
” |
Paddy Chayefsky, himself an Oscar winner in the year this was released, made this statement a short time later during the broadcast when he was presenting an award:
| “ | Before I get on to the writing awards, there's a little matter I'd like to tidy up--at least if I expect to live with myself tomorrow morning. I would like to say, personal opinion, of course, that I'm sick and tired of people exploiting the Academy Awards for the propagation of their own personal propaganda.
I would like to suggest to Miss Redgrave that her winning an Academy Award is not a pivotal moment in history, does not require a proclamation and a simple 'thank you' would have sufficed. |
” |
It also won the BAFTA Award for Best Film.
References[edit]
- ^ Aubrey Solomon, Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History, Scarecrow Press, 1989 p258
- ^ "Julia (1977) (1977)". Box Office Mojo. 1977-10-02. Retrieved 2013-01-21.
- ^ "''Fred Zinnemann: interviews'', University Press of Mississippi (2005) p156". Books.google.com. Retrieved 2013-01-21.
- ^ Solomon p 234
External links[edit]
- Julia at the Internet Movie Database
- Julia at Rotten Tomatoes
| Awards | ||
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| Preceded by The Last Picture Show |
Academy Award winner for Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress |
Succeeded by Hannah and Her Sisters |
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- 1977 films
- English-language films
- American films
- Elstree Studios films
- 20th Century Fox films
- 1970s drama films
- American drama films
- Films based on 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 whose writer won the Best Adapted Screenplay Academy Award
