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Julia
Generally favorable reviews
Based on 13 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 9 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Drama | Suspense/Thriller
Written by:
Aude Py
Erick Zonca
Directed by: Erick Zonca
Release Date:
Theatrical: May 8, 2009
DVD: August 18, 2009
Running Time: 144 minutes, Color
Origin: France | USA | Mexico | Belgium
Language(s): English | Spanish
Summary
RATING: R for pervasive language, some violent content and brief nudity
Starring Tilda Swinton, Saul Rubinek, Kate Del Castillo, Aidan Gould, Jude Ciccolella, Bruno Bichir, Horacio Garcia Rojas, and Gaston Peterson
Julia, 40, is an alcoholic. She is a manipulative, unreliable, compulsive liar, all strung out beneath her still flamboyant exterior. Between shots of vodka and one-night stands, Julia gets by on nickel-and-dime jobs. Increasingly lonely, the only consideration she receives comes from her friend Mitch, who tries to help her. But she shrugs him off, as her alcohol-induced confusion daily reinforces her sense that life has dealt her a losing hand and that she is not to blame for the mess she has made of it. Glimpsing imminent perdition, and after a chance encounter with Elena, a Mexican woman, Julia convinces herself – as much in panic and despair as for financial gain – to commit a violent act. As the story unfolds, Julia's journey becomes a headlong flight on a collision course, but somehow she makes the choice of life over death. (Magnolia Pictures)
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
Tilda Swinton hasn't often been more fascinating than in Julia, a nerve-wracking thriller with a twisty plot and startling realism.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Noel Murray
In tone and plot, Julia often resembles an extended episode of the AMC series "Breaking Bad"--except that Swinton's character is never NOT bad.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
Charles Bukowski would have loved this foul-mouthed, fiery, reckless woman. Against all odds and common sense, you will, too.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Manohla Dargis
Ms. Swinton demands to be seen even when her character is on a self-annihilating bender so real that you can almost smell the stink rising off her. So I sat in my seat, cursed the screen and was grateful to watch an actress at the height of her expressive power claw toward greatness.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Gregory Valens
As Julia, Swinton belongs to that league of great cinematic alcoholics such as Jack Lemmon and Lee Remick in "Days of Wine and Roses" and Ray Milland in "The Lost Weekend." As an action character, she naturally evokes Gena Rowlands without ever trying to resemble her.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
Goes to all the places a sensitive character study might have gone, but more dramatically, convincingly and vividly.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
This overlong, lurchy homage to John Cassavetes' 1980 film "Gloria" is a mess, but a fascinating one, given Swinton's desperately avid performance in the title role.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Scott Foundas
Tilda Swinton doesn't merely act the title role in French director Erick Zonca's Julia--she devours it, spits it back up, dances giddily upon it, twirls it in the air.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer
Swinton's performance, and practically everything else about Julia, seems off – tone-deaf. She plays an out-of-control wastrel who enters into a kidnapping scheme gone horribly wrong, as does the movie.
Read Full Review >Variety Eddie Cockrell
The miscalculated and overlong Julia proves a startling misfire for "The Dreamlife of Angels" writer-helmer Erick Zonca and dependably fearless actress Tilda Swinton.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Betsy Sharkey
As Julia struggles to survive her bad decisions, the film struggles to survive Julia. We never get a good look at her demons, just the havoc they wreak.
Read Full Review >New York Post Kyle Smith
Picture "Fargo" played with no sense of comedy, and you'll get some idea of the absurdity of this drunken floozy, clicking and wobbling on high heels, often with bits of her anatomy hanging out, trying to pull off the perfect crime.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Joe Neumaier
The end result is like Quentin Tarantino reworking a Charles Bukowski story.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 9.1 (out of 10) based on 9 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
stephen g gave it a10:
I was memorized by Swinton's devasting performance from start to finish. Tilda does deserve an Oscar for this!
Jay H gave it a7:
Tilda Swinton's amazing performance makes the film. She puts so much thought into every role. It's a good story, fine direction and cinematography. It's a very detailed film. One complaint, more should have been cut, it's overlong.
Brent A gave it a10:
There are not enough words to describe the veracity of of Tilda Swinton's performance. She is unmatched in her brilliance. This movie is undoubtedly the best movie of the year, and Tilda Swinton needs an oscar for this role.
Jim F gave it a10:
For about its first hour, "Julia" is one of the craziest good films I've ever seen, and when the lunatic kidnapping plot is put in motion, I thought perhaps I should be calling 911 to have the director arrested for creating the illusion of child endangerment. But the extremely talented, original, and authentic director Eric Zonca, with the great help of a career performance by Tilda Swinton, has something much better and more interesting in mind, a redemptive drama morphed from the shell of a gutsy portrait of addiction that is in every way the movie "Rachel Getting Married" wanted to be but couldn't. "Julia" never for one moment of its almost 2 1/2 hour length plays things safe, but it's a deeply human and satisfying movie all the same.
