Julia movie storyline. From “Pentimento,” the memoirs of late playwright Lillian Hellman, JULIA covers those years in the 1930s when Lillian attained fame with the production of her first play “The Children’s Hour” on Broadway. Not surprisingly, it centers on Lillian’s relationship with her lifelong friend, Julia. It is a relationship that goes beyond mere acquaintance and one for which the word “love” seems appropriate.
While Julia attends the University in Vienna, studying with such luminaries as Sigmund Freud and Albert Einstein, Lillian suffers through revisions of her play with her mentor and sometimes lover Dashiell Hammett at a New England beach house. After becoming a celebrated playwright, Lillian is invited to a writers’ conference in Russia. Julia, having taken up the battle against fascism, enlists Lillian to smuggle money through Nazi Germany which will assist in the Anti-Fascist cause.
It is a dangerous mission especially for a Jewish intellectual on her way to communist Russia. During a brief meeting with Julia on this trip in Berlin, Lillian learns that Julia has had a child who is called Lilly. While in Moscow, Lillian learns of Julia’s murder. The details of her death are shrouded in secrecy. Lillian sadly travels to London and then to Alsace to search for her namesake, the child she had promised Julia to care for.
Julia is a 1977 American Holocaust drama film directed by Fred Zinnemann, from a screenplay by Alvin Sargent. It is based on a chapter from Lillian Hellman’s 1973 book Pentimento about the author’s relationship with a lifelong friend, “Julia”, who fought against the Nazis in the years prior to World War II. The film stars Jane Fonda, Vanessa Redgrave, Jason Robards, Hal Holbrook, Rosemary Murphy, Maximilian Schell and Meryl Streep (in her film debut).
Julia was released theatrically on October 2, 1977 by 20th Century Fox. Upon release the film received generally positive reviews and grossed $20.7 million against its $7 million budget. It received a leading 11 nominations at the 50th Academy Awards, including Best Picture and won 3 awards, Best Supporting Actor (for Robards), Best Supporting Actress (for Redgrave) and Best Adapted Screenplay. The film also received a leading 10 nominations at the 32nd British Academy Film Awards and won four, including Best Film.
Julia (1977)
Directed by: Fred Zinnemann
Starring: Jane Fonda, Vanessa Redgrave, Jason Robards, Dora Doll, Hal Holbrook, Rosemary Murphy, Maximilian Schell, Meryl Streep, Elisabeth Mortensen, John Glover, Lisa Pelikan, Susan Jones
Screenplay by: Alvin Sargent
Production Design by: Gene Callahan, Carmen Dillon, Willy Holt
Cinematography by: Douglas Slocombe
Film Editing by: Walter Murch, Marcel Durham
Costume Design by: Anthea Sylbert
Music by: Georges Delerue
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: 20th Century Fox
Release Date: October 2, 1977
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