August Strindberg’s 1888 play gets a decent 20th century reading in Mike Figgis’ Miss Julie even if the film is somewhat muted by some weird directorial choices and a sometimes strident performance by its leading actress in the title role. The play itself is opened up only very narrowly so that its socially realistic themes can come through unmarred, but as drama, it’s often rather flat and unmoving despite the director’s efforts to provide some camera tricks to liven things up a bit.
Studio: MGM
Distributed By: Fox
Video Resolution and Encode: 480P/MPEG-2
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Audio: English 2.0 DD
Subtitles: None
Rating: R
Run Time: 1 Hr. 41 Min.
Package Includes: DVD
Amaray caseDisc Type: DVD-R
Region: 1
Release Date: 01/15/2015
MSRP: $19.98
The Production Rating: 3/5
Strindberg’s play is a bitter indictment of social class structures, and some of those themes definitely remain in the screen treatment by director Mike Figgis and Helen Cooper. Moods and attitudes change too abruptly in the film, however, and the one-upmanship between Miss Julie and Jean does become tiresome before things take a change for the worse. Figgis stages and shoots the action with considerable thought even if some of his choices are rather weird and ineffectual. The sex scene is shot with the screen split in two giving us the near-rape from different vantage points, but the camera is so close that the impact of such an act and the reactions of the participants are somewhat stymied. Later on during one of Miss Julie’s monologues, Figgis shoots her reflection in a distorted surface, possibly suggesting her unbalanced mind, but Saffron Burrows’ performance has clearly indicated that from almost her first entrance, Julie’s mental instability not coming from the sex with Jean but already seated firmly within this most melancholy and somewhat perverse young lady. To open the three-character play up a bit, Figgis shoots the opening moments in the kitchen as a beehive of activity suggesting a grand estate (we only see the kitchen and garden) and later has the other household servants invade the kitchen singing and chanting their vulgar drivel that shows the low regard they have for their master and mistress. But these are only momentary distractions; it’s always clear we’re seeing a lengthy one-act play being performed.
Peter Mullan by far gives the best performance in the piece as the proud, knowing Jean. He’s not the strutting cock-of-the-walk that might have been easier to play but rather a man who’s proud to serve but also able to recognize an opportunity when one comes upon him. More variety in their playing might have made both the work of Saffron Burrows as Miss Julie and Maria Doyle Kennedy as Christine more enjoyable. Burrows plays Miss Julie’s moodiness and instability too broadly from the start and then becomes zombie-like in rather odd fashion giving an even greater sense of unevenness to her performance. Kennedy is too one note without showing any flashes of jealousy or amusement at the peculiar goings on between her intended and the willful Miss Julie.
Video Rating: 3/5 3D Rating: NA
Audio Rating: 4/5
Special Features Rating: 0/5
Overall Rating: 3/5
Reviewed By: Matt Hough
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