Julia and Julia

Julia and Julia has an interesting and well-developed plot, so I'm afraid to say that Sting's naked body isn't the best part of it! (sorry girls) The movie has some weak points (seems to be video/35 mm and the mix is a bit strange; the incidental music is a bit cheesy) but its strong points (original and thrilling story, smart structure and, most of all, the ending) help Julia & Julia to become a strange and enjoyable movie -something like David Lynch's flicks ancestor (Lost Highway, Mulholland Drive, eg).

I found this film much like "Sliding Doors" in which Gywneth Paltrow found herself wondering should she have caught the train or missed the train? In this film, Kathleen Turner wonders if her husband really died or did she imagine the whole thing?

The film begins with Turner as a bride marrying Gabriel Byrne. Unfortunately, after the wedding dinner, they drive off into the sunset and into the path of a truck. The car overturns and Byrne dies ... or did he?

Turner grieves pitifully for her groom. And begins a journey into two worlds...one in which she is still married to Byrne and has a young son opposed to one life in which she is a widow working as a travel agent who makes the acquaintance of a very, sexy Sting (Gordon Sumner). Ladies, if you don't enjoy this film, please fast forward to Sting lying on the bed nude...worth the view! (smile)

I'm a lifelong suspense/mystery fan, I do not enter this realm ill-prepared.

Consequently, when I write that "Julia and Julia" is a very special film, I do not do so ill-advised. Our friend Alfred Hitchcock would have envied this fascinating, morbid tale of love found, tragically lost, yet found and lost again. And again. Serving as a hyper-psychological "thriller", it is far above simply that. Argueably, there is no strict filmic category for it. The story is of a woman's life after having lost her husband in a car crash on their honeymoon. It's also about a woman who chooses to have an illicit, extramarital affair with a perfect stranger. It's also about...well...you should decide for yourself. Direction and writing are both truly sublime. It is surreal, the viewer is left pondering aghast until the end, indeed way beyond. From a devout Hitchcockian, Julia and Julia is forever one of my all-time favorite movies.

Strange - and strangely uninvolving - psychological drama that plays like a dragged-out "Twilight Zone" episode. The most distracting thing about it is its "TV-ish" look; not everyone will mind it, but personally I just couldn't get over it. The second problem is that the script makes no sense, even in its own terms (just an example: what's up with the boy saying "You're not my mother"? Who IS his mother?). And the third is Gabriel Byrne's lifeless performance: he resembles a walking corpse (then again, that may be exactly what he's playing). The basic idea, Turner's committed performance and a few steamy sex scenes are what this film has to offer. (**)

At the heart of the story is Juliet's gliding back and forth between parallel realities and parallel destinies. The script resolves the ending very elegantly, when I'm a bit lost as to which version of life we are in. This is typically a story that inspires me, makes me think. I wonder if the other Juliet experienced things in a similar way on the other side? Or: I should write a novel in which the two characters leave a diary to each other, and help each other this way.

Another thought: Sting plays a very aggressive character. It's very odd today, repulsive, but I don't think the metoo has done away with this male type as an ideal.

The film doesn't delve into anything deep, but maybe that's why it manages to remain inspiring. It leaves room for the imagination.