| Rose Plays Julie | |
|---|---|
 Promotional poster | |
| Directed by |
|
| Written by |
|
| Produced by |
|
| Starring | |
| Music by | Stephen McKeon |
Release date |
|
Running time | 100 minutes |
| Countries |
|
| Language | English |
Rose Plays Julie is a 2019 Irish drama film written and directed by Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor, known collectively as Desperate Optimists.
Rose is a veterinary student at university in Dublin. Adopted as a young child, Rose's adoptive mother has recently died and she has begun looking into who her biological parents are. She discovers her mother is an actress named Ellen who lives in London, and travels there to meet her. Rose calls Ellen on her mobile phone and reveals her birth name is Julie; Ellen realises who she is. She also follows Ellen to a film set and is noticed, but quickly walks off.
Finding that Ellen's house is for sale, Rose calls the estate agent posing as a potential buyer wanting to view the property. At the house, Ellen's teenage daughter Eva answers the door to Rose. Ellen recognises Rose during the viewing and takes her out into the woods to talk, a place she often goes to calm down. Ellen reveals to Rose that she was raped on a golf course, and that Rose (named Julie by her) was the result; she decided to give birth to her in order to focus on the positives of bringing a child into the world, but decided not to keep her. She tells Rose that her father is Peter Doyle, a celebrity archeologist.
Rose goes back to Dublin and attends the launch party for Peter's new book, but does not talk to him. She later volunteers on an archeological dig led by Peter, wearing a black wig over her red hair and pretending to be an actress named Julie researching for a role as an archeologist. Ellen comes to Dublin to work on a film and calls Rose, asking to meet with her; she later turns up at Rose's university flat. Rose tells her that she's seen Peter but not told him who she is. She admits that Peter living his life as if nothing happened angers her.
Peter gives Rose a copy of his book with his phone number written inside. Rose steals drugs used to put down sick animals from her university and fills a syringe with them, then goes to Peter's house while his family are out, intending to kill him. Peter is surprised by Rose's appearance, but lets her in. He quickly makes advances towards her, and when she tells him to stop he grabs her by the throat and pushes her up against a bookcase. She manages to get hold of a golfing award on the shelf and hits him over the head with it, then pulls the syringe from her jacket to find that it has broken; she shouts at Peter and reveals she is his daughter before fleeing, leaving him dazed and bloodied. When Peter's wife Teresa arrives home later he is forced to explain his head wound.
Rose goes to Ellen's hotel room and stays there while Ellen goes to her university flat to dispose of the veterinary drugs. Ellen finds Peter's book with his phone number in and calls him asking to meet at the golf course he raped her at; he agrees. Peter arrives before Ellen, who gets into his car to talk. She recounts the assault to him and then suddenly stabs him in the leg with the syringe; he at first attempts to stop her then accepts his fate and allows her to inject him with the drugs. He dies in the car within minutes. Ellen returns to her hotel room, waking a sleeping Rose, who tells her that she was dreaming about waiting by the sea for her.
Rose Plays Julie premiered at the London Film Festival in 2019 and was released in UK cinemas by New Wave Films on 17 September 2021.[ citation needed ]
Reception of Rose Plays Julie has been mainly very positive, with The Guardian listing it as one of the best films to see in the UK in Autumn 2021. [1]
Film critic Sheila O'Malley has written of the "mythic" nature of the story and the "eerie" quality of Rose Plays Julie, something she describes as being not just a stylistic choice but also "an accurate depiction of the dissociative states of the three main characters, who move through their worlds like somnambulists". [2] Jessica Kiang in Variety also highlighted the connections with myth alongside the contemporary relevance of the film, describing it as "a transgressive story [that] bides its time. It's a tale that feels ancient in structure, but terrifyingly modern in detail, mapping #MeToo-era revelations and a contemporary preoccupation with fractured identities onto a deceptively simple revenge plot that could have been plucked directly from a Greek drama, then plunged into liquid nitrogen to achieve its deep-freeze aesthetic." [3] Critics such as Jonathan Romney have also highlighted parallels with Desperate Optimists' first film Helen , in that both feature young women who have been adopted, have a haunting "uncanny" quality and an interest in investigating the roles people play in life as well as films. [4]
On Taste of Cinema, Justin Gunterman included Rose Plays Julie on his list of the 15 best films so far of 2021. He described it as "a triumph in every sense of the word. Considering the recent popularity of #MeToo inspired movies, this could have easily been a run-of-the-mill copycat. Instead, it's a hair-raising psychological thriller that refuses to sugar-coat its disturbing content." [5]
Awakenings is a 1990 American drama film directed by Penny Marshall. It is written by Steven Zaillian, who based his screenplay on Oliver Sacks's 1973 memoir Awakenings. It tells the story of neurologist Dr. Malcolm Sayer, based on Sacks, who discovers the beneficial effects of the drug L-DOPA in 1969. He administers it to catatonic patients who survived the 1917–1928 epidemic of encephalitis lethargica. Leonard Lowe and the rest of the patients are awakened after decades and have to deal with a new life in a new time. Julie Kavner, Ruth Nelson, John Heard, Penelope Ann Miller, Peter Stormare, and Max von Sydow also star.
Scott Pilgrim is a series of graphic novels by Canadian author and comic book artist Bryan Lee O'Malley. The original edition of the series consists of six digest size black-and-white volumes, released between August 2004 and July 2010, by Portland-based independent comic book publisher Oni Press. It was later republished by Fourth Estate, an imprint of HarperCollins. Full-colour hardback volumes, coloured by Nathan Fairbairn, were released from August 2012 to April 2014.
The Jury is a British television serial broadcast in 2002. The series was the first ever to be allowed to film inside the historic Old Bailey courthouse.
Meet Me in St. Louis is a 1989 musical based on the 1944 film of the same title, about a wealthy lawyer's large family and household living in St. Louis, Missouri in a Victorian era style mansion and their excitement and anticipation of the family and the city on the eve of the 1904 World's Fair. celebrating the centennial of the Louisiana Purchase from France / Spain. As the year progresses leading up to the fair's opening, the family is distraught and upset over father's proposed promotion and move east to bigger New York City leaving behind all their friends and familiar surroundings.
Look What's Happened to Rosemary's Baby is a 1976 American made-for-television horror film and a sequel to Roman Polanski's 1968 film Rosemary's Baby starring Stephen McHattie, Patty Duke, George Maharis, Ruth Gordon and Ray Milland. The film premiered as the ABC Friday Night Movie on October 29, 1976.
Love Songs is a 2007 French musical film directed by Christophe Honoré, starring Louis Garrel, Ludivine Sagnier, Clotilde Hesme and Chiara Mastroianni. It was one of the 20 films selected for the main competition at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival.
Dancing Queen is a 1993 British television film starring Rik Mayall and Helena Bonham Carter. The romantic comedy follows the misfortune of Neil (Mayall), a bridegroom trying to get back to his bride with the help of his newfound friend Pandora/Julie the stripper. It was the third episode of the first series of the Granada Television series Rik Mayall Presents.
Miss Julie is a 2014 period drama film written and directed by Liv Ullmann, based on the 1888 play of the same name by August Strindberg and starring Jessica Chastain, Colin Farrell and Samantha Morton. Set in Ireland in this adaptation, it had its world premiere in the Special Presentations section of the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival. It was a co-production of Norway, United Kingdom, Ireland, and France.
American Pie Presents: Girls' Rules is a 2020 American straight-to-DVD sex comedy film directed by Mike Elliott. It is the fifth installment of the American Pie Presents film series, a spin-off of the American Pie franchise and the ninth overall installment. It is the first film in the franchise to not feature Eugene Levy and also the first to contain no nudity. The film serves as a standalone sequel, revolving around Steve Stifler's relative Stephanie and her friends.
Eye for an Eye is a 2019 drama-thriller film directed by Paco Plaza, written by Juan Galiñanes and Jorge Guerricaechevarría and starring Luis Tosar, Xan Cejudo, Ismael Martínez, Enric Auquer and María Vázquez.
Helen is a 2008 drama film by Desperate Optimists,, and was the first feature film made through their production company Desperate Optimists Productions. It is often spoken of as an expansion or companion piece to their short film Joy.
Desperate Optimists is the creative partnership of Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor, which began in 1992. In an interview in 2008, Lawlor explained how they took inspiration from the title of Nicolas Mosley's book Hopeful Monsters.
Partners in Crime is a 2022 Philippine action-adventure comedy film starring Vice Ganda and Ivana Alawi. The film is directed by Cathy Garcia-Molina and is under the production of Star Cinema and Viva Films. It was one of the official entries for 2022 Metro Manila Film Festival and was released on December 25, 2022. The film has earned a total of ₱168 million at the box-office, becoming the second highest grossing Philippine film of 2022.
