NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather forecasts

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
    • The Great NZ Road Trip
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
    • Cooking the Books
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • What the Actual
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Entertainment

Julia

By Peter Calder
NZ Herald·
29 Jan, 2010 03:00 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Tilda Swinton in the movie Julia. Photo / Supplied
Tilda Swinton in the movie Julia. Photo / Supplied

Tilda Swinton in the movie Julia. Photo / Supplied

Rating out of 5: * * * *
Verdict: Acting this good is rare.

The title of this film is a clue that it's a homage to John Cassavetes' 1980 film Gloria, which was also about a woman on the run with a kid who's not her own. But this extortion thriller, a serious white-knuckle ride, is every inch its own film.

The work of French director Zonca, whose feature debut was the sublime The Dreamlife of Angels 10 years ago, it's not a faultless piece of work, but it's distinguished by a dazzling title-role performance by Swinton.

Her Julia Harris is a woman seriously under the influence: her only friend Mitch (Rubin) tells her, she's "an out-of-control, suicidal, blind alcoholic" and Zonca shows us her life in LA as a succession of shadowy bars and starkly sunlit hungover mornings in which she wakes with her skirt around her hips.

Like all the best drunks, she shrugs off responsibility - "This happens to me sometimes," she says with a wan smile - preferring to believe that life just keeps dealing her bad hands.

Things look up when Julia's plainly demented neighbour Elena (Del Castillo) makes her a lucrative proposal: to help kidnap her son back from the rich grandfather who has custody of the boy. Unsurprisingly, things go wrong, but nothing prepares us for quite how wrong.

The plot line may seem improbable at times, but Zonca is alive to the messy unpredictability of criminal endeavour. A lot of the movie, which is a sort of black comedy of errors, consists of blundering around and waiting, and as a result it's looser and longer than it ought to be. There's a sense, too, that it ends when Zonca doesn't quite know where to take it. Certainly the last line makes no sense at all given what's gone before and as redemption narrative the outcome is shaky at best.

But it's easy to forgive anything in a film built around such a spellbinding performance. In underrated films (Caravaggio, The War Zone) and in the American arthouse mainstream (Michael Clayton, The Deep End, Stephanie Daley), Swinton has long impressed as an actress of consummate craft and huge emotional range. Her work here as a woman just this side of a meltdown is certain to rank among the very best performances of this or any year. It's far from an easy watch, but it shouldn't be missed.

Cast: Tilda Swinton, Saul Rubinek, Kate Del Castillo, Aidan Gould, Jude Ciccolella, Bruno Bichir
Director: Erick Zonca
Running time: 138 mins
Rating: M Contains violence and offensive language.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Save

    Share this article

Latest from Entertainment

Premium
Entertainment

Auckland Writers Festival special: A sneak peek at Dervla McTiernan's gripping new novel

17 May 05:00 AM
Premium
Entertainment

Auckland Writers Festival special: Duncan Sarkies writes about democracy ... and alpacas

17 May 02:00 AM
Reviews

Review: Bubbah shocks audiences by shaving her head at comedy show

17 May 01:36 AM

Sponsored: How much is too much?

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Recommended for you
Auckland FC beat Melbourne Victory in first leg of semifinal
Auckland FC

Auckland FC beat Melbourne Victory in first leg of semifinal

17 May 11:43 AM
$15 million remains up for grabs, two players $500,000 richer
New Zealand

$15 million remains up for grabs, two players $500,000 richer

17 May 09:35 AM
'Had to weather the storm': Moana Pasifika top Blues
Super Rugby

'Had to weather the storm': Moana Pasifika top Blues

17 May 09:34 AM
'Armed police, open the door': Cinema cleared as officers sweep mall; man arrested, one on run
New Zealand

'Armed police, open the door': Cinema cleared as officers sweep mall; man arrested, one on run

17 May 09:21 AM
TV show where immigrants compete for US citizenship considered by Homeland Security
World

TV show where immigrants compete for US citizenship considered by Homeland Security

17 May 07:22 AM

Latest from Entertainment

Premium
Auckland Writers Festival special: A sneak peek at Dervla McTiernan's gripping new novel

Auckland Writers Festival special: A sneak peek at Dervla McTiernan's gripping new novel

17 May 05:00 AM

We're celebrating this year's festival with extracts from some authors on the programme.

Premium
Auckland Writers Festival special: Duncan Sarkies writes about democracy ... and alpacas

Auckland Writers Festival special: Duncan Sarkies writes about democracy ... and alpacas

17 May 02:00 AM
Review: Bubbah shocks audiences by shaving her head at comedy show

Review: Bubbah shocks audiences by shaving her head at comedy show

17 May 01:36 AM
Premium
Auckland Writers Festival special: Family secrets unveiled in Amma

Auckland Writers Festival special: Family secrets unveiled in Amma

17 May 12:00 AM
Sponsored: Cosy up to colour all year
sponsored

Sponsored: Cosy up to colour all year

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • What the Actual
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven CarGuide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
All Access. All in one subscription. From $2 per week
Subscribe now

All Access Weekly

From $2 per week
Pay just
$15.75
$2
per week ongoing
Subscribe now
BEST VALUE

All Access Annual

Pay just
$449
$49
per year ongoing
Subscribe now
Learn more
30
TOP
search by queryly Advanced Search