Sunday, April 03, 2005

Stephen Schiff

“....Fonda, meanwhile, simply dazzles. She is one of those actresses whose very instincts attract you, who know how to register afterthoughts and how to convey those moments when people find themselves stranded between social roles, wondering who they will be next. During her long perilous train ride to Berlin, she shows you what terror feels like -- her shoulders hunch, her lips purse, she communicates every anxiety inexperienced people feel when in danger, and the result is the kind of Hitchcockian suspense that comes from immersing oneself in another's fear. At home with Hammett, Fonda concocts a splendid version of Hellman the writer, from the fashionably shabby sweater to the jittery energy that seems to pull all her bones tight. Watching her act is a little like reading Hellman: though you see conclusions being drawn without always knowing exactly what they are, you're moved by her struggle to make moral choices...."

Stephen Schiff
Boston Phoenix, get date

Saturday, April 02, 2005

Stephen Farber

“…. Vincent Canby called it "a film that is both well meaning [sic] and on the side of the angels but, with the exception of a half-dozen scenes, lifeless." Yet the truth is that Jane Fonda's characterization of Lillian Hellman adds considerable life to the anti-Fascist polemic. Hellman is depicted as an often weak and frightened woman, irresistibly attracted to money and glamour. There are sharp, biting moments in the portrait, for instance when Hellman exhibits a social climber's hunger to rub elbows with Hemingway.

“What makes the film dramatic, and not simply "well meaning," is the contrast between Hellman--an enlightened but essentially cautious woman--and her friend Julia, who fearlessly sacrifices herself for what she believes. Fonda supplies the human quirks that make the character something more than a liberal role model….”

Stephen Farber
"Why Do Critics Love Trashy Movies?", American Film, April 1981

“In the years from 1977 to 1979, Jane reached her peak as an actress. In Julia, Coming Home, Comes a Horseman, California Suite, and The China Syndrome, she created a gallery of sharply etched characters. She seemed to undergo a remarkable physical transformation from one role to the next… In all these movies, Jane worked with a miniaturist's attention to nuance and detail , and an uncanny responsiveness to women who were often quite different from herself… Piercing to the core of every character she played, Jane seemed incapable of a false or predictable gesture, and her performances won the respect of critics and audiences alike.”

Stephen Farber and Marc Green
Hollywood Dynasties (1984), p 160

Friday, April 01, 2005

Gary Arnold

“Unfortunately, even though the film doesn't seriously explore the consequences of hero-worshipping inspiration and emotional dependence on the formation of a writer's personality and outlook, one may consider this the undeclared subject of the movie.

“Jane Fonda's intriguing tensed-up performance as Hellman corroborates the impression. Irritable, intent and agonizingly self-conscious, Fonda suggests the internal conflicts gnawing at a talented woman who craves the self-assurance, resolve and wisdom she sees in figures like Julia and Hammett…. Feeling perpetually inferior to a vision of militant feminine virtue like Julia must provoke a resentful reaction, even if it's directed not at the person but at the wealth and security that make her grand gestures easier to afford. Fonda's tautness, the inability of her Lillian to relax, to achieve the poise whe tries to affact [sic], appears to be a symptom of something. Perhaps it's not unreasonable to read it as repressed anger and resentment at one's own real or imagined limitations. Hellman can't seem to get free of her mentors, who remain moral and artistic authorities. At time she appears to torment herself by aspiring to their perfection, which doesn't necessarily suit her temperament and capabilities. But who could be worthy of a Julia?

“Ironically, Hellman attained something of the status of Julia at the last Oscar ceremony, where she was introduced by Jane Fonda to a standing ovation…. It was a love feast evidently predicated on sweet misapprehensions, inspired in part by Hellman's self-serving account of her rather perplexing response to Cold War politics, the blacklist and a summons from HUAC in … "Scoundrel Time."

“The woman at the Oscars was a righteous conquering heroine accepting tribute from a filmmaking generation probably too young to appreciate her authentic, complicated significance. It played, but it was an act.

“Despite its gentility and evasiveness, "Julia" may have come much closer to the truth about Lillian Hellman on the strength of Jane Fonda's edgy, persuasive performance, which reveals an intelligent woman who couldn't feel more unsure of herself or less like a conquering heroine.”

Gary Arnold
Washington Post, get date