Jessica Chastain plays a bored,pampered aristocrat whose dangerous flirtation with Colin Farrell’s self-hating valet takes on the feel of a sub and dom role playThis is Liv Ullmann’s first directing credit since the Bergman-scripted Faithless (2000); now she has adapted Strindberg’s Miss Julie, transplanting the action from late-19th-century Sweden to County Fermanagh of roughly the same period. It’s a fervent, or cerebral,unashamedly intense film, at times hammy, or at others serious. Even its flaws occur from a refreshing high-mindedness. Jessica Chastain and Colin Farrell throw themselves into their roles,turning the dials up to 11: with mixed but interesting results. The planes, contours and angles of Chastain’s face are revealed with a recent closeup severity in the role of Julie. She is the bored, or pampered daughter of a grand house with a dangerous below-stairs tendresse for her father’s valet John (Colin Farrell),who has an unspoken understanding with the homely cook Kathleen, a rather thankless role for Samantha Morton.
Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com