Julia 1977

The film traces the intertwined lives of the young Lillian Hellman [Jane Fonda] and her dear friend Julia, the daughter of a wealthy family being raised by grandparents in the United States, whose bond grows through a shared adolescence marked by curiosity, wit, and a fierce sense of justice. Their friendship becomes the emotional center of a story that expands from sunlit afternoons and intimate talks to the larger currents of history that soon pull them apart and then draw them back together in unforeseen ways.

As they drift toward adulthood, Julia travels for her studies—at institutions in places like Oxford and Vienna—where she encounters intellectual giants and a world on the brink of catastrophe. Lillian, meanwhile, pursues writing, revising a play under the guidance and romantic influence of her mentor and lover, Dashiell Hammett [Jason Robards], whose presence adds a layer of complexity to her creative ambitions. The distance between their worlds tests their bond, but it also deepens their resolve to stay connected through letters, memories, and shared ideals.

Trouble arrives when Vienna and its surrounds are overrun by Nazi force. Julia is grievously injured while trying to shield others, and word reaches Lillian with urgency—she hurries to Vienna, hoping to find Julia amid the chaos. Instead, Julia is taken away for “treatment,” and Lillian discovers that the hospital does not acknowledge her whereabouts. Determined, she remains in Europe to search for Julia, yet the trail grows cold, leaving her with a haunting sense of loss and unresolved questions.

The war years reshape both women in starkly different ways. Lillian rises as a celebrated playwright and is invited to a writers’ conference in the USSR, while Julia becomes more deeply committed to the anti-Nazi fight. She enlists Lillian’s help in a perilous mission to smuggle funds into Germany to aid those resisting tyranny. The journey is dangerous for a Jewish intellectual crossing into Soviet territory, and every step—every hat, every box of candy—appears as if it were choreographed by careful colleagues who guard Julia’s cause as if it were their own.

On the road toward Moscow, Lillian’s movements are scrutinized and guided through a network of contacts, with the perilous border crossings and inspections creating a tense backdrop to their fragile alliance. In Berlin, a brief reunion occurs in a cafe, where Julia reveals the devastating truth that the hospital’s “treatment” included the amputation of her leg. Julia explains that the money she has brought could save hundreds of lives, many of them Jewish, and she also shares the sorrow of a daughter, Lilly, who is living with a baker in Alsace. After this hard-won moment, Lillian boards a train toward Moscow, bearing a stark warning from a stranger to avoid Germany on the return journey.

Moscow presents a dour, oppressive atmosphere that underscores the costs of resistance. Lillian learns, with a heavy heart, that Julia has died. Her return to London is shadowed by rumors and secrecy surrounding Julia’s death, and she undertakes an elusive search for Lilly and for any memory of Julia’s family that might still acknowledge their shared past. Her pursuit is not entirely fruitful, and she ultimately returns to the United States, where she is reunited with Dashiell Hammett and finds herself navigating a world that would prefer to erase the powerful friendship that once challenged convention and helped push back against tyranny.

Back home, Lillian is left to carry Julia’s memory as a guiding force in her own life. The film closes with a quiet, poignant image: an older Lillian Hellman [Jane Fonda] alone in a boat, fishing, as a voiceover reveals that she would continue to share life with Hammett for decades more and would outlive him, carrying the memory of Julia as a steadfast beacon in her ongoing work, conscience, and art.

• The cast includes Jane Fonda as Lillian Hellman and Vanessa Redgrave as Julia, with Jason Robards portraying Dashiell Hammett, among others who illuminate the film’s emotional and historical scope.