Rose Plays Julie

Name: Rose Plays Julie
Genre: Drama
Released: March 19, 2021
Duration: 100 min
Rating: 83
Cast: Aidan Gillen, Alan Howley, Ann Skelly, Annabell Rickerby, Catherine Walker

2021

METASCORE

Universal acclaim based on 14 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 13 Ratings

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5.3

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5.3	User Score Mixed or average reviews based on 13 Ratings

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Rose Plays Julie (Trailer 2)

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Movie Details & Credits

Film Movement | Release Date (Streaming): March 19, 2021 | Not Rated

Starring: Aidan Gillen, Alan Howley, Ann Skelly, Annabell Rickerby, Catherine Walker, Hannah Behan, Jack McEvoy, Joanne Crawford, Julien Benoiton, Lily Brand, Orla Brady, Sadie Soverall

Summary: Rose (Ann Skelly) is at university studying veterinary science. An only child, she has enjoyed a loving relationship with her adoptive parents. However, for as long as Rose can remember she has wanted to know who her biological parents are and the facts of her true identity. After years trying to trace her birth mother, Rose now has a nameRose (Ann Skelly) is at university studying veterinary science. An only child, she has enjoyed a loving relationship with her adoptive parents. However, for as long as Rose can remember she has wanted to know who her biological parents are and the facts of her true identity. After years trying to trace her birth mother, Rose now has a name and a number. All she has to do is pick up the phone and call. When she does it quickly becomes clear that her birth mother has no wish to have any contact. Rose is shattered. A renewed and deepened sense of rejection compels her to keep going. Rose travels from Dublin to London in an effort to confront her birth mother, Ellen (Orla Brady). Ellen is deeply disturbed when Rose turns up unannounced. The very existence of this young woman threatens the stability of the new life Ellen has painstakingly put together. But Rose proves very tenacious and Ellen is forced to reveal a secret she has kept hidden for over 20 years. This shocking revelation forces Rose to accept the violent nature of how she came into existence. Rose believes she has little to lose but much to gain when she sets out to confront her biological father, Peter (Aidan Gillen). What Rose cannot possibly foresee is that she is on a collision course that will prove both violent and unsettling – dark forces gather and threaten to destroy her already fragile sense of her own identity. [Film Movement]… Expand

Director: Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor

Genre(s): Drama

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 100 min

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Critic Reviews

100

Jessica Kiang

Mar 16, 2021

The most disturbing thing about the impressively disturbing Rose Plays Julie may just be how satisfying it is. Read full review

100

Martyn Conterio

Mar 16, 2021

Its emotional dilemmas, depictions of trauma, revenge and fractured family ties are handled with such skill and sense of purpose, it is truly exemplary film-making. Read full review

The Film Stage Jared Mobarak

Mar 2, 2021

Get ready for a tense ride because writers/directors Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor’s Rose Plays Julie never relinquishes its sense of brooding until the very last frame’s welcome exhale of relief. Read full review

Nikki Baughan

Mar 16, 2021

Layering its fairly straightforward story of an adopted Irish girl who tracks down her birth mother with immersive visual and aural motifs, it plays more like modern operatic tragedy than run-of-the-mill social drama. Read full review

Lorry Kikta

Mar 16, 2021

Rose Plays Julie is an emotionally cathartic thriller. Read full review

The Guardian Peter Bradshaw

Mar 16, 2021

It is a really powerful film and Brady’s final dialogue scene exerts a lethal grip. Read full review

Kristen Yoonsoo Kim

Mar 18, 2021

Amid the lush greenery of the setting, the atmosphere is perpetually bone-chilling — complete with an ominously high-pitched score — making the film seem distant and difficult to fully embrace Read full review

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User Reviews

JLuis_001

Mar 28, 2021

This was a sober and cold movie. Very cold.

A dark psychological thriller that at first seems like a search for identity, and ends up becoming a story about confronting old wounds, fear, abuse, reckoning and ultimately assimilation. The story centers on Rose (Ann Skelly), a youngThis was a sober and cold movie. Very cold.

A dark psychological thriller that at first seems like a search for identity, and ends up becoming a story about confronting old wounds, fear, abuse, reckoning and ultimately assimilation.

The story centers on Rose (Ann Skelly), a young veterinary student who was adopted and is in search of her biological parents.

She manages to get in touch with her mother Ellen (Orla Brady) but she had given indications that she did not want to have contact with Rose. However, she doesn't give up and eventually through mutual interruptions in their private spaces both end up developing a kind of relationship that ends up delving into a darker subject that involves the biological father; Peter (Aiden Gillen).

What follows, to a certain extent is intuited, but that doesn't mean the film is predictable, but that the extension of a trauma for one of the characters, becomes a terrible situation that will cause the union of mother and daughter in a way which will eventually provide them with a future that neither of them expected, or at least I didn't expected.

Directed by two directors, Rose Plays Julie certainly takes inspiration from filmmakers like Yorgos Lanthimos and Michael Haneke, but only that, inspiration.
Both build a slow paced and gloomy film, yet not impenetrable.

The tone is essential because it collides with the tone of the performances, and although there were some contemplative moments that I personally don't think were of much use, the film remains good.

Pretty good option.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Wulfsten

Sep 29, 2021

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This is an extremely mannered, stylised film. The people in it don't feel like real people, and they don't talk like real people. They are archetypes, gliding around the grim Irish and British settings on inevitable collision courses. The film also doesn't really try to present any twists or unexpected developments - if you saw the trailer you will know exactly how the film will go. The subject matter is upsetting, but the subtext essentially boils down to the idea that being raped (or being the product of rape) is nothing to be ashamed of, and that rapists should probably be put down like animals. It's not even really a revenge thriller because it doesn't seem particularly interested in the texture or consequences of revenge - again, this is all presented as an inevitable resolution. That said, it's almost worth the price of admission just to see a few scenes where Ann Skelly's rage and hurt breaks through the general torpor of her performance.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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