Chapter sixty-six: Julia

Hi everybody! I just thought it'd be funny to quickly say that I got a spot in next year's choir when I don't even remember auditioning in the first place. I guess my audition for the musical acted as a two for one. Ha!

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So, even though the opening does not flow with the rest of the entry, I am really excited about this week's movie. The reason being, it was Meryl's first one, and a lot of my interests connect via the film, as the main character is a writer. It makes me almost excited as the time when Ina Garten mentioned Julia Child's name and Nora Ephron's in the same episode while making french food. (It just serves as evidence that she was the perfect director for Julie and Julia.)

Okay, I should start by saying that Julia is a 1977 movie in which the screenplay is based on Lillian Hellman's chapter in her memoir, Pentimento. The film is a transcription of the seemingly autobiographical chapter, Julia, where Lillian (Jane Fonda) essentially acts as a World War II hero, but I read in Nora Ephron's memoir, I Remember Nothing,

"A woman named Muriel Gardiner wrote a book about her life as a spy before World War II, and it became clear that Hellman had stolen her story. There was no Julia, and Lillian had never saved Europe with her little fur hat."

(Don't ask me how I can remember that, but not how to do my own math homework.) Nora called her out! I hate to use this upcoming phrase because it really reveals my age and naivete, but Nora spilled the tea. (In this context, "tea" refers to drama.)

I think, based on the Wikipedia research I did last night because I was riveted, that Julia was this Muriel woman, and Lillian put herself into a story that she was never a part of, making herself the heroine. I don't know much about Lillian Hellman. I'm sure she was respectable in her own right, but this is just so rotten how she played dirty to get a story, especially since she claimed that Julia was somebody else once she came under fire for it.

That being said, the power that people have with their words never ceases to amaze me. Lillian shifted some narratives around and got away with it for her own benefit for a while, then, when Muriel wrote from her own perspective, the truth unfolded, and Nora shared it to her own biopic. I find this way too fascinating, but I think it's because I thought there was this unwritten code where you didn't take what didn't belong to you, but in the creative world, so much can influence you. On top of this, there's a strategy where you can just make the whole thing up. Oh, man, I'm thinking way too much about this.

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Anyway, the movie itself is about Lillian Hellman (Jane Fonda,) who's on a journey to smuggle 50,000 dollars from New York through Berlin to her childhood friend, Julia (Venessa Redgrave,) in Moscow. The money's hidden in Lillian's fur hat, and when they meet up, the 50,000 dollars will then go to Julia, who will use to save anywhere from 500-1000 Jews in the uprising of WWII if the money continues to be placed in the right hands.

They, of course, communicate via handwritten letters every now and again. Throughout their friendship, Lillian writes three plays - two of which are disasters and a third of which makes her famous and eradicates the memory of the first two. Julia's studies in medicine relocate her to Vienna, where she experiences a firsthand assault prompted by the war. That is what motivates her to take action.

Lillian does not receive word from her for years. That is until she is handed a letter saying that Julia needs help fulfilling a part of her war effort. She thinks that Lillian would be the perfect person for it but does not want her to push herself since Lillian is Jewish, and therefore, at high risk of consequence if she is caught. Lillian accepts the mission without hesitation and speaks in code for the next few days. I won't go any further. If I did, I would spoil some large plot-points, which would make the movie frivolous.

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It's really a great movie. It's two hours long, and I remember looking at the clock when there were an hour and seven minutes left when the next thing I knew, there were fourteen minutes left to go; I was entrapped. Meryl plays Lillian's brunette sister-in-law, Anne Marie, who goes full fangirl when Lillian's third play makes her a hit, and they spot each other at a restaurant, which is totally something I would do; no question about it.

As always, thank you for the entertainment, Meryl.