1977: Julia

Screenplay by Alvin Sargent
Adapted from the book Pentimento by Lillian Hellman

Playwright Lillian Hellman undertakes a risky mission in Nazi Germany at the behest of her childhood friend Julia.

This is an unusual adaptation because the book recounts several unrelated stories from Lillian Hellman's past, while the movie only focuses on one. So it's not really an adaptation of the book; it's an adaptation of the chapter called "Julia". Apparently there is some question about whether the Julia story actually happened, and if it did, whether it truly happened to Lillian Hellman, but it is nevertheless an intriguing story that makes for a fascinating movie.

Apart from a few minor alterations, the film is very consistent with the book, both in the story itself and in the way it's told. Both the book and the movie jump around in time a little bit, to introduce minor characters as they become relevant. The film's voice-overs from a more mature Lillian looking back on these events reflect how she narrates the book. The cast is flawless, perfectly bringing to life the characters described on the page. The "Julia" chapter was definitely my favorite part of the book (the rest of it was kind of irritating, to be honest), but I think the movie was even better. It was sometimes difficult for me to imagine people reacting to events the way they were described in the book, and not only did the film portray these reactions; it made them seem perfectly natural, not remotely over-the-top or forced as they easily could have been.

In short, I'm not sure how I feel about this book, but I thought the movie was extremely well done. I had never watched it before, and now I'm kind of angry that I had to watch Annie Hall the last two times I blogged about 1977 winners, since this movie was also nominated for Best Picture and Best Actress, and in my opinion deserved them both way more. One piece of trivia that I find interesting and probably no one else will is that Lillian Hellman was nominated for this award for her 1941 adaptation of her own play, The Little Foxes. That movie was nominated for nine Oscars without winning any, setting a shutout record that was not broken until 1977's The Turning Point lost out on all 11 of its nominations, the same year that an adaptation of Lillian Hellman's memoir won multiple Oscars. Coincidence, or bizarre conspiracy? Another random piece of trivia is that Julia was the film debut of some actress called Meryl Streep, who has since managed to accrue an unprecedented 21 acting Oscar nominations, and counting.

Stay tuned for Midnight Express based on the book by Billy Hayes and William Hoffer.