Miss Julie (1951)

• Year: 1951
• Released: 30 Jul 1951
• Country: Sweden
• Adwords: Nominated for 1 BAFTA Award1 win & 2 nominations total
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043567/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/miss_julie
• Metacritics: https://www.metacritic.com/movie/miss-julie
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language: French, Swedish
• MPA Rating: Not Rated
• Genre: Drama, Romance
• Runtime: 90 min
• Writer: Alf Sjöberg, August Strindberg
• Director: Alf Sjöberg
• Cast: Anita Björk, Ulf Palme, Märta Dorff
• Keywords: class differences, butler, countess, midsummer, impossible love,

7.2/10

Miss Julie Storyline

Late 19th century. The young miss Julie lives in a mansion with her father. She has recently broken her engagement but is attracted to one of the servants, Jean. They spend the midsummer night together, telling each other their memories and of their dreams. Realizing that an affair between a man of the people and an aristocrat is impossible, they plan to escape to Switzerland.

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Miss Julie Movie Reviews

Class Warfare

The young miss Julie (Anita Bjork) lives in a mansion with her father. She has recently broken her engagement but is attracted to one of the servants, Jean. They spend the midsummer night together, telling each other their memories and of their dreams. Realizing that an affair between a man of the people and an aristocrat is impossible, they plan to escape to Switzerland.

This film had an interesting influence abroad. Alfred Hitchcock said he had hired Björk as the female lead for “I Confess” in 1952, after seeing her in “Miss Julie”. However, when Björk arrived in Hollywood with her lover Stig Dagerman and their baby, Jack Warner, head of Warner Brothers, insisted that Hitchcock find another actress.

What makes this is a great film, beyond the absolutely gorgeous cinematography, is the intrinsic idea of class division. It had been done before and has been done since, but it is a theme that seems to be eternal and always a joy to watch when properly executed.

love in the time of stratification

A lot of people nowadays probably recognize the name August Strindberg from a line in one of Woody Allen’s movies. For the historical context, Strindberg was a playwright in 1800s Sweden. His works addressed social stratification and the role of women in a male-dominated society. One of his works was 1888’s “Fröken Julie” (“Miss Julie” in English), about the relationship between the title aristocrat and a servant. It got filmed a few times in the first half of the twentieth century, but Alf Sjöberg’s 1951 adaptation is probably the most famous.

I’ve never seen a stage production, so I can only describe the plot in terms of this movie. The play is apparently set in one room, but the movie shows the various scenes where the story takes place. To understand the plot, one must understand that the Sweden of the 1800s was not the social democracy that we now know; it was as much a stratified society as the US, England or Russia was at the time. The movie makes the aristocracy’s power apparent, using paintings as a metaphor for this power (when one falls on Jean, and when they get carried away as the mansion burns).

Anita Björk plays the title character with panache, with Ulf Palme as her lover. The rest of the cast includes a young Max von Sydow (RIP) as a farmhand. It all adds up to a cinematic experience like we rarely have. I now hope to see adaptations of Strindberg’s other plays, as well as other Sjöberg movies. Definitely deserved its Golden Palm.

An immaculate and definitive screen adaptation

Some films are so utterly faultless and brilliantly made that one is almost at a loss to find enough superlatives with which to praise them, and yet, at the same time keep it credible. MISS JULIE is one such film, and it seems entirely fitting that one of the greatest Swedish films ever made should be based on the work of one of Sweden’s greatest writers. Every single aspect of this film is perfect; the black and white photography, the wonderful musical score by Dag Wiren, the acting from all the cast, but in particular from Anita Bjork who sets a standard in playing Miss Julie that could hardly be bettered. The play which provides the screenplay is of course devastating with the inexorable interplay between class and rank, and human desire and lust overlapping and intertwining, and too, the now almost forgotten concept of “duty” and “honour”. If you like movies that make you think, eat away at your heart and memory long after you have seen them, then I cannot recommend MISS JULIE more highly. In the fifty years since it was made, its brilliance has not diminished one jot. A masterpiece and a film to truly treasure.