Feature film directed by Agnieszka Holland, from 2002. After a catastrophe in a small Russian town a little boy helps the injured. Doctors discover that his touch makes wounds heal and pain go away. Twenty years later in Canada, Julie, the daughter of Polish émigrés, leaves her husband after catching him cheating on her...
'Julia...' is partly based on real events that happened to my friend, but many elements of the storyline are taken from life, from other stories that happened somewhere. This story kept haunting me. (...) I had an internal need to capture this story in film, but why - I cannot say. (...) The mystery that exists somewhere at the meeting point of person and person, person and longing, life and death. This is what the film is about. (Agnieszka Holland)
A catastrophe takes place in a small Russian town. A little boy helps the injured. Doctors discover that his touch makes wounds heal and pain go away. Twenty years later in Canada, Julie, the daughter of Polish émigrés, leaves her husband after catching him cheating on her. Daughter Nicole stays with her father, son Nicolas goes to live with Julie. Little Nicolas falls ill, and it soon turns out the disease is incurable. Julie refuses to accept her son's approaching death. She finds out about a Russian healer called Alexei who is working in Poland. She takes her dying son there, the healer notices them in the crowd and receives them. Nicolas feels better the next day, and Julie starts following Alexei from town to town so that he can continue healing her little boy. A mutual fascination develops between Julie and the healer in the course of this journey.
Agnieszka Holland's films leave room for the viewer's own interpretation, everyone can decide what the film is really about. This is a very feminine way of filming, different from the narratives guided by men, who follow a straight road: exposition, unfolding of the plot, message, and happy ending. (Miranda Otto)
Julie is someone balancing between acceptance of life and resignation, trying to find self-fulfilment. She doesn't want to give up her hopes, desires, she is unable to live unwittingly, involuntarily agreeing to all that life brings. Julie learns how to accept the unavoidable, how to reluctantly consent to the weakness and imperfection of her near and dear, and finally to accept life which always brings something dark, and is marked by a lack of fulfilment and tragedy.
What is more real: the material reality or the way we believe in it? Nothing is obvious in Julie's world, her ideas about people dear to her, events, relationships, the hierarchy of values. It is not just about how others perceive us, but also how we perceive ourselves, the director says.
- Julia wraca do domu / Julie Walking Home, Poland, Canada, Germany, 2002. Directed by Agnieszka Holland, screenplay by Roman Gren, Arlene Sarner, Agnieszka Holland, director of photography: Jacek Petrycki, production design by Marian Wihak, Ewa Skoczkowska, costume design by Małgorzata Gwiazdeczka, music by Antoni Gross-Łazarkiewicz, producer: Iwona Ziułkowska. Featuring: Miranda Otto (Julia), William Fichtner (Henry), Lothaire Bluteau (Alexy), Jerzy Nowak (Mietek), Bogusława Szubert (Bogusia), Maciej Stuhr (Piotr), Maria Seweryn (Dorota), Piotr Kołodziejski (Young Alexy), Kazimierz Borowiec (Doctor Ivan), Jolanta Raczkiewicz (Russian Nurse), Rafał Mohr (Alexy's Assistant). Produced by Studio Filmowe Tor. Co-Produced by Telewizja Polska, Canal+ Polska, Komitet Kinematografii. Duration: 113 min.
