Who are you really?

Continuing my trip up The Guardian's Top 50 Films of 2021 

#31 : Rose Plays Julie

Uncanny and transgressive film from writer-directors Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor about a young woman who tracks down her birth parents is the film-makers’ best work yet

OK - first things first, what does transgressive mean?  Relating to transgressions?  In which case, how can that relate to a film?  Hmmm - the internet tells me it's "involving a violation of moral or social boundaries", which I must admit has me intrigued (maybe not in a good way though).  I'm also intrigued as to what the title means, but apart from that I have no particular expectations for this.

Well, you can't say the film goes out of its way to explain things in too much of a hurry.  Rose is training to be a vet and they're focussing an awful lot on putting animals down, which she's not too keen on.  And apparently she's adopted, with her birth name being Julie - but her mother isn't keen on any form of contact, so everyone just accepts that and the film ends.  Well, maybe things don't quite work out that way...

I think it's probably best if I don't say any more because if you watch it, then it's best for you to just find out for yourself.  The film is an exploration of identity and revenge and I really enjoyed it - It’s certainly not a barrel of laughs and for a lot of the film you’re thinking “this REALLY isn’t going to end well” and whilst I'd struggle to say it ended well, it did have a nice sense of finality to it (particularly given a lot of the confusion that preceded it).

It's a really well written film, made up of mostly short scenes which are not obviously connected, but merit close attention being paid because sometimes you learn things that turn out to be useful quite a bit later on.  The main characters are all people whose heads are not quite in the right place but their actions, whilst often disturbing, are still believable.  It also has some very odd scenes in it that don't really make any sense but still somehow seem to fit in nicely with the overall storyline.

I must admit that The Guardian's use of the word "transgressive" did make me wonder where the film was going - there were two ways in particular about which I was thinking “it wouldn’t go THERE would it?” and then a single random question was asked which made me go "ohhhh - it's going THERE then is it!?!".  But, as it turned out, it went somewhere else instead - I realise that none of this will make any sense to you, but I really appreciated the sense of tension in the direction and the corresponding rug pulls.

It's very well acted - Ann Skelly as Rose/Julie, Orla Brady as her mother and Aidan Gillan as a third as yet unexplained (here anyway) character all beguile with their contrasting and confusing motivations and they all get a chance to grow/change throughout the film.  It's also beautifully shot, with real thought going into each frame and interesting use of various aspects of nature throughout the film - but I'd have to say I really wasn’t expecting to see the insides of a cow at one point.  And you really see all the insides!

I realise I haven't exactly given you too many clues here as to whether you'd like it - if I had to describe it I'd go for "obsessive psychological drama".  Promising Young Woman is probably the closest film to this we'd had on the list so far, but this is a lot more Irish and softer (and also features a lot more of insides of a cow).  All in all, it's a troubling but beautiful film which requires careful attention but pays dividends - I very much enjoyed it.

At the time of writing, Rose Plays Julie is available to rent on most of the usual channels - you'll need to be in the mood for it, but I think (some of) you will like it.

#32 - A very enjoyable two hours
#30 - This doesn't quite hit the mark for me