Miss Julie 2014

Wesley Morris, Grantland: What Ullmann's done is create the ideal conditions for these three to do electrifying work with each other. She maintains control so they can lose it. Read more

Sara Stewart, New York Post: Chastain, who seems incapable of a bad performance, brings an Ophelia-like vulnerability to Miss Julie, the lonely and depressed daughter of a count. Read more

Dennis Harvey, Variety: Liv Ullmann's worshipful but static adaptation of the classic Strindberg play fails to work as a film, despite impressive perfs. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: It's a handsomely mounted, intentionally claustrophobic film; too claustrophobic over the long haul, with relentless close-ups that constrict the galvanic emotions on display. Read more

Joe McGovern, Entertainment Weekly: Morton, one of the least artificial actresses in the world, charts her character's heartbreak without any of the self-pity normally assigned to ordinary women. Read more

David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter: A ponderous, stately affair that lacks relevance and only acquires intermittent power. Read more

Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: The heat that should saturate the film as betrayals mount and boundaries are broken flickers and dies many times over "Miss Julie's" languid two-plus hours. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: An austere, pared-down take that does one thing extremely well: It allows actors Jessica Chastain, Samantha Morton and especially Colin Farrell to shine. Read more

Stephen Holden, New York Times: Much more convincing than Mike Figgis's 1999 screen adaptation, starring Saffron Burrows, it is a grueling slog through a hell of torment, cruelty and suffering. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: Ullmann's way is the wrong way to do "Miss Julie," but this is the best version of this wrong way you're ever likely to find. Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: The film is visually bland, with only a couple of bookending outdoor sequences around a handful of interior sets. Read more

Richard Ouzounian, Toronto Star: It smoulders and smokes and generates some heat but it never really bursts into flame. Read more

Inkoo Kang, TheWrap: "Their subordinate ranks as a woman and a lowborn servant, respectively, should inspire sympathy, but their self pity is so thorough and one-note that their distress is no more compelling or resonant than a pair of dogs noisily licking their wounds." Read more

Liz Braun, Toronto Sun: Anyone interested in spellbinding performances, however, should see Miss Julie. Read more

Abby Garnett, Village Voice: Strenuously acted dramas make for strenuous viewing, and Liv Ullmann's rigorous adaptation of Strindberg's Miss Julie, which uproots the action to 19th-century Ireland, is no exception. Read more

Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: "Miss Julie" is a strangely clinical movie experience. It's a story that makes an impression without leaving a mark. Read more