52 Films by Women Vol 3. 43. JÚLIA IST (Director: Elena Martín)
The
experience of living abroad for the first time is captured beautifully if in an
understated manner by Catalan writer-director-star Elena Martín in her feature
debut, Júlia Ist ('Julia Is'), in which she plays the title role of a young
architecture student moving to a foreign city.
When we
first see Júlia, she is behind the wheel of a car being spoken to by a man,
Jordi (Oriel Puig), whilst driving. ‘A new species of human was discovered in
South Africa,’ he proposes. ‘Is it a true headline or a fake one?’ ‘Fake,’
replies Júlia, the camera never leaving her face. ‘True.’ Jordi offers another
story. ‘A baby is left in an incubator by her parents, who then reject her. The
baby was over-cooked.’ ‘Who cares?’ says Júlia. Jordi wants to spend as much
time with her as possible. He is literally counting the seconds. After a while
he buries his head in her lap. She is ‘going so far away to the other side of
the world’. Jordi wonders why she is going. It is not a question he expects her
to answer. The next time we see Júlia, she is being taken to the airport. We
see Júlia’s mother and brother but not the father. What is her destination? We
see her on a train and immediately know the answer from the distinctive
carriage windows depicting the Brandenberg Gate: Berlin.
Júlia goes
to a supermarket to buy beer. She takes a German brand out of the refrigerator,
but then puts it back and chooses two bottles of a Spanish brand. She imagines
that bringing something of her own culture would endear her to her housemates.
They are a mixed bunch, and speak to her in English. They are playing charades.
One of the girls has a scarf wrapped around her eyes and then is hit with a
switch – which movie is it? Fifty Shades of Grey! Júlia is asked
to take part. She thinks for a long time then mimes an extension to her nose,
probably the least impressive performance she could have given. ‘Pinocchio’,
announces one of the girls, triumphantly. I was thinking more Cyrano
de Bergerac.
Júlia does
not suit group living, which is ironic given that she is studying architecture
and advocates shared spaces. As Jordi tells her more than once, she doesn’t
know what she wants, or as the German title suggests, who she is – the film’s
title is more of a question. She can’t sleep through her flatmates’ noise – she
uses the light from her computer screen as a lamp. So when she gets the
opportunity to move to a flat shared with just one other girl, she takes it.
Martín is
especially good at capturing tentative gestures, for example when Júlia phones
another Spanish girl, the daughter of a family friend, in Berlin and they meet.
When they remark on their ‘blind date’, Júlia laughs a little too much. She is
encouraged to join a student group designing a house made of bamboo – this idea
is abandoned. Ostensibly, they are entering a competition, though the winner
won’t be announced until after Júlia has left Berlin; the temporary nature of
her stay is like a cloud.
The flat
viewing scene is an early highlight, with a somewhat exaggerating realtor extolling
the virtues of the wallpaper, which ‘collects light and reflects it back at a
person’. He praises the view, which is nothing to look at, and eulogises the
fridge, that is reported to be faulty. Not at all! The fridge is a cause to
just to visit the apartment. I don’t think Júlia and her friend move into this
one, but they do find a place. They disagree about how onions should be chopped
– Júlia slices them finely. The resulting tortilla ends up on the floor, with
the girls laughing.
Seasonal
changes are charted rapidly. In one scene, the city is covered in snow, in another
a few moments later, it isn’t. Júlia goes on a walking tour with other
students, getting close to one of them in particular, Ben (Jakob D’Aprile).
There is talk of visiting buildings by Niemeyer (though Oscar Niemeyer worked
mainly in Brazil) but we get a brief montage of buildings erected during the
post-war years.
Does Julia
Ist function as an advertisement for the UDK – Universität der Künste?
One lecturer is particularly unapproachable, responding to Júlia’s request to
explain how a presentation should be given by telling her that, as an Erasmus
student, he is sure she will find out. It is the students who support one
another, much like the skaters in Skate Kitchen.
Architecture
is used metaphorically. At one point, Júlia’s class is asked whether Berlin
points to the past in its design or the future. It does both. Júlia is likewise
caught between the past (Jordi) and the future (Ben). She makes a decision that
undoubtedly rattles one of the men’s cages.
Martín does
not use details as plot points. On one occasion, Júlia is told by her flatmate
that she needs to pay her share of the rent. Later, she is told that she missed
a payment. In another movie, this might have led to Júlia being evicted or
given the silent treatment. There is indeed an awkward club sequence in which
she is ignored. But this omission doesn’t directly lead to an event; it hangs
in the air as a character detail, a suggestion that Júlia has something to
learn about modern living.
Towards the
end, Júlia and her friends are lost in the woods, circling the same area for
two hours. They find a young man with an animal hat peeing against a tree. They
make it to the rave. The film is partly about how open spaces are used. The
other students tell Júlia that no one sunbathes in Berlin. Then Júlia lies on
her back fully clothed; the others follow suit. At one point, Júlia goes
swimming in a lake. She is the only one to do so. Martín frames Júlia’s head in
a long shot bobbing in the water.
The ending
is unexpected. We are back in Barcelona, Júlia’s home town. There is a party.
People are glad to see her. What does it say about Júlia’s foreign adventure?
Martín allows the viewer to decide. Her central performance is both understated
and brave, especially in a sex scene – I don’t think she has any hang ups about
sex and, by implication, neither should the audience. Her film does not make
claims for big emotions. After all, the rest of Júlia’s life is yet to be
imagined.
Reviewed at the London Spanish Film
Festival, Cine Lumiere, South Kensington, Saturday 29 September 2018, 18:30
screening
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