I kept searching for a reason to care about these people and what they're going through. "It's a classic." "View it in the context of the time." Nothing. Nothing worked. A lot of the problem is how it was shot. At least on stage you can choose to watch the other character's reaction. But here, Ullmann keeps cutting to the person who is speaking, rarely cutting away. The repetitive style does not build tension, but monotony. Even great acting couldn't save it.

(possibly Mild Spoilers) I am not a fan of Chastain at all, but she was well cast with the ethereal elegance she brings to Julie's madness, her seeming lucidity only when she is growling and snarling in anger and frustration at John (Farrell). Farrell is a chimera of resentment, hope, sociopath behavior and tender confession. He moves from trying to stop the disaster he foresees, to active participant and then tries to deny his own desires. When he finally agrees to take Julie, to make a run for a new life with her, she cannot let go of the bird that represents herself, her privileged life... And the symbolism of John's response is brilliant; Farrell displays the complicated emotions at war with each other that his character feels with astonishing depth. Morton was brilliantly solid, her understated portrayal of the character making Kathleen all the more real amidst the madness.Unlike other critics, I found the "opening up" of the play into other areas and venues to be done very well. We step into Julie's 'garden' which is really as much in her mind as real, it's her view of life as she'd have it be. Kathleen is equally trapped as Cook and then in the small rooms of the house, as she is in her existence. Only John, who can see better things for his life, moves freely throughout the house, as he wants to do between the classes of Irish society.The incredible depth of human psychology, the love hate relationships with each other, their own lives, the class system, is explored both in action, dialogue, and in the settings chosen for each part of the play. The viewer feels both sympathy and revulsion for the characters in turn. The nuances that these three actors brought to the characters, and the narrow focus of the film over the play, add to the intensity.

I had never seen her be this loud, this unabashedly theatrical. But, the character calls for it, and it all somehow works. Farrell doesn't have to go as big, and yet he's the one that comes across as unconvincing. The film only really comes alive when it gives Chastain the space to be as loud as humanly possible. It's not a terrible film, but it just seems like an excuse for such powerhouse acting showcasing, and in that respect it's tremendously glorious to witness Chastain's work. It could've easily gone off the rails with many actresses, but she still manages to surprise me in what she can achieve. Again, it worked for me, but it won't for everyone. Several people will absolutely loathe her (really, any performance of this nature is bound to) but I can honestly say she is probably better here than in Rigby, if only because the material allows it. In that way it's a hard performance to analyze, it's basically "here, watch Chastain ACT!" without really caring if we get the character. But it worked for the 2 hours, mostly.

Norwegian actress, author, screenwriter and director Liv Ullmann's fifth feature film which she wrote, is an adaptation of a play from 1888 by Swedish 19th and 20th century writer, playwright and painter August Strindberg (1849–1912). It premiered in the Special Presentations section at the 39th Toronto International Film Festival in 2014, was shot on locations in Northern Ireland and is a Norway-UK-Ireland-France co-production which was produced by producers Synnøve Hørsdal, Oliver Dungey and Teun Hilte. It tells the story about a baron's daughter named Julie and her involvement with a servant named John and a live-in maid named Kathleen. Distinctly and precisely directed by Norwegian filmmaker Liv Ullmann, this quietly paced fictional tale which is narrated by a protagonist and interchangeably from the protagonists' viewpoints, draws an increasingly gravitating and incisively psychological portrayal of a relation which evolves in a kitchen on a Midsummer Eve. While notable for its distinctly naturalistic milieu depictions, majestic cinematography by Russian cinematographer Mikhail Krichman, production design by production designer Caroline Amies, costume design by Irish producer and costume designer Consolata Boyle and film editing by film editor Michal Leszczlowski, this dialog-driven and narrative-driven story about survival, depicts some internally scrutinizing studies of character. This atmospheric, ingeniously dramatic and bittersweet romance which is set in Ireland in the late 19th century and where an at that period in time unsuitable attraction between human beings within a castle which turns into a royal affair, escalates into a crucial competition of mutual insults and condemnations, is impelled and reinforced by its cogent narrative structure, substantial character development, rhythmic continuity, instrumental music, comment by Kathleen: "It is a work of …" and the eminent acting performances by Irish actor Colin Farrell, American actress Jessica Chastain and English actress Samantha Morton. A concentrated and reverently cinematographic character piece.