Rose Plays Julie

The latest film from Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor, the directors of Helen, Mister John and Further Beyond, has been picking up great notices since its premiere at the London Film Festival in October 2019.

Rose (Ann Skelly), an adopted child, is at university studying veterinary science. For as long as Rose can remember, she has wanted to know who her biological parents are and the facts of her true identity. After years trying to trace her birth mother, Rose now has a name and a number. All she has to do is pick up the phone and call. When she does, it quickly becomes clear that her birth mother has no wish to have any contact. Rose is shattered. A renewed and deepened sense of rejection compels her to keep going. Rose travels from Dublin to London in an effort to confront her birth mother, Ellen (Orla Brady).

Ellen is deeply disturbed when Rose turns up unannounced. But Rose proves very tenacious and Ellen is forced to reveal a secret she has kept hidden for over 20 years. This revelation forces Rose to accept the nature of how she came into existence.

Rose believes she has little to lose but much to gain when she sets out to confront her biological father, Peter (Aidan Gillen).
What Rose cannot possibly foresee is that she is on a collision course that will prove both violent and unsettling – dark forces gather and threaten to destroy her already fragile sense of her own identity.

Cert 15

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From 5th November onwards

Both born in Dublin, Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor studied theatre in the late 80s at Dartington College of Arts in the UK. From 1992 to 1999 they devised, directed and performed in several internationally acclaimed theatre shows before shifting their attention towards moving image based work. Between 2000 and 2003 they directed a number of episodic, interactive works for the internet, and large-scale community video projects for galleries.

Between 2003 and 2010, Molloy and Lawlor produced, wrote and directed 10 acclaimed short films including the award winning WHO KILLED BROWN OWL and JOY. All shot on 35mm, the CIVIC LIFE films have screened extensively around the world including screenings at the 33rd Telluride Film Festival, the 36th International Film Festival Rotterdam, the 49th Thessaloniki International Film Festival and IndieLisboa'09.

HELEN, their award-winning debut feature film, premiered at the Edinburgh International Film Festival in June 2008 before screening at over 50 film festivals worldwide. It was released in the UK and Ireland by New Wave Films in May 2009, as well as being released in several other countries. In 2009, HELEN was nominated for an Evening Standard Film award and a Guardian First Film award. Their second feature film, MISTER JOHN, also premiered at the Edinburgh International Film Festival in June 2013 and was released in the UK and Ireland in September 2013.

In 2016, Molloy and Lawlor released their debut documentary, FURTHER BEYOND, to critical acclaim and they are currently working on a follow up documentary, THE FUTURE TENSE.

Molloy and Lawlor live in London with their daughter.

Filmography

ROSE PLAYS JULIE

Ireland | 2019 | Colour | 2K | 1:2.35 | 100 mins

FURTHER BEYOND

Ireland | 2016 | Colour | HD | 16:9 | 89mins

MISTER JOHN

UK/Ireland/Singapore | 2013 | Colour | 35mm | 1:2.35 | 95mins

HELEN

UK/Ireland | 2008 | Colour | 35mm | 1:2.35 | 79mins

SHORTS

TIONG BAHRU

Singapore | 2010 | Colour | 35mm | 1:2.35 | 19mins

JOY

UK | 2007 | Colour | 35mm | 1:2.35 | 9mins

DAYDREAM

UK | 2007 | Colour | 35mm | 1:2.35 | 29mins

NOW WE ARE GROWN UP | 11mins 40secs

UK | 2005 | Colour | 35mm | 1:2.35

LEISURE CENTRE

UK/IRL | 2005 | Colour | 35mm | 1:2.35 | 17mins 40secs

TOWN HALL

UK | 2005 | Colour | 35mm | 1:2.35 | 10mins 35secs

TWILIGHT

UK | 2005 | Colour | 35mm | 1:2.35 | 5mins 20secs

REVOLUTION

UK | 2004 | Colour | 35mm | 1:2.35 | 9mins 53secs

MOORE STREET

IRL | 2004 | Swahili/English | Colour | 35mm | 1:2.35 | 5mins 45secs

WHO KILLED BROWN OWL

UK | 2004 | Colour | 35mm | 1:2.35 | 9mins 23secs

★★★★
"This deceptively slick psychological drama...
"Feels likes a ghostly horror-tinged companion piece to 2008's brilliant 'Helen.'
'There's a strong element of Greek tragedy underpinning Rose Plays Julie...the domestic monsters of this story may have a #MeToo era edge, but the underlying themes of what the film makers call "identity under duress" are ancient and timeless."
Mark Kermode, THE OBSERVER


★★★★
"Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor are two of the most consistenly interesting film-makers working today.  Their new project is their best film yet.  So a thriller? Absolutely - taut and gripping, wiht shades of the great Claude Chabrol.  But a morality tale too."
Danny Leigh, THE FINANCIAL TIMES

★★★★
“This uncanny and transgressive film about a young woman who tracks down her birth parents is Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor’s best work yet...grabs you by the throat...an edge-of-the-seat thriller.  It is a really powerful film and Brady's final dialogue scene exerts a lethal grip."
Peter Bradshaw, THE GUARDIAN


★★★★
"The delicious slow-build tension from the co-directors Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor is created via dark themes (Rose is studying "euthanasia on healthy animals"), heavy interior shadows, sinister tracking shots, choral music and ominous orchestral brass (hints of Stanley Kubrick)."
Kevin Maher, THE TIMES

★★★★★
“A knockout film...Its emotional dilemmas, depictions of trauma, revenge and fractured family ties are handled with such skill and sense of purpose, it is truly exemplary film-making.”
Martyn Conterio, CINEVUE

"An extraordinary ethical thriller...One of the richest, weirdest, most provocative films I've seen in a long time...Unmissable."
David Jenkins, LITTLE WHITE LIES

★★★★
"In Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor's third feature, revenge is served very cold...Rose (Ann Skelly; The Nevers) is adopted. There's a frozen, almost trance-like quality to Rose's affect as she sets out to find her biological parents...Her biological mother, Ellen (a wonderful Orla Brady; A Girl from Mogadishu; Collateral) wants no contat with this daughter...
Markie, Robson- Scott, THE ARTS DESK

"Desperate Optimists’ potent new film poses ethical dilemmas and undercuts Eurowestern narrative traditions with every twist of the plot and shift in tone...A mythic thriller."
So Mayer, SIGHT & SOUND


★★★★
"Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor, aka Desperate Optimists (Helen, Mister John), are masters at generating unease and do so in spades with their latest psycho-thriller, a formally austere suspenser with a foreboding Stephen McKeon score."
Neil Smith, EMPIRE

"It's many moments of quiet and silence also lend any words spoken even more weight while lingering shots set alongside a twinkling Exorcist-style soundtrack with the occasional operatic trill leave you constantly on edge.
Leonie Cooper, NME


"The most disturbing thing about the impresively distrubing Rose Plays Julie may just be how satisfying it is."
Jessica Kiang, VARIETY

"A deeply aware film, Rose Plays Julie allows for the fantastic as a means and space of catharsis."
Sarah-Tai Black,LA TIMES

★★★★
"This is hypnotic, thrilling, deeply confident filmmaking."
Jamie Dunn, THE SKINNY


"The tale...taps into primal urges - for love, revenge, knowledge - and these urges give Rose Plays Julie a mythic quality, like a story told since antiquity, or a fable designed to express truths about the human condition. Very controlled in its style: this control reaps huge rewards."
Sheila O'Malley, ROGER.EBERT.COM

"Rose Plays Julie is an emotionally cathartic thriller...It's subtle until it's not, and then it grabs you.  I enjoyed it very much."
Lorry Kikta, FILM THREAT

"Film of the Week (63rd BFI LFF) "A powerful new Irish Film. Ann Skelly is magnificently perplexing as Rose/Julie."
Jonathan Romney, FILM COMMENT

“One of the best screen depictions of the internal struggle of being adopted, perfectly realising a character's permanent sense of existential displacement... I was absolutely floored by this film."
Alistair Ryder,FILM INQUIRY

“Layering its story of an adopted Irish girl who tracks down her birth mother with immersive visual and aural motifs, it plays more like modern operatic tragedy...Stark, meditative and bracingly uncompromising”
Nikki Baughan, SCREEN INTERNATIONAL

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