Rose Plays Julie

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1:57

Rose Plays Julie

2021

1h 40m

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

95%

Tomatometer

62 Reviews

52%

Popcornmeter

Fewer than 50 Ratings

Rose (Ann Skelly) is at university studying veterinary science. An only child, she has enjoyed a loving relationship with her adoptive parents. However, 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. The very existence of this young woman threatens the stability of the new life Ellen has painstakingly put together. But Rose proves very tenacious and Ellen is forced to reveal a secret she has kept hidden for over 20 years. This shocking revelation forces Rose to accept the violent 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.

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Critics Consensus

Rose Plays Julie uses a woman's quest to know her biological parents as the foundation for an unsettling story that compellingly confounds expectations.

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Mark Kermode

Observer (UK)

Sep 19, 2021

4/5

The domestic monsters of this story may have a #MeToo-era contemporary edge, but the underlying themes of what the film-makers call "identity under duress" are ancient and timeless.

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Donald Clarke

Irish Times

Sep 17, 2021

3/5

Occasionally frustrating, but worth getting frustrated about.

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Kevin Maher

The Times (UK)

Sep 17, 2021

4/5

An arthouse character portrait segues into a moody revenge thriller in this stylish Irish tale about confronting the crimes of the past.

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Francesca Steele

iNews.co.uk

Dec 10, 2024

4/5

It does work, perhaps because it gives everything, from the symbols to the processing of trauma and grief, such a lot of space to breathe.

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Calum Cooper

Flick Feast

Jul 15, 2024

4/5

Suspenseful and captivating, its themes and craftsmanship dabble with terrible darkness to deliver compelling visuals and messages.

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Carmen Paddock

TAKE ONE Magazine

Nov 30, 2023

...ROSE PLAYS JULIE remains rooted in its characters and premise to deliver an appropriate, perhaps even satisfying, conclusion.

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GEOFF S

@RT03796581 Jul 22, 2025

Brilliant acting and film work. Always an underlying feeling of dread. Was one of my favourite films of that year. Love stumbling across a film that blows your mind. A must watch

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Andrew H H

@RT20067623 Aug 4, 2023

Quite well done, but not a particularly original idea. Storyline a bit of a yawn fest, if I'm honest.

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Peter W

@RT12077588 Jan 3, 2023

Overall, this is a touching and gripping film filled with a solid mystery. I truly enjoyed this film, even though it was a slow-burning thriller with moments of touching drama along the way. The performance from Ann Skelly is excellent, and she is highly convincing as Rose. Visually, the film is a delight, delivering plenty of creativity and style to the screen right from the opening act. The finale may seem somewhat basic, but it's still unpredictable, and I found the entire film highly satisfying.

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Oct 6, 2021

This film was one of the worst I've gone to see in the cinema this year, attempted art is a fair description I feel, slow paced, boring with an over use of moody music, solemn landscapes and characters staring into the distance. Everybody in this film lives in an impossibly upper middle class world, from the student that can just jet off to London on a whim, to the actress who gave her up as a baby who lives in a London Mansion, and on to the rapist archeologist father who again lives in a Mansion but this time in Ireland. Finally the ending was an atrocity, to take away the control from the female and give it to the male seems ridiculous at this point, you may as well take all the power from the female characters and tell them to get back into their place as the male character makes the final decision and controls the end narrative. I cant recommend this one and will avoid it like the plague when it inevitably appears on our RTE screens regularly over the next few years as they try and claw back their investment money.

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cindy m

@CindyCindy Sep 2, 2021

Plodding pace with an unlikable protagonist makes for a film that's barely watchable. Rose has no personality and from what little we're shown, she's thoroughly unpleasant which translates into a "who cares" scenario. She, like Promising Young Woman, cant connect the character with human traits we can relate to, thus we just don't care, can't root for her or hope for her. I endured to the end but with maybe 10 minutes left said to myself; "Life is too short to waste on bad movies." Click.

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Maureen T

@Donagh62 Jul 26, 2021

Disappointing on all fronts, plot, characters, mood, believability. All just vaguely depressing.

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Joe Lawlor

Director

Christine Molloy

Director

Ann Skelly

Rose

Orla Brady

Ellen

Aidan Gillen

Peter

Annabell Rickerby

Molly

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Synopsis

Rose (Ann Skelly) is at university studying veterinary science. An only child, she has enjoyed a loving relationship with her adoptive parents. However, 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. The very existence of this young woman threatens the stability of the new life Ellen has painstakingly put together. But Rose proves very tenacious and Ellen is forced to reveal a secret she has kept hidden for over 20 years. This shocking revelation forces Rose to accept the violent 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.

Director: Joe Lawlor, Christine Molloy
Producer: David Collins, Joe Lawlor, Christine Molloy
Screenwriter: Joe Lawlor, Christine Molloy
Distributor: Film Movement
Production Co: Samson Films, Desperate Optimists
Genre: Drama
Original Language: British English
Release Date (Theaters): Mar 19, 2021, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 19, 2021
Runtime: 1h 40m

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