听 User Rating 
Finely balancing between the media of theatre and cinema, Figgis' effort marries the live energy of a play with the visual aesthetic of a film, forging that rare thing: a period drama with the restless effervescence of the avant-garde. Resisting the desire to contemporise the story, the film remains set over one midsummer's night in late nineteenth-century Sweden. Here, daughter to the Count Miss Julie (Burrows) continues a troubled affair with servant Jean (Mullan), both with flagrant disregard for the latter's sweetheart, Christine (Doyle Kennedy).
Shot before "Time Code", one can see the influence it has had on that later effort. The infamous 'rape' scene is filmed split-screen, visually isolating the protagonists in their guilt. Scored, as ever, by Figgis himself (his brilliantly sombre orchestration sounding like the work of Michael Nyman), "Miss Julie" almost has the feel of a Peter Greenaway film, a comparison that Figgis should be proud of.
But, in what is virtually a two-hander, what enlivens the film are the performers. Both Burrows and Mullan acquit themselves well (in roles once destined for Nic Cage and Juliette Binoche), offering turns filled with emotional turbulence, bubbling under their placid exteriors. While some may find the film cold and undoubtedly bleak, it is an undeniable success for Figgis - perhaps more so than the much-lauded "Time Code".
