Muddled and pointless drama that really should have been titled Lillian. Fred Zinneman's film is beautifully edited, scored, and photographed, and was nominated for 10 Academy Awards, but it's a vapid and self important film that's missing a core. Fonda is miscast as Hellman and she has no character to play and the scenes of Hellman writing, smoking, and drinking are flat and clichéd, as are the scenes between Lillian and Dashiell Hammett. And Julia and Lillian occupy little screen time together hence the basis for their relationship must be assumed. Supporting Oscar winner Jason Robards is typically gruff and Redgrave's Julia is all luminosity. Redgrave won the Oscar for supporting actress, and her controversial acceptance speech is really the most notable thing about Julia. The centerpiece of the film really milks Lillian's smuggling money into Nazi Germany for all the cloak and dagger it's worth, and it's really the only interesting thing about Julia or Lillian.