Full Circle (1981)

Strong and Moving!

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Captivating movie !

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Fleeing from her useless husband after the death of her daughter, a woman rents a house where the past revisits with deadly intent. But whose past is it?An overlooked classic? Not quite, and I can see where the haters and lovers are coming from.First up, this is London in the '70s, so the mix of classes is plausible and the notion of well-to-do school children suffering cursed lives makes for a good plot device that drew me into the mystery. There's the usual guff about research/asylum-dweller revealing a clue just before she dies etc, but the story does get its creeps on and ends with chilling ambiguity.The main problem is the first half tells a drab, simplistic story with no spark in the dialogue, and it's hard to tell if it's going anywhere. Sometimes it feels like slice-of-life meets Damian Omen. But the acting is good enough to keep me engaged, with plenty evidence why Farrow was in demand for close-ups.The score is decent, but it misjudges several scenes - especially the mirror reveal toward the end - with cheery/wistful plinky-plinky synth.Overall, a good story that undersells itself at the start. A lot of material could have been cut out to focus on the mother-daughter theme.ps. Take a look at the cast - some nice names in there, and I missed the Downton Abbey link. Plus Mrs Flood was a highly prolific bit-parter - RIP.

The Haunting of Julia (1977) ** 1/2 (out of 4)Mia Farrow plays Julia Lofting, a woman suffering from depression after her daughter choked to death on an apple. After being released from a hospital Julia decides to leave her husband and buy a house on her own where she just sits around crying over her loss but soon a vengeful ghost starts to visit her. THE HAUNTING OF JULIA appears to have quite a few fans and while the opening thirty-minutes are great the film quickly falls apart and runs out of fresh ideas. I've heard that the novel by Peter Straub is actually very good and I think it's clear that something has been lost from the page to the screen. I say that because the film starts off as your typical ghost story but then it starts to branch off to other murders and other visions. Several supporting characters are introduced and before you know it the "story" has gotten much bigger yet it never really goes anywhere. The first thirty-minutes, as I said, are great and then the next twenty or so minutes features non-stop scenes of Farrow either crying or having someone telling her to move on in life. These scenes really start to repeat themselves and I think some of them should have just been taken out. The final twenty-five minutes are when all hell breaks loose and it just seems too uneven and messy for its own good. Farrow offers up an excellent performance as the grieving mother and there's not a single frame where you won't believe that she's this character. The supporting players are also fine even though none of them are given a great role. The film's greatest moment is the first scene where we get a very dramatic and chilling account of the child's death. I think any parent will really be shaken by this sequence, which is brilliantly directed and the impact is certainly felt. It's just too bad that the rest of the film didn't contain as much power.

What can I say? This is one of those perfect, horror films: No gore and no masked mass murderers...only faded memories of a past murder and a mysterious ghost who wants something. But who that ghost is and just what it wants is kept secret for a good part of the film. Mia Farrow is so good in this type of film. If you thought she was flawless in Rosemary's Baby, you ain't seen nothing yet! She plays a fragile and innocent Julia, who loses her daughter to a choking accident in the first few minutes of the film. We then learn that she and her husband are now separated, presumably because of the stress and tension caused by the loss of the little girl and Julia's short stay in a sanitarium following the tragedy. Julia takes a house in Holland Park and soon begins to sense that there is something in the house with her. Is it the ghost of her daughter or just her soon to be ex trying to push her over the edge so he can have her committed again? Is she really crazy? Or is it something more sinister?

I saw this the first time back in the early 1980s when it was making a run on HBO and was immediately mesmerized by it. Mia Farrow is the perfect lead... and victim. Nutshell overview (no spoilers or give-aways): After losing her own daughter to a random act of providence, Julia (Mia Farrow) isolates herself to try and make some sense of life afterward. Little does she know she has walked into a situation that will, ultimately, trump her own tragedy and lead her down some very dark paths. The critic in me says: The screenplay is pretty dated which lumps it in with a lot of movies of the time. But the storyline is worthy and the soundtrack impeccable, with the combination holding this up as one seriously spooky ride if you can immerse yourself into it.Availability: Unfortunately, the entertainment industry casts aside those children it doesn't love and this one is no exception. The Haunting of Julia, aka Full Circle, is not available on DVD and the soundtrack is all but impossible to find. Beyond all that: To the credit of one You Tube contributor (who has at least one post here), the movie is available there to watch. I am personally very grateful to both that You Tube submitter and to the movie industry for allowing it to remain for fans who have no other avenue of access.In closing: The beautifully haunting main theme to this movie has followed me for nearly three decades, keeping alive the memory and finally leading me here, full circle.