Film

Miss Julie

Other titles called Miss Julie: the 1951 film.

Lukas Moodysson's 2014 adaptation of Strindberg's *Miss Julie* transplants the Swedish classic to 1890s Ireland, where class, desire, and colonial power collide over a single charged night. Jessica Chastain and Colin Farrell burn through a intimate, claustrophobic chamber piece about seduction and its consequences. Sexually frank, psychologically tense, visually austere.

TMDb rating2.8

If you liked this

The Servant1963

Joseph Losey's masterpiece about a servant who seduces and dominates his employer through intimate manipulation. Sexually charged, morally ambiguous, and obsessed with how class collapses when desire enters the room.

But Shot in shadowy black-and-white and deliberately slow-burn; the power games matter more than plot momentum.

The Servant poster

Tess1979

Roman Polanski's Hardy adaptation: a woman of uncertain social standing destroyed by the collision of desire, class hierarchy, and male entitlement. Visually ravishing and morally devastating.

But Three and a half hours of watching an innocent woman systematically destroyed will exhaust you emotionally.

Tess poster

The Deep Blue Sea2011

Terence Davies adapts Rattigan with Rachel Weisz as a woman undone by passion for the wrong man. Sexually frank, psychologically precise, ravishingly composed in colour and shadow.

But The pacing is meditative rather than dramatic; some find it emotionally remote despite its subject.

The Deep Blue Sea poster

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Miss Julie

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

A Kind of Alaska1984

Both are faithfully adapted Anglophone theatre about the violence of desire colliding with rigid social structure. Both choose stasis over action, conversation over plot.

Alan Schneider directs Pinter's chamber play: three characters, one room, and the eruption of suppressed desire and class tension. Like *Miss Julie*, it's about what happens when social masks crack in intimate space.

But A filmed stage play; if you can't surrender to dialogue-heavy, theatrically composed cinema, it will feel static.

A Kind of Alaska poster
More like this (6)

Fleabag2016

Phoebe Waller-Bridge's show about a woman using sex and charm to navigate class, family, and desire. Sharp, funny, sexually honest, and equally interested in power dynamics and self-destruction.

But Tonal whiplash between comedy and genuine despair; the humour doesn't always land with everyone.

Fleabag poster

The Favourite2018

Three characters, intimate spaces, and the unravelling of attraction and betrayal. Emily Ratajkowski and Bella Heathcote in a film about what we want versus what we allow ourselves to take.

But Indie production values; some will find it slight and underplotted.

The Favourite poster

Swoon1992

Tom Kalin's provocative film about Leopold and Loeb channels Strindberg's fascination with desire as transgression and power. Black-and-white, formally radical, sexually charged.

But Deliberately maximalist and arch; some find its style alienating rather than seductive.

Swoon poster

Portrait of a Lady on Fire2019

Céline Sciamma's chamber piece about two women and forbidden desire. Intimate, sensual, shot in glowing period detail. Morally serious about passion and its costs.

But Quiet and paced for contemplation; no plot engine to drive you forward.

Portrait of a Lady on Fire poster

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford2007

Both films are interested in the moment seduction collapses into something uglier—when desire reveals itself as possession or power. Both aestheticize that collapse in austere, carefully composed frames.

Andrew Dominik's slow-burn western about intimate betrayal between two men across an entire film. Sexually charged without being explicit, obsessed with desire masquerading as loyalty.

But 172 minutes of mounting dread; you need to be willing to sit with discomfort and ambiguity.

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford poster

Betrayal1983

Pinter's obsession with class, seduction, and verbal power games mirrors Strindberg's. Both writers see desire as a weapon that also wounds the wielder.

David Jones directs Pinter's play backwards through time, unravelling an affair between a man, woman, and the woman's husband. It deconstructs the narratives we tell about desire and loyalty.

But Deliberately disorienting structure; the reversed chronology is the point, but some find gimmickry distracting.

Betrayal poster

People

Cast

Directing

Writing

Production

Recommended by

Ahista Ahista