| Director | Fred Zinnemann |
|---|---|
| Genre | biographical film, drama film, film based on book |
| Runtime | 118 min |
| Country | United Kingdom, United States |
| Budget | $7.8 million |
| Box office | $20.7 million |
Young Lillian Hellman and her friend Julia, who is being raised by her wealthy grandparents in the United States, enjoy a close friendship from childhood into late adolescence. Later, Julia studies medicine at the University of Oxford and the University of Vienna and studies with such luminaries as Sigmund Freud. Lillian, a writer, struggles through revisions of her play with her mentor and lover, famed author Dashiell Hammett, at a beach house.
Julia's university in Vienna is overrun by Nazi thugs, and she is severely injured trying to protect others. Lillian receives word of Julia's condition and rushes to Vienna to be with her. Julia is taken away for "treatment", and Lillian is unable to find her again since the hospital denies any knowledge of her being treated there. She remains in Europe to find Julia but is unsuccessful.
Later, during the Nazi era, Lillian, now a celebrated playwright, is invited to a writers' conference in the USSR. Julia, battling against Nazism, enlists Lillian en route to smuggle money into Germany to assist the anti-Nazi cause. It is a dangerous mission, especially for a Jewish intellectual on her way to Russia.
Lillian departs for the USSR via Berlin, and the movements of her person, and the placement of her possessions (a hat and a box of candy), are carefully guided by Julia's colleagues through border crossings and inspections. In Berlin, Lillian is directed to a cafe, where she finds Julia. They speak only briefly. Julia divulges that the "treatment" she received in the hospital in Vienna was a leg amputation. Julia says the money Lillian has brought will save 500 to 1,000 people, many who are Jews. Lillian also learns that Julia has a daughter, Lilly, who is living with a baker in Alsace. After Lilian leaves Julia in the cafe and boards the train to Moscow, a man warns her to avoid passing through Germany again after leaving the USSR.
When Lillian reaches Moscow, the atmosphere is gloomy and oppressive. She receives word that Julia is dead. Returning to London, she is told that Julia was killed in a friend's Frankfurt apartment by Nazi agents, though the details are shrouded in secrecy. Lillian unsuccessfully looks for Julia's daughter in Alsace. She returns to the United States and reunites with Dashiell Hammett. She is haunted by Julia's memories and distraught over not finding Julia's toddler. She is shocked that Julia's family pretends not to remember Lillian as Julia's friend, clearly wanting to excise memories a non-conformist granddaughter who refused to conform at a time when conformity caused many innocent people's deaths.
The film ends with an image of Lillian Hellman many years later seated in a boat alone, fishing. She reveals in voice over that she continued to live with Hammett for another thirty years and outlived him.