THE STORY – On a July 4th in New York, Julia, a writer and mother, encounters figures from her past and a troubled young mother, prompting her to confront her lack of creative purpose and rediscover herself within the life she has.
THE CAST – Alicia Vikander, Victoria Pedretti, Wagner Moura & Marin Ireland
THE TEAM – Rachel Rose (Director/Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 99 Minutes
There’s something commendable about artists who, in an endless sea of classic literary adaptations, create a piece of work that at the very least comes with a distinctive vision. This year, which brings us a multitude of works, including Emerald Fennell’s controversial “Wuthering Heights” and Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster adaptation of Homer’s epic “The Odyssey,” showcases the range of ways these stories are being reshaped for the modern audience. Yet, amidst major titles like those mentioned, films like Rachel Rose’s directorial debut, “The Last Day,” introduce us to an assured filmmaker who, even when a bit overreliant on subtlety in their storytelling, can still speak volumes.
Loosely influenced by one of Virginia Woolf’s most popular works, “Mrs. Dalloway” (and the second adaptation this year following “Clarissa” from Cannes), the film follows Alicia Vikander’s Julia (a proxy for the Clarissa Dalloway character), an author and single mother struggling with a bout of stifled creative inspiration. In the aftermath of her father’s passing, Julia’s semblance of a functioning individual is put to the test as she rushes through an endless list of tasks throughout the day to prepare for her yearly Fourth of July party. Julia’s errand-filled evening through New York City leads her to random encounters with people from her past, and she inadvertently crosses paths with Victoria Pedretti’s Taylor, a young mother of three children, whose difficulties with her mental health in the midst of her third child’s birth only drive her further over the edge.
Rose’s restrained approach to a novel that has seen multiple iterations works wonders, letting these characters simmer in the emotional stagnation that presses into their lives. The mundanity of each day only intensifies as time slowly passes, forcing them to linger on the past, the present, life, and death. Rose captures the foreboding essence of Woolf’s novel while adding in this almost cosmic element that indirectly binds these two strangers together. While Rose uses “Mrs. Dalloway” as the foundation for this story, she is far more focused on telling interconnected stories of modern women living in a world that shows them no sympathy for the choices that have shaped their lives to this very moment.
It does hurt that the screenplay of “The Last Day” attempts to function as a two-hander, splitting between Julia and Taylor’s perspectives, when, in fact, it’s more preoccupied with the former, as she is what ties the film more closely to the source material, both structurally and narratively. Those familiar with Woolf’s work can clearly pick up on the innuendo associated with the narrative counterpart the Taylor character stands in for, which is all but spells out her arc, which, like the rest of the film, is resolved in maybe a bit too understated a manner. If anything, an outcome is treated in an almost blase approach.
These few issues with the screenplay are often mitigated by Rose’s direction, which features a smartly implemented ensemble led by a fantastic performance from Vikander, who is in top form. The way Rose approaches her work with her actors gives Vikander space to dig deeper into the complexities of Julia’s frenzied mental state, which is nothing but impressive. Predretti’s character, despite being slightly underwritten compared to her counterpart, still rises to the occasion, delivering a gracefully volatile performance that perfectly achieves what Rose is aiming for in the duality of these characters.
Then there are excellent single scene-stealing performances delivered by Wagner Moura and Marin Ireland, essentially coming in off the bench to only enrich Julia’s characterization. Moura, fresh off his Academy Award nomination for “The Secret Agent”, has a tumultuous dynamic with Vikander as the two wander down memory lane in the greenery of the city. His natural charm is a gateway for him to crack open his character’s long-gestating frustrations with Julia, capturing an authenticity in these specific interactions. Even with how good Moura is, it’s all the more impressive to see what Ireland can do with so little, reeling in viewers with her emotiveness alone. A quality that Ireland also effortlessly displayed earlier this year with her appearance in “Gary.” It’s a shame to see Pedretti miss out on working with such excellent scene partners, since a major aspect of Taylor’s character is the lack of a supportive presence, let alone anyone in her life. Pedretti doesn’t really interact with most of the other actors besides her inevitable scene with Vikander, which is all but brief.
Rose’s directorial style is visually heightened by Eric Yue’s cinematography, which creates an innate intimacy that extends to every location, especially at Julia’s lavish party, where the beautifully captured festivity is merely a prison for someone like herself. Rose’s background as an artist gives her a more than confident knack for engaging audiences sensorially, whether it’s the way she captures the nature of the creatures, both human and animal, that live in it. Taylor Levy’s editing is efficient, but the film’s conclusion settles into an aggressive montage that, while it is the payoff to a fuse lit from the start, feels somewhat like a tonal rejection of the slow-paced interiority that Rose’s direction thrives on. For a year with multiple adaptations of “Mrs. Dalloway,” Rose certainly puts her stamp on a century-plus-old story in a memorable way.
