MOVIE REVIEWS : ‘Julia Has Two Lovers’: Dialing M for Monotony

“Julia Has Two Lovers” (AMC Century 14) reveals quite effectively the chasm between what women--and men--are tempted to settle for and what they really want, only to undercut its impact by nearly talking itself to death.

Julia (Daphna Kastner) is a dark-haired, sultry young writer of children’s books who shares a splendid apartment on Venice Beach with a self-absorbed yuppie (David Charles) who’s pressuring her to marry him, even as he’s racing out the door to work. Just as she’s reflecting upon her lover’s insistence with uncertainty and ambivalence, her phone rings. Her caller is a sexy, smooth-talking guy (David Duchovny) who comes on strong to her. Julia is in a sufficiently vulnerable state to respond to his overtures.

So far so good. The trouble is that these two talk practically non-stop for the next 50 minutes of this 86-minute film. Not even the mobility provided by cordless phones can prevent tedium from setting in. Even Henry Jaglom, who directed Duchovny in “New Year’s Day” and Kastner in “Eating” and whose influence on this film is unmistakable, might be hard put to sustain tension over such a long period of time.

But Kastner and director Bashar Shbib, who collaborated on the script, are not sufficiently inventive to break up the monotony; the two people on their phones seem locked into their respective apartments as firmly as Bette Midler and Woody Allen are stuck in the Beverly Center in “Scenes from a Mall”--and just as artificially. In short, if the two are going to meet--and whether they do or not eventually won’t be revealed here--they need to do so earlier on in the picture.

Although talkiness and structural problems take the edge off the film’s pleasure and impact, “Julia Has Two Lovers” (rated R for considerable sex) rings true in its reminder that people, even when they’re lovers, often don’t know each other very well and that often we find it easier to confide in complete strangers.

Shbib and Kastner depict knowingly of the sense of isolation that so easily envelopes people, especially in Los Angeles, and they take note of the courage required to reconcile what we have with what we want. On the down side, we need to know more about these people for them to be fully credible: Is Julia’s lover helping with the rent? Or is the place--and it does seem to be hers--a condo? What does Duchovny’s stranger do for a living?

Duchovny seems to be playing the same guy he played in “New Year’s Day,” the kind of man who’s good-looking and knows it but who is not so assured beneath the glibness after all, and Kastner’s Julia seems very much an independent-thinker yet takes credibility-defying risks. Surely, in today’s world any intelligent woman would insist, in contemplating a rendezvous with a complete stranger, in meeting him in a neutral, public place--i.e, a restaurant--rather than consider inviting him over to her place.

‘Julia Has Two Lovers’

Daphna Kastner: Julia

David Duchovny: Daniel

David Charles: Jack

Tim Ray: Leo

A South Gate Entertainment release of an Oneira Pictures International presentation. Producer-director Bashar Shbib. Executive producers C.H. Lehenlof, Randall Davis. Screenplay by Daphna Kastner, Shbib. Cinematographer Stephen Reizes. Editor Shbib, Dan Foegelle. Music Emilio Kauderer. Sound Al Samuels. Running time: 1 hour, 26 minutes.

MPAA-rated R (for sensuality and sexual dialogue).