The remarkable Jessica Chastain has been cast as Miss Julie, whose father, a baron, is away at the moment. His valet, John, is played by the skillful Colin Farrell, and sexual and class warfare erupt between John and Miss Julie. Caught in the middle is John’s church-going fiancée, Kathleen, played with alternating forbearance and resentment by excellent Samantha Morton.

Ullmann, herself a great actress who worked with Ingmar Bergman in a personal as well as professional relationship, knows her stuff. Her vast experience has taught her the value of tight close-ups when emphasis is needed. She also has a powerful sense of drama and accordingly highlights the right moments that define what the story is about. She has imposed a claustrophobic feeling in the emotional dance that John and Miss Julie do as mistress and servant and also as lovers forbidden to cross class barriers, except with dire results.

Farrell’s make-up has been overdone, with his hair especially slick and black, with extra dark eyebrows to match. Otherwise, he is superb in succumbing to the sexual temptation Miss Julie offers. He fantasizes about their running off together, helped with money she would steal from her father, but when she expresses willingness in a state of desperation, he turns on her in an outburst of class hatred and scorn for a woman who would lose her virginity to the likes of him. The confrontations turn vicious and make the film fascinating as well as disturbing.

Chastain, who looks ravishing with her red hair, gives us various aspects of Miss Julie’s character. She is restless and sexually aroused and uses her station to compel John to obey her commands, such as ordering him to lick her boots. John’s libido sizzles, as does hers, and into bed they go, with blood left to show for the loss of virginity. The tension between them escalates to a point of no return, while Kathleen’s sternness and anger define who she and John are as she claims him despite his infidelity.

Miss Julie is desperately insecure, and is momentarily titlated by John’s confession that he had a crush on her when he watched her when both were youngsters. But she has been seething with discontent, and once she has had sex with John, she is shamed in light of standards of the time and she sees no way out of her situation. John cruelly knows how to goad her into destruction.