On a late 19th-Century estate, a celebration of wine and beer lets loose inhibitions and inner passions. Jean (Peter Mullan), the Count's footman, takes the advances of the Count's daughter (Saffron Burrows) too far with a scandalous encounter in the kitchen. And over one night, it becomes clear that these two lost souls desperately need each other in order to escape the confines -- and trappings -- of their lives. But can a servant support a noblewoman, who, without her father's money, is no more privileged than he?

Based on the one-act play by August Strindberg, MISS JULIE takes place during a midsummer festival in late-19th-century Sweden. The title character, played by Saffron Burrows, is the daughter of the the lord of the manor; bored, restless, and lonesome, she finds herself at the servants' party flirting with the footman, Jean (Peter Mullan). He has his own ambitions--dreams of a better life--and he and Julie soon find themselves playing more than just a game with one another. Each is trapped, by class and temperament, and is looking so desperately for a means of escape that they risk destroying each other in the process.

Director Mike Figgis is not afraid to let the film feel like a play--the dialogue gets its due and the characters stay in one room throughout--but the film is visually lush as well. Figgis experiments with fade-outs and split screens, the latter prefiguring his long experiment in TIME CODE. In fact, the camera spends most of its time focused tightly on Burrows, who, notwithstanding her offscreen romance with Figgis, gives a powerful performance to merit the attention.