TIFF 2026 Film Review: The Julia Set
There’s something refreshing about a film that trusts its young lead to carry a story without surrounding her with unnecessary spectacle. The Julia Set, directed by Niki Byrne, gives Chase Infiniti another opportunity to prove that her breakout role from the Oscar winning film One Battle After Another wasn’t a fluke. As Julia, a gifted but reserved college student with an extraordinary talent for mathematics, Infiniti brings an understated intensity to a character who is still trying to figure out where she fits in. After the attention surrounding her first film and the disappointment of missing out on a Best Actress Oscar nomination, it’s good to see Infiniti back in a lead role. The Julia Set isn’t too big compared to her last film, but it’s not very small either, and it gives her enough room to demonstrate that she can carry a film.
Julia’s world changes when her teaching assistant, Pascal (Christopher Briney), recognizes her mathematical abilities and invites her into an elite group preparing for the notoriously challenging Putnam Exam. What begins as an opportunity for Julia to finally embrace her gift gradually becomes something more complicated. Byrne uses mathematics as a backdrop for a story about intelligence, ambition, attraction, and control, and Infiniti does a nice job conveying Julia’s uncertainty as those elements begin to overlap. The one question that remains is whether the film completely sells the TA-student relationship. Julia is presented as exceptionally smart, yet she becomes surprisingly susceptible to Pascal’s attention and influence. That disconnect makes some of their interactions feel less convincing than they should.
The supporting cast helps keep things lively whenever the story threatens to become too narrowly focused. Chloë Bailey is good as Julia’s friend, giving the film a needed sense of familiarity and emotional grounding. Jason Isaacs, however, is a scene-stealer when he arrives, commanding attention with the kind of performance that immediately changes the energy in the room. Alex Dillard also brings in some shine as her mentally challenged brother. Gillian Anderson is more restrained in her role and could have used more to do, but this is ultimately Julia’s story. Then there’s Christopher Briney, who brings a new meaning to menace. His performance is particularly effective because Pascal isn’t presented as an obvious villain from the start. Briney allows the character’s darker qualities to emerge gradually, making his presence increasingly uncomfortable without overplaying it.
Ultimately, The Julia Set works because it understands that Julia’s greatest challenge isn’t necessarily solving the hardest mathematical problem in the room. It’s learning to recognize the people and circumstances that are shaping her choices. Byrne occasionally struggles to make the central relationship as believable as it needs to be, but the performances give the film enough momentum to overcome those bumps. Most importantly, Infiniti gets another showcase for her range, carrying Julia through moments of confidence, vulnerability, confusion, and discovery. The Julia Set may not be a perfect equation, but it’s an engaging character piece with a strong lead performance and enough ideas to make the solution worth working toward.
