Final Rating: 3/5
Romance and rivalry develop between two university students preparing for the prestigious Putnam Competition in Niki Byrne’s The Julia Set.
The Putnam Competition is a mathematics competition held annually in the form of a two-part exam. Over six hours, students complete up to twelve questions of ten points each, with partial points awarded for answers that are close. Since the test was first administered in 1927, only five perfect scores have ever been awarded. The median score most years is 0, and even a score of 30 is considered exceptional.
The Julia Set stars Chase Infiniti as Julia, a gifted math student encouraged to join the Putnam prep course by her TA, Pascal (Christopher Briney). In preparation for the biggest math exam of their lives, the two spend more time together until Pascal finally works up the courage to ask Julia on a date. The two fall for each other fast and hard, but as two exceptional minds under immense pressure, mutual support soon turns to envy and competition.
The first of her family to go to college, Julia scored scholarships to top universities but chose to stay near home. As a black woman in STEM, she’s often overlooked by her peers. At home, she downplays her own accomplishments in favour of focusing on her older brother with Down Syndrome, Evan (Alex Dillard).
Julia is extraordinarily talented but lacks confidence. Her choice of university is pragmatic but also influenced by her fear of failure at a larger institution. She’s afraid to draw attention to herself, taking on responsibilities and pressures but refusing to share in any of the rewards. In Putnam preparation when she scores the same as Pascal, she instead directs attention to Pascal’s score in conversations with her friends and teachers.
Pascal on the other hand, is confident to the point of entitlement. As the son of a renowned mathematician, he faces different pressures to Julia but does so far less humbly. Pascal is easily embarrassed, and quick to blame his failures on others. Ironically, this makes for an easy relationship dynamic with Julia: Pascal doesn’t like responsibility, and Julia too willingly takes on too much.
At the start he’s mostly a hot college boyfriend, gradually revealing himself as a spoiled brat by the end. Briney is good in the role, but not on the level of Infiniti. His growing bitterness makes him increasingly petty. He’s a young college student in a male-dominated field not known for sensitivity, so his lack of nuance isn’t surprising, but it does result in some excessively corny and over-the-top cruelty.
Pascal and Julia are supported by an ensemble including Nina Hoss as the pair’s notoriously strict Putnam trainer, Carmen Ejogo as Julia’s patient General Studies roommate, and Nico Hiraga as the class clown of the Putnam group.
The standouts are Jason Isaacs and Gillian Anderson as Pascal’s parents, Dr. and Mrs. Mandelbrot. The relationship between Pascal’s parents presents a vision of a possible future for Julia and Pascal. Pascal’s father is a once-in-a-generation mathematician with a tremendous ego, but the genius to back it up.
His mother, also a skilled mathematician, put her career on hold after Pascal’s birth, never completing her PhD. Now, she lives in her husband’s shadow, while Dr. Mandelbrot uses his academic prestige to command respect from everyone around him, and demand excellence from his son.
Scenes between Pascal and his father grow contentious immediately, the elder Mandelbrot using his intelligence to embarrass his son for sport. Isaacs’ performance is intimidating, and director Byrne frames him like a supervillain, increasingly closing in on his face as he loses his patience.
Anderson is a much gentler presence. Her relationships with her husband and son are largely contentious, both essentially seeing her as a second-class mathematician. Anderson’s performance remains collected and confident, managing to be an inspirational confidant for Julia, even while clearly presenting a bad future.
The Julia Set doesn’t reinvent the wheel but tells an effective coming-of-age story in a not-often-explored part of academia. Byrne pulls excellent performances from her actors for a depiction of power and relationship dynamics among scholars, scientists, and students that feels universal, despite its mathematical coating.
The Julia Set was seen during the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival.
