The Singing Detective

A TV mini-series written by Dennis Potter and directed by Jon Amiel.

Detective novelist Philip Marlow suffers from the crippling condition psoriatic arthropathy. Incapacitated both physically and emotionally whilst confined to a hospital bed, Marlow escapes into his imagination, plotting out a murder tale in which he is both a big-band singer and a private eye. As he re-writes his early crime noir thriller, The Singing Detective, he enters into a surreal Chandleresque fantasy of sleazy nightclubs, spies and criminals.

In his hospital bed where he rants and yells at everyone who comes near him, Marlow begins to hallucinate from his high fever. Reality and fantasy constantly overlap and intertwine as the story weaves effortlessly between his present experiences, his past fictions, paranoid imaginings, and the overwhelming memories that still dominate his life from his childhood, growing up amongst a poor, ignorant coal-mining family in the Forest of Dean.

Escaping into this dark inner world, he places himself in the role of the hero of his own novel, and so begins to encounter and explore the guilt he has carried from his tormented childhood days, and the paranoid fantasies he has about his estranged wife Nicola. As he drifts between memories of past events and the mental re-working of his novel, all surfacing in his subconscious, Marlow's tortuous self-analytical voyage of personal discovery provides a key to the conquering of his illness.

A dramatically rich and complex masterpiece, disturbing and shocking, yet also with great depth of insight and humour – a uniquely brilliant work.

Caché

Hidden
a film by Michael Haneke

Georges, a television presenter, and his wife Anne, who works at a publishing house, are living the perfect life of modern comfort and security. But their successful bourgeois lives hide a complacency and general indifference to the outside world.

One day, their idyll is disrupted in the form of a mysterious videotape that appears on their doorstep. On it they are being filmed by a hidden camera from across the street with no clues as to who shot it, or why. At first Anne is dismissive of the tape, which appears to be surveying the exterior of their home, but Georges believes there is a sinister motive behind its unexplained appearance. Soon they receive a second tape accompanied by a disturbing drawing. Nerves become frayed and tension erupts when their twelve-year-old son Pierrot, staying at a friend's house all night without letting them know, brings fears that he has been kidnapped by the stalkers.

A third tape reveals the farmhouse where Georges grew up and where his invalid mother still resides. A visit to his mother brings back long buried memories and he is forced to confront a terrible secret, hidden since his childhood. As he begins to fear for the safety of his family, and as Anne struggles to come to terms with his revelations, their entire comfortable existence begins to disintegrate. Convinced he knows the identity of the person responsible, Georges embarks on a rash and impulsive course of action that leads to shockingly unexpected consequences.

The story is multi-layered – on one level it is a study of the colonial guilt of Europe and race relations; on a deeper level it probes the complacent and bourgeois temperaments of the financially secure classes in society; on yet another level the story explores the attitudes of three distinct generations towards social relationships. A brilliantly conceived and intriguing film, the voyeuristic camera lingering on long static shots as images pass across both foreground and background, enabling us to interpret things at our will.

It is a story about the propagation of lies to avoid confronting the guilt that remains for our past actions – and how we find ourselves ever more enmeshed in that from which we seek to escape. Haneke shows us that we all have things we want to keep hidden, but can we be sure that we are the sole keepers of our secrets? Ultimately he leaves us to decide what the truth is, or indeed whether it is not perhaps better for the truth to remain hidden.

Nadzieja

A film by Stanisław Mucha, from the screenplay trilogy Heaven, Hell and Purgatory by Krzysztof Kieślowski and Krzysztof Piesiewicz.

Nadzieja (Hope) is the last film in a trilogy representing not only the Dantesque concepts of heaven, hell and purgatory, but also the Christian ideals of love, faith and hope. As the film opens we witness a woman being killed in a road accident as she attempts to protect a child's life. She was the mother of the child, Franciszek. Franciszek's father, a renowned musician and conductor, still suffers from his bereavement fifteen years later, having given up his music to become a humble church organist. Franciszek's suicidal older brother, Michal, is currently serving a prison sentence for the murder of two men.

Set in contemporary Warszawa, Franciszek, an angelic-looking young man, has been following the underworld events in the life of Benedykt Weber, a senator, gallery owner and respected art dealer. He has compiled a complete dossier on all of Weber's dealings and knows everything about the man's life. One night Franciszek lies in wait in the same church where his father now plays, to capture with a borrowed videocamera, Weber's theft of a magnificent 15th century Venetian altarpiece called 'Angel with a Violin'. With this video and other supporting evidence Franciszek approaches Weber, making it clear to him that the dossier will be given to the police if he does not return the painting to the church. But instead of trying to extort money from him, Franciszek simply says that he wants to help him.

Weber quickly realises that Franciszek has the means to both destroy his valued reputation and to put him in prison if he does not comply with the boy's request. But already the painting has passed to another intermediary in the underworld of art theft and it will now be impossible to get it back, yet Franciszek is insistent that the painting be returned, despite several warnings being given in an attempt to frighten him off.

We begin to see that Franciszek has no sense of fear. During his freefall flights at the airfield he waits longer and longer before he opens his chute. It's as though in all he does he is protected by angels. But his girlfriend Klara, who loves and admires him even though he does not return her affection, becomes increasingly unable to bear the risks he now takes. There is also the question of whether forcing someone to undo a wrong is of any use if in reality the person simply fears the consequences of not making amends.

Mucha allows the story to unfold as a combination of thriller, moral tale, and metaphysical drama, recalling the films Piesiewicz made with Kieślowski. Likewise, there is a similar sense of cosmic order and chaos, with many elements seemingly mysteriously connected, yet unexplained. Whilst the film focuses on hope, it does so not in any conventionally uplifting way, but rather by an exploration of the capacity of the human spirit.

L'enfer

A film by Danis Tanović, from the screenplay trilogy Heaven, Hell and Purgatory by Krzysztof Kieślowski and Krzysztof Piesiewicz.

In Paris in the 1980s, a man, fresh from his release from prison, is rejected by his wife. After a violent confrontation he throws himself from his apartment window, witnessed by his three young daughters. In present day Paris, the sisters, now grown up, live their own lives – the family bonds are broken. Sophie, the eldest, is married with young children, but suspects her photographer husband of having an affair. The youngest sister, Anne, is a student involved in a messy relationship with one of her tutors. Middle sister Céline lives a solitary and joyless life, caring for her difficult mother. When a young man starts to take an interest in her, she little suspects the true motive behind his approaches.

An intricate tragedy of three sisters, each now with problems in their adult love life, primarily derived from their mother's mistaken understanding of their father's "sexual misbehaviour". The terminally unhappy Sophie is intent upon discovering the truth behind her husband Pierre's loss of affection for her. Anne, seeking the stability and reassurance of a father-figure in her affair with Frédéric – a married Sorbonne professor and her best friend's father – finds her world has been shattered when he tells her he cannot see her again. Céline, a repressed spinster, longing for companionship but devoting her life to the needs of her institutionalised mother, misinterprets the sudden interest a young man, Sébastien, shows in her.

The reference to Medea, the tragedy of tragedies in Greek mythology, parallels the elements of misunderstanding, deceit, vengeance and unforgiveness surrounding the three women haunted by a nightmarish childhood experience. Each of the sisters lives in her own private hell, separated from her siblings. Only when the truth about their father's prison sentence for seducing a young male student is finally revealed, do the family reunite in a final attempt to understand, and come to terms with, their past.

An intense and riveting drama, subtly crafted and portrayed. The film includes a few delightful little cameos, most notably one involving an elderly lady at a bottle-bank. Tanović's realisation of the original screenplay (of which he expressed surprise at its having been written by two men) is an absolute delight. He dedicates his film simply and affectionately: à KK.

Heaven

A film by Tom Tykwer, from the screenplay trilogy Heaven, Hell and Purgatory by Krzysztof Kieślowski and Krzysztof Piesiewicz.

Philippa, a British teacher living in Turin, Italy, has watched helplessly as her husband and friends have fallen victim to drug overdoses. To compound her desperation, the Carabinieri – who are complicit in the actions of Turin's biggest drug dealer – have completely ignored her repeated offers of information.

We follow Philippa as she assembles a bomb and places it in the office of the drug dealer, and then confesses her crime by telephone to the police, forty seconds before the bomb is due to explode. Having witnessed the loss of so many innocent young lives at the hands of this man, she feels this to be the only course of action left to her, and is willing to pay the price for what she is doing.

During her interrogation following arrest, it is revealed to her that her plan has gone terribly wrong and that instead of the intended victim dying, four innocent people including two children have been killed in the explosion. The police are convinced she is part of a terrorist group and refuse to accept her reasons for the attempted murder of the drug dealer. With the unexpected help of Filippo, a sympathetic young police officer, she escapes detention and is given a second chance to kill her victim, and with nothing to lose she takes divine justice into her own hands.

A probing exploration of the modern world and its moral choices, in which we witness Philippa's transformation from a grieving widow to a wanted fugitive on a journey through retribution, redemption, innocence and crime. A mesmerising art film, full of refined camera work and scarce in dialogue, with a slowly evolving story of the relationship between two people caught in a nightmarish situation. With magnificent cinematography and breathtaking aerial shots over the Tuscan countryside, it is a subtly told story of fate and destiny.

Frida

A film by Julie Taymor

The story of an exceptional woman who lived an unforgettable life. Frida Kahlo, born in Mexico in 1907, endured a life of crippling pain caused by a road accident in her youth, yet her innate energy, passion and love of life, as well as her enormous abilities as a painter, allowed her to overcome this daunting obstacle to achieve fame and recognition. From humble beginnings, Frida Kahlo is a talented artist with a unique vision, and from her enduring relationship with her mentor and husband, Diego Rivera, to her scandalous affairs, Frida's uncompromising personality inspires her greatest creations. She is an artist in every sense of the word – taking and owning all that life gives her and transforming it into unflinching portraits of her soul.

Frida, in many ways, prides herself on her independent, fiery nature, yet when Rivera becomes a part of her life, she quickly succumbs to his seductive charms. She marries him even though she knows he is constitutionally incapable of remaining faithful to her. She accepts this in the knowledge of what lies ahead for her since she is incapable of living without him. That the relationship is one of utter co-dependency is demonstrated by the fact that Rivera, even after their numerous breakups, keeps coming back to his one true love.

But we see also, and empathise with, the hypocrisy inherent in her own romantic dalliances, principally her bisexual flings with other women and even the affair she conducts with Trotsky himself during the period of his exile in Mexico, just before his assassination. Frida is a woman who experiences so many tragic things in life yet she never gives up, she in fact grows stronger, helped through hard times by her wit, her dignity and her love for life and art.

Between 1926, when she made her first self-portrait, and her death in 1954, Frida produced around 200 images. Certainly the biographical details of her remarkable life inflect many aspects of her work, yet her depiction of her body and experiences can also be seen as a response to wider cultural and political debates. For all their apparent naivety, her works frequently reveal an incendiary subtext, whether they are questioning power relationships between developed and developing nations, testing the role of women within a patriarchal society, or attempting to reconcile the global histories and religions of East and West.

Frida Kahlo's unique talent was to make her one of the century's most enduring artists. She is variously enshrined in the popular imagination as a bohemian artist, a victim turned survivor, proto-feminist, sexual adventurer who challenged gender boundaries, and, with her mixed-race parentage, an embodiment of a hybrid, postcolonial world.

Adapted from the biography by Hayden Herrera, the film is a marvellous tribute to a truly unique and remarkable woman, and one of the greatest female artists of the 20th century.

Possession

A film by Neil LaBute

Roland Michell is a laid-back American scholar who has come to London to research the 19th century English poet Randolph Henry Ash. The present year, 2000, marks the centenary of the discovery of Ash's work. While examining a first edition of one of Ash's volumes, Roland discovers some original letters which hint at the possibility that Ash, contrary to the public impression of his marital fidelity, may actually have had an affair with another famed poet of the time, Miss Christabel La Motte, a woman believed by her biographers to have lived exclusively with her partner Blanche. Confronted with this startling, revolutionary and, perhaps, priceless piece of information, Roland sets out to unravel the mystery.

He enlists the help of the sceptical British academic Maud Bailey, an expert on the life and work of Christabel La Motte, and also a distant descendant. The two embark on a journey to unravel the truth surrounding the poets' forbidden love. But as Roland and Maud track the elusive romance across the British countryside to Lincoln and Whitby, the two scholars soon find themselves tangled in a love affair of their own.

The narrative moves seamlessly between past and present to portray the parallel love stories in this beautiful and passionate adaption of the Booker Prize winning novel by A S Byatt.

Capturing Mary

A film by Stephen Poliakoff

This is the companion to Joe's Palace, set in the same exquisite empty house and is linked by the doorkeeper Joe through whose eyes we see the world.

When Joe opens the door to an elderly lady, she takes him back to a time when the house thronged with the glamourous and powerful – and to a time when she was young, beautiful and talented with the world at her feet.

As Joe takes her through the house Mary begins to relive her relationship with Greville White, a supremely charming man who seems to hold the rich and famous in the palm of his hand. Who was this enigmatic figure? Was he feigning friendship with Mary, but offering something much more sinister and frightening? In a dark and terrifying exploration of her youth, Mary relates a chilling story of a life captured and transformed.

Also included on the DVD is an exclusive prequel A Real Summer in which we see young Mary strike up an unexpected friendship with a young aristocrat Geraldine. An allegorical tale which explores the two aspects of Mary's personality, revealing in juxtaposition her aspirations, achievements and doubts, and the self-acknowledged warning that she will choose to ignore.

Joe's Palace

A film by Stephen Poliakoff

The story takes place in the exquisite but empty Mayfair house of reclusive billionaire Elliot Graham, who lives a lonely life across the road. When Joe, the naive son of the cleaner, takes the job as the vacant house's doorkeeper, he and Elliot strike up a fledgling friendship.

Soon Joe is given the run of the house, exploring its many rooms and secrets, and providing a convenient refuge for a cabinet minister and his beautiful mistress to conduct a clandestine and passionate love affair.

The house seems to attract lonely people – the doorman whom Joe replaces, the housekeeper, the night security guard, both the cabinet minister and his mistress, the homeless man and Elliot Graham himself. Elliot is increasingly paralysed by his suspicions of the origin of his inherited wealth and when the secret is finally revealed, it is Joe who accompanies the billionaire on his disturbing and devastating journey.

The Constant Gardener

A film by Fernando Meirelles, adapted from the novel by John le Carré.

British diplomat Justin Quayle meets the impulsive human rights activist Tessa when she heckles him after he has presented a lecture. When she learns that he is about to embark on a diplomatic mission in Kenya she proposes to him in order that she may accompany him as his wife.

In a remote area of northern Kenya, Tessa Quayle is found brutally murdered. Tessa's companion, Dr Arnold Bluhm, appears to have fled the scene, and the evidence points to a crime of passion. Members of the British High Commission in Nairobi assume that Tessa's widower, their mild-mannered and unambitious colleague Justin Quayle, will leave the matter to them. But haunted by remorse and jarred by rumours of his late wife's infidelities, Quayle surprises everyone by embarking on a personal odyssey that will take him across two continents.

Using his privileged access to diplomatic secrets, he will risk his own life, stopping at nothing to uncover and expose the truth – a conspiracy more far-reaching and deadly than Quayle could ever have imagined, involving members of the British High Commission and the sinister business practices of a leading multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical company. In the process of learning the secrets of his powerful enemies, Justin must uncover all of his wife's many secrets as well.

A very poignant and thought-provoking story of conspiracy, deception and treachery.

The Lost Prince

A film by Stephen Poliakoff

It is 1910. One dynasty holds sway over the most powerful nations of the world, at its heart is the British monarchy and its youngest member, Prince John. A loving, insightful and humorous child, Johnnie is witness to some of the most momentous events in the history of our times. As a baby he is surrounded by the extravagant court of Edward VII and Queen Alexandra at the height of British imperial power. But as the Great War looms his newly crowned father George V and his mother Queen Mary become embroiled in the tumult of world affairs and do not have time to see their special child as he grows. He is prone to epileptic fits and the medical profession consider him to be an imbecile and as such an embarrassment to the family.

As the landscape of Europe changes forever Johnnie is looked after in a remote farmhouse in the Sandringham estate by his devoted nurse Lalla. Dedicating her life to the little boy she determines to remind the monarchy that Johnnie is, at heart, a true prince. A beautiful, moving and heartbreaking deconstruction of the stultifying haze of tradition, refinement and etiquette in which the Edwardian royals lived.

Gideon's Daughter

A film by Stephen Poliakoff

William Sneath, the character from Friends & Crocodiles reappears to narrate a powerful story of success, loss and redemption. "Here is a man who can't listen, and yet the more he doesn't listen, the more people want him, the more people believe in him. He's the toast of Whitehall, the flavour of flavours."

As the century draws to a close, a new Labour Government comes to power, and the death of Princess Diana heralds a summer of flowers. PR guru Gideon Warner finds himself in perfect step with the times and success seems easy as politicians, businessmen and starlets beat a path to his door.

But just as he reaches the pinnacle of his career, Gideon finds his life spinning out of control. When he should be organising the nation's Millennium celebrations, he is focusing on diffusing the implacable anger of his daughter Natasha. And, rather than shaping the business ambitions of an Italian media tycoon, his time is spent falling in love with the eccentric Stella – a mother grieving for her dead son.

Writer and director Stephen Poliakoff imparts an incredible tenderness matched with a hard-hitting candour to this moving story. The sister film to Friends & Crocodiles, it completes a brilliant panorama of the final decades of the last century.

Friends & Crocodiles

A film by Stephen Poliakoff

The story traces the relationship of a maverick entrepreneur and his colleague over a period of 20 years. It follows the shifting power balance between them as their careers rise and fall through the changing corporate landscape from the beginning of the Thatcher years to the rise of the electronic age and the dot-com bubble.

It is 1981 and Paul Reynolds, a Gatsby-like figure, is the young, wealthy owner of a magnificent country house, a host of great parties, and the patron of eccentrics. He is a collector of interesting people, a visionary with dreams of new urban landscapes, wind power, airships and questions about why the crocodile has survived unchanged for two millennia.

He persuades Lizzie Thomas, a secretary at a local estate agents, to come and work for him as his assistant, to bring some order into his chaotic and hedonistic existence. Once at his country house her world expands – she meets academics, poets, artists, revolutionaries, libertarians and politicians. It is here that she first encounters Sneath, a social chameleon and born survivor, who is always there as events unfold and available to tell the story later.

Paul inspires Lizzie with his enthusiasm and imagination, and frustrates her with his apparent carelessness and destructiveness, which culminates in her calling the police as a great party is turned over by local troublemakers, seemingly with Paul's tacit approval. Paul's Eden seems destined to self-destruct – a terrible row ensues between them and they part company vowing never to speak or see each other again.

Some years later they do meet again, by chance, in London. Following this first awkward encounter their paths are destined to cross again and again as Lizzie, with the help of some of those she met at Paul's house, rises through the changing landscape of corporate Britain and Paul continues to pursue his dreams and create another Eden for himself.

Now that the seemingly unstoppable impetus to change, rationalise and modernise has taken root, technology and everyone is moving on – nothing is permanent or constant. However, eventually one certainty does become apparent and Lizzie and Paul come to accept that despite everything that has happened they were born to work together.

The story is an examination of the nature of personal relationships where work and ideas are more powerful drivers than sexual emotions. In his inimitibale style, Poliakoff combines cinematic panorama with moments of great intimacy as he takes an epic sweep through Britain's recent past and creates an unforgettable story.

Close my eyes

A film by Stephen Poliakoff

Children of a broken marriage, Richard and his estranged sister Natalie meet up after years of being apart. He is a strident, ambitious urban planner, a yuppie with a hectic career and social life. She leads a dull and lonely life, stuck in a dead end office job. During their evening together Natalie becomes upset and looks to Richard for comfort, and during the night they share a moment of affection which strays a little beyond the usual physical closeness of siblings. Richard is surprised by these events and Natalie appears regretful, a little ashamed, and even more confused.

Their lives take them in separate directions once more. While Richard's career abroad fulfils both his professional and social needs, Natalie still feels lost, uncertain and unloved, and Richard's absence in her life becomes a focus for all she does not have and all that she needs.

Some years later Richard returns home, and rather surprisingly, takes a low-paid public sector job. Natalie, whom he has almost forgotten, gets in touch with him again and invites him to meet her new husband Sinclair, a millionaire futurologist – brilliant, very eccentric, kind and generous, but also child-like in his innocence and detachment from the world in which he has become such a success. Richard is clearly stunned by the new life his sister leads, a life which she appears not to have completely embraced. She is however now far more self-confident and begins to lure Richard as he again becomes the object of her affections.

Soon they embark on a forbidden and passionate affair. Richard falls in love with Natalie, and against the backdrop of a glorious British summer, their relationship intensifies as they struggle to accept the aftermath of their actions. Richard becomes gripped with infatuation for his sister and matters come to a head when Natalie's husband Sinclair suspects that his wife is having an affair, little knowing that the lover he is so jealous of is his wife's own brother.

Iris

A film by Richard Eyre

The story of one of the most extraordinary women of the 20th century, the celebrated English author Iris Murdoch. As told by her unlikely soulmate, husband John Bayley, Iris first became known as a brilliant young scholar at Oxford whose boundless spirit dazzled those around her. During a remarkable career as a novelist and philosopher, she continued to prove herself a woman ahead of her time. Even in later life, as age and illness robbed her of her remarkable gifts, nothing could diminish her immense influence or weaken the bond with her devoted husband.

Seen through the eyes of John Bayley, it is a story of an unlikely yet enduring love over forty years. The images portray Murdoch as a vibrant young woman, an academic with great intellect and zest for life, and are contrasted with the novelist's later life, during her slow decline from the effects of Alzheimer's disease which will eventually leave her unable even to perform simple tasks, becoming completely reliant upon her husband.

A moving and tender depiction, based on the two books Iris: A Memoir of Iris Murdoch, and Iris and her Friends by John Bayley.

Code Unknown

Code inconnu, récit incomplet de divers voyages
a film by Michael Haneke

On a busy Paris boulevard, a youth scornfully tosses a crumpled paper bag into the outstretched hands of a beggar woman. This is the bond which, for an instant, links several very different characters. The course of their lives has been determined by an encounter with people they will never even know, and the film explores each life in turn following this chance event.

Anne, an actress who travels from movie to movie. Her boyfriend Georges, a war photographer whose images express great pain and suffering. His father, a farmer in northern France, and younger brother Jean, who contrary to his father's wishes, has no interest in inheriting the farm and has fled to Paris. Amadou, a music teacher in an institute for deaf-mute children, and his family who originate from Africa. And Maria, a Romanian immigrant who has returned to Paris after being deported for begging.

Code Unknown is a complex series of free-standing vignettes, a patchwork of sequences shot in real time. It is a fascinating study of powerful emotional forces, subtle connections and the barriers between people, social classes, and races – and the difficulty of communicating in the modern world.

Carrington

A film by Christopher Hampton

An emotionally complex and moving tale of a lifelong love with unorthodox compromises. Amid the trendy, bohemian scene of London's famed Bloomsbury group, Dora Carrington, a talented young artist, first meets bon vivant and writer Lytton Strachey. The two creative souls are instantly attracted, although Strachey's desires clearly lie elsewhere.

When Lytton moves in with Carrington they both want commitment, but also personal freedom. This ambiguity towards each other is parallel to their ambiguity towards the concept of fame, and soon they grow to realise that there is far more of lasting value in secure domesticity, no matter how loosely defined, than in their behaviourally adventurous artistic peers. The unlikely pair joyously spend colourful days pursuing their arts, and discovering that love works in mysterious ways. But their blissful existence is challenged when Carrington brings home a lover and they suddenly find themselves caught in a bizarre love triangle.

Taken from a biography of Lytton Strachey, Carrington tells the true story of one of the most improbable loves imaginable, evoking with impeccable precision the bohemian world of Kensington art society around the time of the First World War. It is a paradox, an old-fashioned story about an avant-garde arrangement. An intelligent, thoughtful love story that draws us into their lives, and the passions between the characters. The beautiful score by Michael Nyman captures the sentiments of this film perfectly.

Tess

A film by Roman Polański, adapted from the novel Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy.

Tess is the daughter of John Durbeyfield, a poor, simple peasant farmer in rural Dorset who discovers that he is actually of noble descent. Tess is sent off to the manor to work for their wealthy relatives, who in fact have bought the illustrious d'Urberville name with its coat of arms, the real family's lineage having become extinct. There, seduced by Alec, a suave but sinister 'cousin', she bears a son, a sickly child who dies in infancy. In the setting of a morally rigid Victorian England, Tess must carry the shame of her past even into her marriage to Angel Clare, her true love – until she cleanses herself of all guilt in one ultimate act of passion.

Tess is the perfect heroine, the victim of her own purity, innocence and beauty. A poor man's daughter, an aristocrat's mistress, and a gentleman's wife. Each manipulates her for their own needs and desires, with little regard for her feelings or wellbeing. She is a complex character destined to carry the burden of her class, and the tale works on different levels – as a romantic/tragic love story, and as an accusation of the hypocrisy of Victorian society.

This award winning classic adaption, shot in northern France and released in 1979, portrays Hardy's novel to perfection, offering a glance of late 19th century pastoral life before it was completely lost to the Industrial Revolution. The enchanting and subtle cinematography appears beautifully natural, its images and emotions lingering in the memory long afterwards.

Girl with a Pearl Earring

A film by Peter Webber

In order to support her family, seventeen-year-old Griet becomes a maid in the house of Johannes Vermeer and soon attracts the master painter's attention. Although worlds apart in upbringing and social standing, Vermeer recognises her intuitive understanding of his work and slowly draws her into his mysterious world of art and passion.

Whilst she falls increasingly under Vermeer's spell, his volatile family quickly grow jealous of her. Maria, his shrewd mother-in-law, struggles to maintain the family's lavish lifestyle, and seeing that Griet inspires Vermeer, takes the decision to let their relationship develop. Van Ruijven, also sensing the intimacy between master and maid, commissions Vermeer to paint Griet's portrait.

Adapted from a work of fiction by author Tracy Chevalier, the story suggests the events surrounding the creation of the painting Girl with a Pearl Earring by the 17th century Dutch master Johannes Vermeer. Little is known about the girl in the painting, but it is speculated that she was a maid who lived in the house of the painter along with his family and other servants.

The End of the Affair

A film by Neil Jordan, based on the novel by Graham Greene.

A passionate woman trapped in a sterile marriage, Sarah Miles is immediately and irresistibly attracted to the handsome young novelist, Maurice Bendrix when they meet at a party given by Sarah's worthy but dull civil servant husband, Henry. They begin a passionate, illicit and sexually liberating love affair. After five intense and passion-filled years during World War II, Sarah abruptly walks out of Maurice's life with no explanation, leaving him utterly bereft.

Two years later, Bendrix has a chance meeting with Henry. His obsession with Sarah rekindled, he succombs to his jealousy and arranges to have her followed by a private detective. Haunted by memories of their affair, he re-enters her life in a desperate attempt to solve the mystery surrounding the end of the affair.

A tragically romantic story of love, desire, betrayal and sacrifice. The story evokes a sympathy for each of the three characters – each is a victim, and we feel for each regardless of the rights and wrongs of their respective situations. The film achieves a rare lyricism, an emotional richness and romantic purity, with beautiful cinematography and a powerful musical score by Michael Nyman.

Cet obscur objet du désir

A film by Luis Buñuel, adapted from the novel La femme et le pantin by Pierre Louys.

Recounted in flashback to a group of railway travellers, the story wryly details the romantic perils of Mathieu, a wealthy, middle-aged French sophisticate who falls desperately in love with his 19-year-old former chambermaid Conchita. Thus begins a surreal game of cat-and-mouse, with Mathieu obsessively attempting to win the girl's affections as she manipulates his desire for possession, each vying to gain absolute control of the other.

Deeply rooted in cinematic symbolism and brimming with subversive wit, this bizarre film takes a satiric aim at a decadent, decaying society riddled with political unrest and moral bankruptcy. It was Buñuel's last film and is most noted for the director's use of two actresses (Carole Bouquet and Ángela Molina) to portray the different emotional aspects of the part of Conchita.

I first saw this film at University of York, shortly after its release in 1977 – thirty years later, it is just as surreal as I had remembered. A superb, if unusual film, That Obscure Object of Desire is a fascinating, humorous and poignant study of the obsessiveness behind relationships, surrounded by absurd, strange and inexplicable events.

Les Passages

A film by Donna Vermeer

A year after a turbulent break-up gamine filmmaker Catherine flees New York for Paris, the city of her teenage dreams, remembering it as super-cool like 60s genre movies or mysterious and tragic like 19th century French novels. Hoping to lose herself in the anonymity of another city, she convinces her crew and her photographer daughter Claire to help her shoot her very American movie in Paris, because "Paris suburbs remind me of New Jersey". Upon arrival she sets out to invent both the New Jersey landscape of her childhood and the Paris (long out of fashion and memory) of the boulevards and snack bars and arcades, with poets in Montparnasse cafés and card games in the wooden galleries of the Palais-Royal. Throwing herself into the production of her movie by day and wandering the streets flâneur-like by night, she is determined to forget the past. But a chance meeting in the flea market at Clignancourt with the beautiful Anna, the actress playing her mother in her movie, sets her life, and heart, on another course.

As Catherine struggles with the ending of her film and Claire's increasing independence, Claire begins her own love affair – with Mathieu, the first Frenchman to pull up on a motorcycle and deconstruct the camera obscura. The film plays with time: the present, in which the story follows these three women as they form a complex love triangle; the past, through the window of childhood memory; history, always with us, always present; and the love story, which is out of time and which follows a path that is always possible to interpret according to a causality or a finality. Les passages allows us to enter two worlds – the one before us and the one that has vanished. Less concerned with plot than mood and emotion, this fragile story starts with a jolt, and ends with an affirmation.

Les Passages is about memory, and dreams, and false starts. It is inspired by Walter Benjamin's The Arcades Project, a collection of fragments about the 19th century Paris passages couverts and what he called "the fate of art".

Silent Light

Stellet Licht
a film by Carlos Reygadas

Set in Chihuahua in northern Mexico within the Mennonite community, a strict Christian sect of European descent who speak Plautdietsch, a German-Dutch dialect. Johan, the father of five children and a deeply religious man, has fallen in love with another woman, Marianne. Although he is honest about the affair with his wife Esther, openly confessing his adulterous behaviour, he is full of remorse and uncertainty, knowing that he has broken God's laws as he entertains thoughts of abandoning his family. We watch the family in silent prayer, seated at the kitchen table before breakfast. Following their meal, Esther and the children leave the house to begin their day's work in the fields but Johan remains alone at the empty table and in emotional turmoil, his tears begin to flow.

Despite the suffering this love triangle has already wrought on those involved, Johan is unable to put an end to it. His love for Marianne draws him back to her again and again and he is powerless to end the affair. When he drives to the local garage to collect a part for his tractor, he discusses his affair with his friend Zacarías who, whilst philosophical and supportive in a remote sort of way, is unable to accept the burden of problems that Johan has brought upon himself. Suddenly, as a familiar song plays on the radio, Johan gleefully sings along while driving his truck around the yard in circles, clearing his mind of the problems he has been dwelling upon.

Later, he stops at his parents' farm to tell his father about the affair, explaining that he has told Esther about Marianne. His father, a preacher, hints that the devil may be responsible for what has happened, but admits that he also once had an affair with another woman, although he made the choice to bring it to an end.

Johan and Esther take the children bathing in a nearby pool, a gesture of love that makes his infidelity all the harder for Esther to bear. When they are driving alone in a ferocious rainstorm, she begins to speak of her regrets for the happiness they have lost, becoming very upset. She then complains of chest pains and pleads with Johan to stop the car. When he does, Esther runs from the roadside to a neaby tree where she sobs uncontrollably and then collapses.

The film begins in starlight, slowly giving way to the light of the rising sun at the beginning of a new day. Only the ambient sounds of crickets, lowing cattle and the occasional bird cry can be heard, enhancing the perception of serenity and tranquility. At the end of the film the sun is setting and we watch the deepening colours of the sky as the light slowly fades and one by one the stars appear, returning again to the state of tranquility.

An enlightening and engaging exploration of moral and spiritual crises, touching on some profound themes but keeping its emotional distance. While religion is very much a part of the lives of the characters, it is present only in the background of the story. The remarkable cinematography, with the film's unhurried pace and inspired imagery, make it a profoundly spiritual and very moving meditation on love and betrayal.

The Scent of Green Papaya

Mùi đu đủ xanh
a film by Tràn Anh Hung

Saigon in 1951, and ten-year-old Mùi takes up her new position as a servant in the beautiful house of a well-to-do Vietnamese merchant family. Mùi accepts her place with patience, serving the meals, preparing the vegetables, scrubbing the floors, and polishing the shoes. She performs her duties with great diligence and always with a positive attitude, while carefully observing and taking great pleasure in the smallest details of life around her. With grace and innocence the young girl observes the wonders of the world in everything she sees, loving and caring for all living creatures including insects and frogs.

She is also quietly tolerant of the boorish behaviour and torments of the younger son Tin. Living completely in the here and now, she just observes, judges not, and says nothing. The mother, still mourning the death of her young daughter Tô seven years before, looks upon Mùi as her replacement, a surrogate daughter. Every day Mùi quietly continues her ordinary life, giving every moment all her attention and invisibly enriching the lives of all those around her. One day when preparing a meal for the family, she cuts open the remains of a green papaya to discover the immature seeds inside, representing the potential of the little girl.

Ten years pass and the family fall on hard times as a result of the father who has again left the home, taking with him the family's money. Mùi is sent away to become the housekeeper for Khuyên, a young classical pianist and composer, a family friend for whom Mùi has always held a secret love. Her leaving triggers in the mother a profound sense of loss for her 'daughter' and a sense that the old way of life in her country is coming to a permanent end.

In her new house, Mùi must contend with the musician's Westernised fiancée who personifies the artificiality of modern society. Ever more discontented with the insensitivity of his fiancée, Khuyên sees Mùi with fresh eyes and becomes aware of how much she embodies the traditional values that are missing in his life. As he picks up a bust of Buddha, he realises that the face and the smile of the Buddha are something he has been seeing every day in Mùi. This sudden recognition of her Buddha-nature transforms both their lives.

As she prepares a meal for them both, again we see Mùi cut open a green papaya to reveal inside the immature seeds and we are reminded of the potential of the little girl. Now together, Khuyên teaches Mùi to read and write, which she does diligently, while carefully observing and taking great pleasure in the smallest details of life around her – ever true to both herself and the Buddhist ideal of being in the present moment.

This visually exquisite film with its strong Buddhist theme is itself a meditation. Its rich imagery, symbolism and subtle observations draw us deep within ourselves and remain with us long afterwards.

Out of Africa

A film by Sydney Pollack

Out of Africa follows the life story of Karen Blixen, an amazingly strong-willed woman who moves from Denmark to run a coffee plantation with her philandering husband in Kenya around 1914. To her astonishment she soon discovers herself falling in love with the land, its people and a mysterious British adventurer and idealist.

Karen Blixen is the daughter of a wealthy Danish family. When Hans, the man she expects to marry is no longer interested in her, she proposes to his twin brother Bror, both for his friendship and for the title of Baroness, and since she has money he agrees. It is decided they will buy land in Kenya and start a dairy farm. Karen follows Bror out to Kenya where they marry and take up residence but she then finds that her husband has decided on his own to grow coffee instead, even though the land they have purchased is considered too high to support this crop.

When the First World War breaks out and most of the men go south to Lake Natron, Karen leads a long and dangerous supply run to them herself. Learning much about survival, resourcefulness and leadership, she also gains the respect of the men. Her marriage, considered merely one of convenience by Bror, is put to the test when he has other relationships, eventually transmitting syphilis to Karen. After the diagnosis she leaves for Denmark, returning to the farm after a successful though lengthy period of treatment. She decides that Bror must move out for good, which he does, returning only to solicit one last sum of money from her.

Karen continues to develop the coffee plantation, enlisting the local Kukuyu to work on the farm. Eventually much of the tribe is employed by her and she provides them with some of the uncultivated land on which to live. She also builds a school and hires a missionary teacher to educate the children, despite the disapproval of both the tribal chief and many of the English settlers. As a result, she gains a greater understanding of African culture which brings a mutual respect and affection.

Eventually Bror wants to remarry and Karen consents to a divorce. Her long friendship with Denys Finch Hatton, a free-spirited big game hunter, begins to blossom as they are drawn to each other and Karen falls in love with him. He is honest and loyal but lives an independent life of adventure in the wilderness and while Karen wishes for the security of marriage, Denys tells her that he can never give up his freedom – she feels herself to be the one who must pay the price for his freedom.

The coffee plantation is still only barely surviving as she is forced to mortgage it further, but just as success is within her grasp with a first bumper crop, a fire devastates the processing buildings and the entire crop is lost. Having no insurance Karen faces bankrupcy, loses her home and land to the bank, and is forced to sell her remaining personal possessions.

A few days before she is due to leave, Denys appears and offers to fly her in his plane to Mombassa from where she will sail to Denmark. Before he returns for her he is tragically killed when the plane crashes and catches fire. She buries his body on the eastern slopes of the hills overlooking the Great Rift Valley. Her home and lover gone, her life in Africa is over and she leaves, never to return. "I once had a farm in Africa, at the foot of the Ngong Hills."

Karen Blixen returned to Denmark and went on to write a number of books about her adventures in Africa under the pseudonym Izak Dineson.

Gosford Park

A film by Robert Altman

It is November 1932. Gosford Park is the magnificent country estate to which Sir William McCordle and his wife, Lady Sylvia, gather relations and friends for a weekend shooting party. They have invited an eclectic group. As the guests assemble in the gilded drawing rooms above, their personal maids and valets swell the ranks of the house servants in the teeming kitchens and corridors below-stairs. But all is not as it seems – neither amongst the bejewelled guests lunching and dining at their enormous leisure, nor in the attic bedrooms and stark work stations where the servants labour for the comfort of their employers. Part comedy of manners and part mystery, the film is finally a moving portrait of events that bridge generations, class, sex, tragic personal history – and culminate in a murder. Or is it two murders...?

Less concerned with the murder mystery, the story is more a brilliant and complex observation of the English aristocracy and their servants in social interaction. Both above and below stairs, many subtle and unsubtle rituals are played out among groups of people who clearly dislike each other but are forced through circumstance, need or employment to observe the fundamental social practices required. At a time of great social change, the wealth and power of the old English ruling classes is slowly disintegrating and this entire family is now wholly reliant upon the wealth of one particularly reluctant patron. A bright new social era is rapidly evolving, one in which new money, represented by Hollywood and popular culture, is making its first advances into their world, now undeniably in terminal decline.

A subtle, sophisticated and very amusing film with impeccable acting, directing and design.

Les destinées sentimentales

A film by Olivier Assayas, adapted from the novel by Jacques Chardonne.

Jean Barnery is a young Protestant pastor living in Barbazac in the Cognac region of France at the beginning of the 20th century. When he learns of his wife Nathalie's infidelity he separates from her, sending her and their young daughter Aline away. At the same time, 20-year-old Pauline Pommerel returns to the village after the death of her father. Jean and Pauline, the independently minded niece of a Cognac distiller, are almost immediately attracted to each other when they first meet at a ball.

Jean divorces the severe and obsessive Nathalie after falling in love with Pauline. He settles his shares in the family's porcelain business in Limoges on Nathalie and their daughter, installing them in an apartment in Paris. He then resigns the ministry and flees a disapproving conservative community.

Bedridden in a Parisian hotel with tuberculosis, Jean is visited during his illness by Pauline. Following his recovery, they marry and establish a new and tranquil life in Switzerland. There, in idyllic surroundings, their love prospers and they start a family of their own. But they have no idea what they must endure in order to stay together for the rest of their lives.

On the death of his father, Jean's family requests he takes over the floundering porcelain business. He feels compelled to accept, ignoring Pauline's wishes and despite predicting the struggle ahead and the strain it will put on their life together. Jean's new responsibilities, their service in the Great War, family rivalry, and modern industrialism are all obstacles that will impact their lives and will determine whether their love is destined to survive the ultimate test of time.

La cérémonie

A film by Claude Chabrol, adapted from the novel A Judgement in Stone by Ruth Rendell.

Georges and Catherine Lelièvre, their daughter Melinda and son Gilles, are a wealthy upper-class family who live in a large, isolated country house in Bretagne. Catherine desperately needs a new housekeeper and takes on Sophie, who seems very suitable, as their live-in maid. The family are all caring people, if a little condescending towards Sophie, who hides behind a cold and unemotional exterior. Within the household she performs her duties very efficiently and is willing to do more than is asked of her, yet in a strangely detached way.

Sophie is quietly independent, spending her free time alone in her room watching television but is uncommunicative and resistant to offers of help from the family members. They become gradually aware of certain difficulties Sophie has in learning anything new, like taking driving lessons, operating machines and reading written instructions; things that Sophie does her best to ignore and to hide from others. Melinda looks upon Sophie as somebody who helps around the house rather than being a domestic servant, telling her that she should not let her father walk over her.

Jeanne works as a clerk in the local post office, an unpleasant and disturbed misfit who hates the Lelièvres and everyone with money. Jeanne befriends the lonely Sophie and begins to bring her out of her shell but in a decidedly negative way, encouraging her to stand up against her bourgeois employers. As the pair begin to bond the family grow increasingly concerned. Sophie becomes insolent towards them as she gains in self-confidence from Jeanne's influence.

Sophie eavesdrops on a telephone conversation Melinda has with Jérémie, her boyfriend, when she tells him that she may be pregnant. Melinda then discovers Sophie's illiteracy and offers to help her learn to read but Sophie responds by threatening to reveal Melinda's pregnancy to the family. However, Melinda, deeply hurt by such unkindness in her present emotional state, decides to tell her parents about the pregnancy herself, and also about Sophie's blackmail threat. As a result Georges convinces Catherine that Sophie must go and so gives her notice.

Jeanne invites Sophie to move into her flat until she finds somewhere else. On their return one evening to the Lelièvres' house to collect Sophie's things, a spiteful game of revenge commences and the already simmering class conflict boils over into unleashed anger with shocking consequences for all. In the final scene we discover how some unforeseen incriminating evidence will eventually lead to Sophie's downfall, but judgement of her is left for us to decide.

A powerful portrait of hatred, manipulation and mistrust – a devastating thriller with a shattering conclusion.

The Last Wave

A film by Peter Weir

The film begins at an Australian school in the desert. Even though there are no clouds in the sky, the children hear thunder and a storm soon breaks out. In quick succession, a pounding rain, followed by grapefruit-sized hail, assail the schoolhouse. All while the sun is shining.

David Burton, a corporate tax lawyer in Sydney, is asked to defend five Aboriginals accused of murdering one of their group. During the interviews that follow they remain uncooperative but he begins to suspect they are tribal Aboriginals living in the city, even though nobody believes him and the accused deny this, refusing to disclose the true events surrounding the murder. If the murder could be proved to have been a tribal killing then it would be subject to tribal law.

Burton, who is plagued by recurring dream premonitions, also suspects that his dreams are related to the case, and that the unusual weather being experienced in the city is somehow linked too. After Chris Lee, one of the suspects, starts to appear in his dreams, Burton is convinced that the murder victim was killed in a tribal ritual because "he saw too much", though Chris refuses to acknowledge this in court. As the lawyer delves deeper, his dreams intensify, his obsession with the murder case overcomes his life, and the increasingly strange weather phenomena, with black rain and mud falling from the sky, begin to bode of a coming apocalypse.

A cross-cultural link is identified by an Aboriginal elder between his people and Burton's great-grandfather; a link also recognised in Burton's ability to predict the future from his dreams. Chris does his best to guide Burton through the realm of Dreamtime, and Burton is drawn deeper and deeper into a strange web of visions and symbols where the line between the two realities evaporates. The Aboriginal leads the lawyer into the tribal underground caves beneath the city to a confrontation with the tribe's shaman. In a final vision, as he emerges from the subterranean tunnels on to a beach, Burton understands the nature of the apocalypse that is about to strike the land – the Last Wave.

Rabbit-Proof Fence

A film by Phillip Noyce

A true story of hope and survival, based on the book Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence by Doris Pilkington Garimara. It is the story of the author's mother and two other young mixed-race Aboriginal girls who ran away from the Moore River Native Settlement, north of Perth, in order to return to their Aboriginal families, after being placed there in 1931. The film follows the girls as they trek for nine weeks along 2,400 kilometres of the Australian rabbit-proof fence to return to their community at Jigalong in the north-west, while being followed by the regional constabulary and a native tracker.

At this time it was Australian government policy to train Aboriginal children as domestic workers and integrate them into white society. Part of what would become known as Australia's "Stolen Generations", 14-year-old Molly Craig leads her little sister and cousin in a daring escape from their confinement in a government camp. Molly, Daisy, and Grace must then evade the authorities on a dangerous journey in the vast and lonely outback, walking north along the rabbit-proof fence that bisects the continent and will lead them home. Their universally touching plight and unparalleled courage are a beautiful testament to the undying strength of the human spirit.

The performances by the amateur child actors are both authentic and heartbreakingly affecting. In the documentary of the making of the film, we see the difficulties faced in working with young and inexperienced kids and how with great skill and patience the director and crew were able to bring out the natural abilities of these young actresses. The shooting of the abduction scene, especially, is as moving in the documentary as in the film itself, perhaps more so.

An honest and unsentimental film with magnificent photography capturing the stunning Australian landscape and a haunting, mystical score by Peter Gabriel.

Paris, je t'aime

A film produced by Claudie Ossard and Emmanuel Benbihy from an original idea by Tristan Carné.

A declaration of love to the City of Love. Eighteen renowned filmmakers have created their own vignette, each based in one of the arrondissements of Paris, to form a collection of short films embracing a love of the world's most romantic city. Each brings their individual vision, underlining the wide variety of styles, genres, encounters and the various atmospheres and lifestyles that prevail in the neighbourhoods of Paris. "Paris is known as the 'City of Lights'... a city of culture... of fine dining and magnificent architecture. Paris is a city for lovers: lovers of art, lovers of history, lovers of food, and lovers of... love."

The assortment of celebrated international directors contributing to this collection includes Gurinder Chadha, Sylvain Chomet, Joel and Ethan Coen, Wes Craven, Alfonso Cuarón, Nobuhiro Suwa, Alexander Payne, Tom Tykwer, Walter Salles and Gus Van Sant. Starring in the films are some of the finest actors and actresses with Natalie Portman, Juliette Binoche, Steve Buscemi, Bob Hoskins, Nick Nolte, Elijah Wood and Maggie Gyllenhaal among many others.

Montmartre
Bruno Podalydès
A lonely and frustrated man helps a woman with hypoglycemia when she faints by his parked car, initiating a relationship with her.

Quais de Seine
Gurinder Chadha
A young man with two friends are taunting women who walk by. When a young Muslim girl, Zarka, stumbles and falls on a pavement, François goes to her aid. They feel an attraction for each other and he is left wondering whether she is the girl of his dreams.

Le Marais
Gus Van Sant
A man and woman visit a printer. While she discusses the work in hand, he finds himself attracted to a young employee, trying to explain that he believes the man to be his soulmate, not realising that he speaks little French.

Tuileries
Joel & Ethan Coen
An American tourist waiting for a train in the métro becomes involved in the conflict between two young lovers.

Loin du 16e
Walter Salles & Daniela Thomas
A poor young woman leaves her son in a crèche and travels across Paris to work, caring for the child of a bourgeois mother.

Porte de Choisy
Christopher Doyle
Absurd tale of a beauty products salesman visiting a Chinatown salon run by a woman who proves to be a tough customer.

Bastille
Isabel Coixet
A husband planning to leave his wife for a much younger woman meets her in a restaurant when she tells him that she has terminal leukemia. For her sake he hides his feelings and shows compassion, and in doing so falls in love with her again.

Place des Victoires
Nobuhiro Suwa
A woman who has lost her beloved little boy and unable to resolve her grief is comforted by a magical cowboy.

Tour Eiffel
Sylvain Chomet
A boy tells the story of how his mime artist parents met in prison and fell in love.

Parc Monceau
Alfonso Cuarón
An older man and younger woman meet for an arrangement that a third person, Gaspard, who is close to the woman, may not approve of. Later it is revealed that the young woman is his daughter, and Gaspard is her baby.

Quartier des Enfants Rouges
Olivier Assayas
An American actress acquiring and using drugs while awaiting a shoot of a movie. She is disappointed when the drug dealer sends someone else to deliver her deal.

Place des fêtes
Oliver Schmitz
A young man and young woman meet for the second time in one day when Sophie, a paramedic, helps him as he is dying of a stab wound.

Pigalle
Richard LaGravenese
An older couple, Bob and Fanny, meet in a bar and act out a fantasy argument to rediscover some lost sensations in their relationship.

Quartier de la Madeleine
Vincenzo Natali
A gothic story in which a young backpacker tourist encounters a vampire attacking a victim whilst crossing a bridge, and falls in love with her.

Père-Lachaise
Wes Craven
A young woman breaks up with her fiancé while visiting the Père-Lachaise Cemetery. The young man redeems himself with the aid of good advice from the ghost of Oscar Wilde.

Faubourg Saint-Denis
Tom Tykwer
After mistakenly believing that his girlfriend, a struggling actress, has broken up with him, a young blind man laments on the growth and seeming decline of their once joyful relationship.

Quartier Latin
Frédéric Auburtin & Gérard Depardieu
A wealthy man and his estranged wife meet in a restaurant for one last drink and to discuss terms for an amicable divorce.

14e arrondissement
Alexander Payne
Carol, a lonely American tourist from Denver, on her first European holiday and struggling with the French language, finds peace within herself through her love of Paris.

Picnic at Hanging Rock

A film by Peter Weir

On Valentine's Day, 14 February 1900, a party of schoolgirls from Appleyard College took a trip to Hanging Rock near Mount Macedon in the state of Victoria. During that idyllic sun-drenched afternoon some of the party left the rest of the group and having climbed higher, stopped to rest and fell asleep. They awoke as though still in a dream and silently ventured further through a passage in the imposing rock face. Some of the girls were never seen again.

Adapted from the novel by Joan Lindsay, the story centres around Miranda, a young student whose beauty is compared to one of Botticelli's angels by Mlle de Poitiers who teaches French and deportment. Her circle of friends includes Irma, Marion, Rosamund and the waifish Sara, an orphan, who is not allowed to go on the outing. Miranda has a premonition that she will not return from the picnic and tells Sara, who has a crush on her, that she must find someone else to love.

During the picnic, four of the girls, Miranda, Irma, Marion and Edith, decide to explore the rock in direct defiance of the headmistress, Mrs Appleyard. After following a labyrinth of paths, the girls are drawn to a plateau where they fall asleep. On waking, they get up, and seemingly under a spell, advance as one towards an inner recess, witnessed by Edith, who cries out to them not to go. It is as though they are compelled to enter and the rock swallows them. One of the teachers, Miss McCraw, goes up to see what has happened. By sunset, only Edith has returned, hysterical and unable to explain what has transpired – only that she saw Miss McCraw heading up towards the plateau without her skirt.

The police investigation by Sgt Bumpher and Constable Jones leads them to a young Englishman, Michael Fitzhubert who was lunching at the rock with his family. Michael, with Albert Crundall, the party's young local Australian valet, spent part of the lunch watching the girls' picnic, but offer no clues in the investigation. Search parties are organised, an Aboriginal tracker is brought in and finally, a bloodhound. Michael cannot forget his vision of Miranda and organises his own search. He spends the night on the rock and is found in a terrible state clutching a piece of lace which leads to the discovery of Irma, though she has no memory of what happened on the rock, or of the fate of her companions.

The school feels the effects of the tragedy and the town of Woodend quickly becomes restless as news of the disappearance spreads. An increasingly dishevelled Mrs Appleyard informs Sara that her fees have not been paid and that she will have to return to the orphanage. The next day Mrs Appleyard informs a teacher that Sara has been picked up by her guardian. The girls leave for their summer holidays under the impression that they will not return. Sara is then found in the greenhouse into which she has fallen from her window. The film ends with the information that Mrs Appleyard was found dead from a fall from the cliffs at Hanging Rock the same year.

Famed for its dreamlike aura and unresolved story, the film, released in 1975, established Peter Weir as a major filmmaker and is a critically acclaimed classic of Australian cinema. With award-winning photography and a memorably haunting score, it remains one of the most chillingly atmospheric and beautifully enigmatic films ever made.

Chocolat

A film by Lasse Hallström

When Vianne Rocher and her six-year-old daughter, Anouk, drift into a small tranquil town in rural France and open a very unusual chocolate shop during Lent, they are met with outrage and disapproval from the old-fashioned and very conservative inhabitants.

But as Vianne sets to work producing mouth-watering confections that are made with secret ingredients, and based on age-old recipes handed down to her, gradually the strait-laced inhabitants are almost magically inspired to abandon themselves to temptation and happiness. As their trust grows, her advice and practical help are sought by many of the locals and before long their hearts are won over. Only the authoritative town maire, Comte Paul de Reynaud, remains resistant and is determined to close her down.

When a group of river drifters, led by Roux, arrive in the town they are treated with contempt by everybody except Vianne and Anouk. Having now become accepted and trusted herself by the townsfolk, it falls to Vianne – as she begins to fall for the enchanting Roux – to teach the townspeople something about tolerance, acceptance and compassion.

A beautiful and captivating comedy based on the novel by Joanne Harris.

Jindabyne

A film by Ray Lawrence

While on his annual fishing expedition in isolated high country with friends, Stewart Kane discovers the body of a 19-year-old girl in a river. Deciding that there's nothing they can do to help her at this point, Stewart, Carl, Rocco and Billy continue their weekend, calling the police only after they've finished fishing and come down from the mountain, two days later.

When they return to their small town of Jindabyne in New South Wales, they're surprised when their families and the community treat them with anger and hostility for their selfish, callous behaviour. Stewart's wife, Claire, is particularly disillusioned, calling into question her entire relationship with Stewart and their young son, Tom, who himself has been getting into dangerous situations hanging around with a slightly older, troubled girl, Caylin-Calandria. Tensions are even higher because the murdered woman was a member of a nearby Aboriginal community, sparking resentment and cries of racism. Simmering guilt, familial tensions, and strained friendships threaten to tear the residents of Jindabyne apart.

The film features gorgeous cinematography with the most stunning mountain landscape scenery and a hauntingly beautiful soundtrack. It is a compelling and complex tale of doubt, anger, shame and responsibility – a richly observant study of people in crisis. At its heart, it's about the everyday choices people make in life, and how they live with the consequences.

The House of the Spirits

A film by Bille August, based on the novel by Isabel Allende.

The story, set in a mythical South American country that could well be the author's native Chile, begins in the 1920s. Rosa and her younger sister Clara are the daughters of the wealthy, influencial and liberal del Valle family. Esteban Trueba is an impoverished young man in love with Rosa who vows to make his fortune in order to marry her and provide her with the comforts to which she is accustomed. However, whilst he is successful in gold mining, Rosa dies before they are able to marry, after drinking poisoned wine intended for her liberal party father. Broken hearted, Esteban leaves with his fortune to buy an estancia, where he sternly rules with an iron fist over the peasants who work the land for him and who call him "Patron". As their master, he takes all he wants from them, even the women, with the result that a bastard son is born whom he does not acknowledge but who is named after him.

Esteban has a spinster sister, Férula, who, for the past twenty years, has lived a sad and loveless existence in the city, caring for their ailing mother. When their mother dies, Esteban, now a bitter and lonely man, returns to the city from his estancia to attend the funeral. There he notices Clara who is now grown up, and not wasting a moment, he goes to her home. Clara, luminous and mystical, already knows that he is there to ask for her hand in marriage and happily accepts, having loved him ever since she first saw him as a child, when he was courting her sister Rosa.

After their marriage, Clara lovingly embraces his sister, Férula, into the bosom of her household when they move to Esteban's estancia. Férula blossoms from a bitter old maid into a companionable and pleasant woman under Clara's warmth and affection. Esteban and Clara eventually have a child, Blanca, who grows up playing with Pedro, the son of the estancia's indigenous indian foreman. When Esteban discovers this, he sends Blanca away to boarding school, not wishing his daughter to fraternise with the peasants.

Clara, loving and pure of heart, is Esteban's exact opposite. When their daughter finally grows up and returns home from school, she knows that the independent Blanca has fallen in love with her childhood playmate, Pedro. Esteban hates Pedro, a free-thinking liberal who is inciting the peasants to unionize and demand their rights, whipping them into a frenzy against the "Patron" – or so Esteban sees it – and he drives Pedro off his land. He also banishes Férula from his house, believing her to have unnatural feelings for his wife, Clara. Possessive to a fault, he is consumed by jealousy. Clara, unable to sustain Esteban's cruelties any longer, finally leaves him, taking Blanca with her to the del Valle family home in the city.

Blanca, who is pregnant by Pedro, gives birth to their daughter, Alba, whilst believing him to have been killed by her father. Esteban, representing the wealthy, becomes a conservative senator, reigning for years until the liberals finally win power, a tenure that is short-lived however, as a military coup sets up a reign of terror. Meanwhile, Blanca discovers that Pedro is alive, and they joyously meet again. When Blanca is picked up as a political dissident and tortured for her political views, Esteban, old and broken, has little real influence left to help her. Too late, he tries to right some wrongs. Near the end of his life, he returns to his estancia, accompanied by Blanca, to finally find redemption and forgiveness.

A rich and vibrant tapestry, this multi-generational epic deals with human nature and the complex emotions, forces and events that shape it. It is the story of a family struggling to find its place in an ever-changing world, and of individuals trying to do so within their family.