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.

Dreaming Lhasa

A film by Ritu Sarin & Tenzing Sonam

Karma, a Tibetan filmmaker from New York, goes to Dharamsala, the Dalai Lama's exile headquarters in northern India, to make a documentary about former political prisoners who have escaped from Tibet. She wants to reconnect with her roots but is also escaping a deteriorating relationship back home.

One of Karma's interviewees is Dhondup, an enigmatic ex-monk who has just escaped from Tibet. He confides in her that his real reason for coming to India is to fulfil his dying mother's last wish, to deliver a charm box to a long-missing resistance fighter. Karma finds herself unwittingly falling in love with Dhondup even as she is sucked into the passion of his quest, which becomes a journey into Tibet's fractured past and a voyage of self-discovery.

Dreaming Lhasa is the first dramatic feature film by documentary filmmakers Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam. It is also the first internationally recognised feature film by a Tibetan to explore the contemporary reality of Tibet. Although the film is set among the exile community in India the story it tells has resonances beyond just the Tibetan experience; it touches upon the larger questions of cultural identity, dislocation and loss that are very much a part of today's post-modern world.

Edge of Darkness

A TV mini-series written by Troy Kennedy-Martin and directed by Martin Campbell.

Ronald Craven is a Yorkshire police inspector obsessed with solving the mystery surrounding his daughter Emma's murder. His investigation leads him not only into his own past but into subversive anti-government groups, international intelligence conspiracies, and globalist elitism. The story spirals into a gripping eco-thriller of political conspiracy, secret service machinations and even shady medieval societies. As Craven draws closer to the dangerous inner sanctums of organised environmental protests and nuclear power interests, he discovers the ultimate truths at the heart of our society.

This cult 80s apocalyptic political thriller stands up surprisingly well to the test of time. With its award winning performances and the unforgettable score by Eric Clapton, the film's impact is as powerful, terrifying and moving now as when first screened in 1985.

Les égarés

Strayed
a film by André Téchiné

Set in 1940 at the beginning of France's occupation by the Germans. The recently widowed teacher Odile joins the exodus from Paris, fleeing the city with her two children, thirteen-year-old Philippe and seven-year-old Cathy. When a German plane bombs the road packed with refugees, Odile's car is destroyed, and the three flee into the woods. They encounter Yvan, an adolescent delinquent whose survival skills and charm soon prove invaluable.

The fugitives stumble into an abandoned house in the country which becomes the setting for a makeshift family, a 'desert island' with no radio or clocks, where they are cut off from the outside world. Yvan appears and disappears without warning; he lies and steals. Although Odile is outraged and does not trust his wild instincts, she slowly becomes attracted to the mysterious stranger and finds herself caught up in complicated personal and sexual dynamics.

Exquisitely shot, this masterly drama is a visually stunning and emotionally compelling story of loss, passion and discovery. Portrayed with an extraordinary intensity, it is a story of impossible love.

Lantana

A film by Ray Lawrence

An intriguing psychological thriller about love, infidelity and mistrust. The mistakes we make, the consequences we suffer and our attempts to put things right. Detective Leon Zat moves through a dark labyrinth of human relationships on the journey to solve the mystery of a woman's disappearance, little aware of the personal issues that he will have to confront.

Set in Sydney, New South Wales, the intertwining plot centres on four couples immersed in guilt and suspicion for different reasons, each with something to hide. These conflicts begin to be revealed when police detective Leon Zat investigates the disappearance of a local woman, Valerie Somers, a psychiatrist whose own marriage is corroded by grief. Leon then discovers that his wife Sonja is a patient of the missing doctor, to whom she has turned for professional help in their failing marriage. As the investigation progresses it reveals an unseen complexity of connections, the characters bound together by mistrust, transgression and a lack of communication with their loved ones.

The story remains a multi-layered drama throughout, the investigation featuring mostly in the background of the plot. Whilst none of the characters are model citizens, they are all very real, ordinary people who are capable of making mistakes, and we find ourselves drawn to each in turn. Above all, the film highlights the dangers of non-communication, concealed feelings and unfounded suspicion.

Notes on a Scandal

A film by Richard Eyre

One woman's mistake is another's opportunity. Barbara Covett is a bitter, cynical and lonely schoolteacher who is close to retirement. Her private life consists of caring for her ageing cat, Portia, writing her daily journal, and living alone in her basement flat. When Sheba Hart, a younger, attractive woman, joins the school in Islington as an art teacher, Barbara watches her disapprovingly at first but then finds herself becoming drawn to the younger woman and reaches out to her for friendship. Sheba responds by inviting Barbara to dinner at her house to meet her lecturer husband, Richard, who is twenty years her senior, and their two children, Polly, a sexy and rebellious 16-year-old daughter and Ben, a younger boy with Downs Syndrome.

Barbara becomes close to Sheba, but when she accidentally discovers that Sheba is having an affair with the 15-year-old student Steven Connolly, Barbara sees the chance to manipulate and get closer to Sheba, hiding the secret from the school headmaster. Barbara promises not to tell anyone but insists that the affair end immediately. Sheba agrees to this condition but finds herself drawn back to the boy again and again.

Sheba becomes uneasy with Barbara's friendship and is appalled when she discovers the older woman might have a sexual interest in her. The tenuous relationship between the two women reaches a crisis point when Barbara's cat is dying and she asks Sheba to go with her to the vet. Sheba is about to leave with her family to see their son in a play and cannot disappoint him. Barbara is outraged by Sheba's decision which she sees as an act of betrayal, and in revenge, sets in motion a scandal that will bring destruction in ways she never imagined.