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.

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.

Histoire de Marie et Julien

A film by Jacques Rivette

Julien is a loner who restores antique clocks. He is blackmailing the rich and mysterious Madame X who trafficks in fake antiques. By chance he encounters Marie, the beautiful woman with whom he fell in love one year earlier. Julien attempts to rekindle the affair but is unsettled by the enigmatic Marie's strange and distant behaviour. Only Madame X holds the key to unlock Marie's terrible and devastating secret.

The story unfolds almost trance-like, where clear divisions between dream and reality are uncertain. Julien first dreams of his encounter with Marie and then they meet in person. Both have recently lost their lovers. Julien seems to be frozen in time and place. He lives and works in a house where clocks abound, yet time seems to have deserted his life. Marie explains that she is waiting, having returned from a faraway place in order to repent for a wrong she committed against her former lover, now dead, leaving her unable to accomplish her task. As their relationship develops and they fall in love, Marie begins to use Julien as a proxy for her former lover, hoping to win his forgiveness and thus release. Working both consciously and unconsciously, directed by her dreams, Marie's behaviour becomes increasingly bizarre.

Madam X, who meets Marie during a blackmail payoff, immediately identifies the situation, drawing parallels between her own sister and Marie. She shares her knowledge with Julien, who after some research into Marie's past, is able to piece together her story, deciding that it matters little to him. The facts, whilst astounding, make no difference to his love for her but their relationship is left at an impasse. Since life without her would now be unthinkable, Julien is willing to do anything for Marie, either she will stay with him or he will follow her. Eventually, Marie decides she must accept her punishment for failure, rather than put Julien at risk, but in doing so she is forced to observe Julien's sad and lonely life without her in it.

A beautiful, intriguing and atmospheric mystery of the netherworld and how with love, nothing is impossible.

Un long dimanche de fiançailles

A Very Long Engagement
a film by Jean-Pierre Jeunet

In 1919, as World War I draws to an end, Mathilde is 19 years old. Two years earlier, her fiancé Manech left for the Somme war front. She has received word that he is one of five wounded soldiers who have been court-martialled for self-inflicted injuries and pushed out into no-man's land between the French and German armies, to an almost certain death.

Like millions of others, the official records state that he died on the field of honour, but Mathilde refuses to accept this. If Manech were dead she would know it, and she clings to her intuition as if it were the only thread connecting her to her lover. Her unfailing faith and determination send her on an extraordinary counter-investigation. Confronted by false hopes and uncertainties, at each turn she receives a different heartbreaking variation on how Manech must have spent those last days, those last moments.

Mathilde will gradually uncover the truth concerning the fate of Manech and his four comrades. The road is full of obstacles, but she is fearless and nothing seems impossible to those who defy fate. Mathilde follows her investigation to its conclusion, convincing those who might help her and ignoring those who will not. As she draws closer to the truth about the five unfortunate soldiers and their brutal punishment, she is drawn deeper into the horrors of war and the indelible marks it leaves on those whose lives it has touched.

Amélie

Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain
a film by Jean-Pierre Jeunet

Amélie Poulain is a girl who grows up isolated from other children. Raphaël, her father, a taciturn and anti-social ex-Army doctor, mistakenly believes that she suffers from a heart condition. Her mother Amandine, a neurotic schoolteacher, arranges Amélie's education at home. After her mother's sudden death, Raphaël withdraws even further and devotes his life to building a rather unusual shrine in the garden in Amandine's memory, which houses her ashes and a garden gnome the deceased had previously banished to the shed. Left to amuse herself, Amélie develops an unusually active and eccentric imagination.

As a young woman, she lives in Montmartre, working as a waitress at the Café des deux Moulins on rue Lepic, staffed and frequented by a group of eccentrics. Having spurned all romantic relationships following several failed attempts, at the age of twenty-two Amélie has devoted herself to simple pleasures, such as dipping her hand into sacks of grain, cracking crème brûlée with a teaspoon, skipping stones across a lock on the Canal Saint-Martin, and generally letting her imagination roam free.

On the day that Princess Diana dies, Amélie's life begins to change. While watching the news on television she drops the top of her perfume bottle, knocking loose a bathroom wall tile and revealing an old metal box of childhood memorabilia hidden by a boy who lived in her apartment decades ago. Fascinated by the find, she resolves to track down the now-grown man who put it there and return it to him. She meets her reclusive neighbour, Raymond Dufayel, known as 'The Glass Man' because of his brittle bone condition, who continually repaints Renoir's Le déjeuner des canotiers. With his help, she tracks down the former occupant and anonymously returns the box to him. Upon opening the box, the man is moved to tears as long-forgotten childhood memories come flooding back. On seeing the positive effect she had on him she discovers her true vocation in life, resolving from that moment on to do good in the lives of others.

Amélie becomes a secret matchmaker and guardian angel, executing complex but hidden schemes impacting the lives of those around her with subtle, arm's-length manipulation. She escorts a blind man to the métro station, giving him a rich description of the street scenes he passes. She persuades her father to follow his dream of touring the world by stealing his garden gnome and having an air-hostess friend send pictures of it from all over the world. She matches a colleague with one of the customers at the café. She convinces the unhappy concierge of her building that the husband who abandoned her had in fact sent her a final love letter just before his death. She supports Lucien, the young man who works for Monsieur Collignon, the bullying owner of the neighbourhood épicerie, undermining his confidence by playing practical jokes on him until he questions his own sanity.

But as Amélie devotes her life to others, she is also disregarding her own needs and thus damaging her personal quest for true love. However, Monsieur Dufayel is observing her and begins a conversation with her about his painting of the Renoir scene, which he has repeatedly painted because he cannot quite capture the excluded look of the girl drinking a glass of water. Together they discuss in depth the meaning of this character who comes to represent Amélie and her lonely life. Through their discussions Amélie is forced to examine her own life and her attraction to a stranger, a quirky young man who collects the discarded photographs of others from passport photo booths. She begins to observe Nino from a distance and when he loses his photo album Amélie recovers it, devising a cat and mouse game with him around Montmartre to anonymously return his treasured album. However, she is too shy to actually approach him and almost loses hope when, having finally attempted to orchestrate a proper meeting in the café, she misinterprets events when he enters into a conversation with one of her colleagues. It takes Raymond Dufayel's insightful friendship to give her the courage to overcome her shyness and finally meet with Nino in order to find the love she has always dreamed of.

One of the most successful films of French cinema. A masterpiece of outstanding cinematography and special effects which combines perfect craftsmanship with a wonderful story, humour and emotion, plus a magnificent score by Yann Tiersen.

Manon des Sources

A film by Claude Berri – the second part of an adaption of the novel L'eau des collines by Marcel Pagnol.

Ten years after the death of Jean Cadoret, Ugolin's carnation growing business is prospering. Manon is now a beautiful, free-spirited shepherdess who spends her time in the hills and valleys surrounding les Bastides, tending her goats. She lives nearby at le Plantier with Baptistine – ignoring, and ignored by, the villagers who call her 'la sauvageonne', the wild child. In the village of les Bastides, a new school teacher arrives, Bernard Olivier. He has a keen interest in geology and begins to walk the hills in search of specimens, his presence eventually attracting the attention of Manon.

One day, when out hunting, Ugolin comes across Manon who has been bathing and is dancing naked whilst playing her father's harmonica, unaware that she is being overlooked. Ugolin is captivated by Manon's beauty and falls passionately in love with the girl, but is too shy to approach her. He traps birds and rabbits which he then places in Manon's traps as gifts, albeit anonymously, and soon becomes completely obsessed with her. César Soubeyran, realising that something has happened to Ugolin, presses him into a confession, eventually, and after some reservation is delighted with the news, congratulating Ugolin on his choice of partner. Manon reminds César of Florette Camoins, her grandmother, for whom he has many fond memories. However, Ugolin then timidly makes a very clumsy and inappropriate proposal to Manon, at which she is repulsed and runs away from him.

Sometime later, Manon overhears two hunters from les Bastides, discussing how Ugolin had plugged the spring on her father's property, and the fact that everybody in the village knew of the existence of the spring but kept quiet about it. Manon is utterly crushed, she runs away, crying and screaming and swears to take revenge upon Ugolin, César, and the whole village. Her opportunity arrives when, searching for a goat that has strayed and fallen into a cave, Manon discovers the underground stream that serves the whole area, the source of water for both the village and Ugolin's property. She diverts the flow and soon the spring and the village fountain run dry – a catastrophe for the entire population. Ugolin is forced to fetch the water for his flowers from the spring at le Plantier, in exactly the same way Jean Cadoret had done, but soon realises that his carnation business is doomed. The village too is threatened by the absence of water, so the council summons a Government expert to investigate, who tells them nothing can be done and that they are on their own.

The following Sunday, the church is packed for High Mass and the priest tells the congregation that the disaster is God's response to a criminal act which has been perpetrated by one of them. He then calls for a procession to bring the spring back to life. Following the service, the entire village gathers in the schoolyard to celebrate Bernard's birthday when Manon publicly accuses Ugolin and César of having plugged the spring. Her accusation is backed up by Eliacin who had witnessed the deed all those years before. Although admitting to no wrong-doing, Ugolin totally breaks down and falling to his knees, implores Manon to marry him. Many of the assembled villagers then confess to their treachery, as a crushed Ugolin runs back to his house. Sometime later César summons the mayor, Philoxène to les Romarins where Ugolin is found hanging from a tree.

Bernard convinces Manon that she must unplug the spring and they set out in the middle of the night to release the water. The next day, as the priest's procession is taking place, the water begins to flow once more from the village fountain. The devout among them believe they have witnessed a miracle, others dismiss it as mere coincidence. Bernard and Manon marry, and soon she is with child.

An ancient resident of the village, the old, blind Delphine returns to les Bastides. She often meets with César in front of the church at dusk to exchange memories of the old days. During one of these meetings, Delphine recalls to César a certain letter that Florette had sent to him while he was away serving in the army, a letter he had never received. In it Florette had revealed that she was pregnant by him and that she would wait for his return, if he promised to marry her. But unknowingly, César had remained in Africa and Florette made many unsuccessful attempts to abort the pregnancy. Eventually she had married a blacksmith in Crespin. She gave birth and the baby lived, but it was born a hunchback.

A captivating, emotionally powerful and beautifully photographed epic of innocence, evil, greed and revenge.

Jean de Florette

A film by Claude Berri – the first part of an adaption of the novel L'eau des collines by Marcel Pagnol.

Ugolin has just returned to his native village, les Bastides Blanches in Provence, having completed compulsory military service. He has an idea to grow carnations on the land owned by his childless uncle, César Soubeyran, which he will inherit one day. At first sceptical, César soon realises the commercial potential of Ugolin's plans as a way of securing the Soubeyran fortune. Needing more land and a vital supply of water that will support their venture, he offers to buy his neighbour, Pique-Bouffigue's property, les Romarins, where there is also a copious natural spring. Pique-Bouffigue is antagonistic towards César, probably because César never married his sister, Florette. An argument ensues which results in the accidental death of Pique-Bouffigue.

Still hopeful of securing the property, César learns that les Romarins is to be inherited by Jean Cadoret, a city dweller and a tax collector, the son of Pique-Bouffigue's sister. Realising that les Romarins would be practically uncultivable without the almost forgotten spring, César and Ugolin plug it with cement, and then conceal it. César also ensures that the new owner will not be told of the existence of the spring by spreading the news amongst the local inhabitants that Jean Cadoret comes from the much hated village of Crespin. Jean, a hunchback, with his wife Aimée and their young daughter Manon, arrive at les Romarins with an ingenious idea to raise rabbits, grow produce and live the rural idyll. But his ambitious project is in direct competition with César's for the precious, scarce resources of arable land and water. César bides his time, instructing Ugolin to befriend the family so that when Jean's project fails he will be more than willing to sell the property to them.

After the Cadoret's first winter at les Romarins, planning their project in great detail, the springtime brings the family remarkable success, both with the growing of produce in their kitchen garden and the breeding of rabbits for market – much to the envy of the Soubeyrans. But after the arrival of summer, with a long period without rain, Jean's well soon runs dry and the family are forced to fetch water from a spring located several kilometres away at le Plantier. Despite his best efforts, Jean cannot transport sufficient water for his needs and so, in the baking heat of the Provence summer, his garden fails, his rabbits die, and the money they brought with them the previous year is all but gone.

But Jean does not accept failure. After mortgaging his property to César, he reads about dowsing in one of his books, convincing himself that he will locate an underground source on his land by divination. At a spot where he believes water to be, he digs down until he reaches bedrock. Still convinced he will find water, he dynamites the bedrock but is hit by falling rocks in the explosion and dies from his injury. Jean's wife, Aimée is forced to sell the property to César and prepares to depart from les Romarins. Triumphant, César and Ugolin rush to the hidden spring and unplug it, not noticing Jean's daughter, Manon, who witnesses their actions and the gushing forth of the water that her beloved father has lost his life for.

Fair Stood the Wind for France

A TV mini-series by Martyn Friend

Returning from a bombing mission in Italy, John Franklin is forced to bring his plane down in occupied France during the Second World War. He is responsible for the safety of his crew and has a badly injured arm. The crew find refuge with a mill owner's family who risk their lives to hide them.

The condition of Franklin's arm worsens and he has to remain until he regains his health. Over the following summer months his situation is further complicated by his feelings for Françoise, the mill owner's daughter. As the German patrols close in, his only chance of survival is to escape from France.

A beautiful and sensitive adaption of the classic novel by H E Bates in which the strengths of love and faith endure at a time when all else seems lost.

In My Father's Den

A film by Brad McGann

When his father dies, Paul Prior, a battle weary war photographer, returns to his remote New Zealand home to face the past he left behind seventeen years ago. Reluctantly re-visiting the dilapidated family property, he discovers the old den, tucked away in the equipment shed. It belonged to his father, Jeff, who away from his puritanical wife Iris, had secretly harboured a love of wine, literature and free-thinking philosophy. When Paul as a child had accidentally stumbled upon this wondrous book-lined universe, he had been included in his father's secret, promising never to tell anyone about it.

Against his better judgement, Paul befriends the daughter of his first girlfriend, the enigmatic and feisty sixteen-year-old Celia, who hungers for the world beyond her small town. However, the friendship is condemned by members of both their families and when Celia goes missing, Paul is immediately blamed for her sudden disappearance. As the violent and urgent truth gradually emerges, Paul is forced to confront the family tragedy and betrayal he ran from as a youth, and to face the grievous consequences of silence and secrecy that has surrounded his entire adult life.

A haunting, atmospheric and intricately layered mystery, set against the stunning landscapes of New Zealand.

— —

Hope
by Celia Steimer

Hope, her mind is a graveyard, her heart is an island. She and I are not good friends but I have known her all my life. She sits in my belly, hollow and distant, though her whispered words of encouragement will never comfort me. I'm onto her tricks, her false promises. Go away I tell her, I'm busy today, I've got things to do. But this aquaintance never knows when to leave. It's not a question of why she befriended me in the first place, it's more a question of why I chose to let her stay.

— —

The Day The Tide Went Away
by Celia Steimer

One day, in a town at the edge of the world, the tide went out and never returned. The sea just left without warning. At first, people were little more than puzzled. They continued to gossip and fight over the same old things. But soon a silence began to permeate the township. A desert of unbelievable magnitude was forming before their very eyes. Weeks passed and there was still no sign of the ocean. The people grew worried. It was decided to send a small group to search for it, in the hope of bringing it back.

As the days went on, more and more people went looking. The people searched far and wide, but the ocean had vanished without a trace. The quiet land, once bountiful, had become hard and unyielding. Then a shape appeared on the horizon. Through a blaze of heat, the people saw what looked like tumbling water rolling towards them. A wave of excitement passed through the town, as they anxiously watched the ocean return. But as it grew closer, the shape began to alter and mutate. What looked like tumbling water, was in fact wild horses. Everywhere they turned, they saw horses drawing closer and closer. Their excitement turned to fear, and their fear became panic, for it seemed that nothing could stop their advance – which, as the ocean's disappearance, had come without warning. But then no one, not even for a moment, had stopped to question why the ocean had left in the first place.

The people had no choice but to trust that the horses would lead them to their ocean. Without reins or saddles, they rode the horses across the barren land. But the ocean had disappeared for good. And the people, together, alone, had no choice but to face each other in their loss. They made a home for themselves in a new environment, although one that had changed forever. They learnt to live in the space the ocean had left, although it lingered in their dreams.

Perfect Strangers

A TV mini-series by Stephen Poliakoff

If you dig hard enough there are at least three great stories in any family. When Daniel attends an extraordinary family reunion with his parents, he discovers a world he hardly knew existed. Seduced by the glamour of this new world, Daniel adopts the role of go-between for his glamorous Aunt Alice and his cousins Rebecca and Charles. But even the most honourable of intentions have the potential to go disasterously wrong.

A vivid and captivating tale in which Daniel meets his wider family – people whom his father had detached himself from many years before. One by one Daniel listens to each person's story, becoming obsessively drawn into every new experience whilst slowly building a picture of the family's past. It is a picture full of amazing and very beautiful stories but also of pain and guilt. Eventually Daniel discovers himself in that picture too, as a young child in fancy dress at a children's party long ago. As distant memories are stirred for the first time in his life, he becomes even more compelled to uncover his own part in the story. The complex interweaving of each separate story finally brings acceptance, understanding and peace to each member, and reconcilliation to the family as a whole.

Developing themes explored in Poliakoff's earlier work, Shooting the Past, Perfect Strangers captures the magic and wonder surrounding such things as war stories, mysterious photographs, dark secrets and hidden stories from family trees.