Nymphomaniac (2013)
★★★★☆
A riot of sex, literary references and A-list performances in two volumes, Lars von Trier’s Nymphomaniac is an erotic catechism on the agony and the ecstasy.
Europe
Stranger By The Lake / L’Inconnu Du Lac (2013)
★★★★☆
With murderers among us, Alain Guiraudie’s Stranger By The Lake turns a sexually explicit peek at gay cruising into a political metaphor in the horror genre.
Love Is In The Air / Amour et Turbulences (2013)
★★★☆☆
A French rom-com set against Paris’ most romantic boulevards, Alexandre Castagnetti’s Love Is In The Air sees passion reignited on the red-eye.
Bastards / Les Salauds (2013)
★★★☆☆
A haunting nightmare in a Parisian dystopia, Claire Denis’ Bastards is an infernal cacophony of sex, blood and broken families.
The Invisible Woman (2013)
★★★☆☆
Unpicking Dickens’ illicit affair with a girl half his age, Ralph Fiennes’ The Invisible Woman brings a strong woman out from behind the novelist’s shadow
The Patrol (2013)
★★☆☆☆
Focusing on the minutiae of military life in conflict, The Patrol eschews the crash, bang and wallop of the genre, but in doing so lacks any impact at all.
Archive: Lift To The Scaffold / Ascenseur pour l’échafaud (1958)
An iconic black and white classic, Louis Malle’s Lift To The Scaffold is a noirish Parisian tale of murder and suspense which made a star of Jeanne Moreau.
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Journal de France (2012)
★★★☆☆
Journal de France looks back at the career of photojournalist and filmmaker Raymond Depardon, interwoven with his latest project: a portrait of rural France.
12 Years A Slave (2013)
★★★★★
A searing story of slavery in 19th century America, based on the 1853 memoir of a free black man from New York, who is abducted and sold into slavery in the South.
The Railway Man (2013)
★★★★☆
The true story of Eric Lomax, the prisoner of war who many years after World War II forgave and became friends with the Japanese soldiers who tortured him.
Age Of Uprising – The Legend Of Michael Kohlhaas (2013)
★★★★☆
Unpicking the tragic deadlock of a wronged man out for justice, Arnaud des Pallières’ Michael Kohlhaas is a fine tribute to people power and ruthless idealism.
The Patience Stone (2012)
★★★★☆
A war movie like no other, Atiq Rahimi’s The Patience Stone leaves no woe unturned as a woman rails against man and the theatre of war.
Floating Skyscrapers / Plynace Wiezowce (2013)
★★★☆☆
Down and out in Warsaw, Tomasz Wasilewski’s haunting Floating Skyscrapers explores identity in flux and gay love in a hopeless place in contemporary Poland.
Young And Beautiful / Jeune Et Jolie (2013)
★★★★☆
Fathoming the sordid depths of taboo and transgression, François Ozon’s Jeune Et Jolie finds the unfathomable in a teenager trading innocence for money.