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Certification12 Our Rating

A Royal Shakespeare Company production of the Bard's work with Ian McKellen in fine form as the truly lost Lear, a sick old man on the edge of dementia, his children scheming against him, his loyalties abused... murder, tragedy but some small redemption. find out more...

CertificationPG Our Rating

Welles's interpretation of Shakespeare's treacherous tale does have its faults, not surprisingly since it was shot on the cheap in just 23 days. However, the photography is superbly atmospheric, and the direction captures beautifully the moody, malevolent atmosphere of the barbarous setting. find out more...

CertificationPG Our Rating

Melville's wild and brilliant gothic tale is electrically adapted by John Huston. Peck's performance, as Ahab with his gradual descent into madness, make a powerful centrepiece, whilst the deliberate sepia feel, the narration, and the fine supporting cast (including Orson Welles) all add depth. find out more...

Certification15 Our Rating

Alcatraz, 1938; after 3 years in solitary, a hellish hole in the ground with no heat, light or human contact, petty crook Henri Young emerges as a madman. When he kills another inmate there is only one man - attorney James Stamphill - willing to challenge the barbarity of Alcatraz. Moving and riveting with great performances from all three leads. find out more...
ORDET (1955)

CertificationU Our Rating

'Ordet' is the story of religious rural families in 1920s West Jutland divided internally, and between each other, by different interpretations of their faith. Devout Morten has three sons, one an atheist, one who believes he is Jesus Christ and one who would like to be married, but whose prospective father-in-law objects to his sect. It's going to take a miracle to heal these differences... find out more...

Certification15 Our Rating

Born in 18th Century France Jean Baptiste Grenouille is blessed with the gift of an extraordinary sense of smell and is the absolute master of his craft, perfumery, but his obsessive search for perfection, discovering the ultimate scent, reveals him to be a psychopath unfettered by moral shackles. Dark, lush and rich in visual atmosphere, this beautifully rendered, if shortened, adaptation of Patrick Suskind's novel is an eerie psychological thriller. find out more...
QUILLS (2000)

Certification18 Our Rating

The Marquis de Sade has been locked away in a mental asylum, but he refuses to lie down and accept his fate. With the help of a laundry maid the Marquis continues to find an outlet for his writing and it is only with the arrival of the malevolent Dr Royer-Collard that the grim stink of desperation becomes apparent. The film cultivates an air of sardonic detachment beneath a lascivious leer, it pokes at sexual taboos - it's pretty subversive, considering - but sexuality and creativity are inde find out more...

RAN (1985)

Certification15 Our Rating

Ran, Kurosawa's last great epic, is a Jidaigeki (Japanese period drama) depicting the fall of Hidetora Ichimonj, an ageing Sengoku-era warlord who abdicates as ruler in favor of his three sons. His kingdom slowly disintegrates as the sons struggle for power, murdering rivals and laying waste to the land, and Hidetora goes insane after watching his retainers slaughtered in an epic massacre, the centrepiece of the film. As the kingdom crumbles and rival warlords move in for the kill, the Ichimonji find out more...
SENSO (1954)

CertificationPG Our Rating

The first of Visconti's series of films exploring the mechanisms of class and family in the context of historical change. Set during the 1860s Austrian occupation of Italy, Alida Valli plays Countess Lidia, a married Venetian aristocrat who falls in love with a young Austrian officer, Franz. Lidia sacrifices everything for love, but the narcissistic materialism of Franz becomes apparent, sadistically exploiting his own looks and her masochism, submitting her to one humiliation after another and, find out more...

Certification15 Our Rating

Based on a Tennessee Williams play and touching on all manner of depraved horrors. Taylor plays the girl driven to madness by what she's witnessed and Clift is the shrink being pressured to lobotomise her, but Hepburn steals the show as the unnervingly genteel aunt trying to sweep everything under the carpet. find out more...