BFI Southbank Programme Notes

Pierrot le fou

It would be as hard to remake Pierrot le fou as it would be to forget it. Somehow its rueful lovers have to be reconciled to changed times. The film is 44 years old now [at time of writing], which ...

July 2, 2024 | BIG SCREEN CLASSICS

Wild Strawberries

SPOILER WARNING The following notes give away the film’s ending. An elderly scientist (Sjöström, superb) drives with his daughter-in-law from Stockholm to Lund to receive an honorary award; distur...

July 1, 2024 | BIG SCREEN CLASSICS

When Harry Met Sally...

When Harry Met Sally… is so much more than a faked orgasm and a punchline. Not only does it offer many more pleasures than these, admittedly fine comic moments, it also stands as a pivotal film tha...

July 1, 2024 | MEMBER MONDAYS

Singin' in the Rain

It would be hard to find a more enjoyable, durable musical than this homage to Hollywood’s bumpy transition from silent to talking pictures. Gene Kelly is at his charismatic best, especially during...

July 1, 2024 | MEMBER MONDAYS

Eraserhead

In his first film, Eraserhead, David Lynch created a world from which everything has been stripped away except for the anxiety at its heart. Henry Spencer tramps numbly across a ruined industrial l...

July 1, 2024 | DISCOMFORT MOVIES

Network

Peter Finch is mesmerising as veteran news anchor Howard Beale, who’s ‘mad as hell’ and ‘not going to take it anymore’, in this era-defining satire. Having been given two weeks’ notice due to his e...

June 28, 2024 | RE-RELEASES

Bye Bye Tiberias

As a child, Lina Soualem spent her summers visiting her mother’s family and swimming in the waters of Lake Tiberias. Those waters flow through Soualem’s quietly absorbing documentary Bye Bye Tiberi...

June 28, 2024 | NEW RELEASES

The Machine That Kills Bad People

Rossellini’s beguiling neorealist comedy proposes a sharp satire on human behaviour. Engaging us in people-watching from the start, he creates a detailed and authentic portrait of life in a small...

June 24, 2024 | RELAXED SCREENING

The Epic of Everest

Introduced by Dr Jan Faull The Epic of Everest is the official film record, shot by Captain John Noel, of the third British expedition to attempt to reach the summit of the world’s highest peak. W...

June 23, 2024 | CENTENARY SCREENING

Green Border

On stage to collect a lifetime achievement award at the Polish Film Festival (FPFF) in Gdynia in 2021, Agnieszka Holland took the opportunity to highlight the dire situation occurring at the Poland...

June 21, 2024 | NEW RELEASES

Murder in the Family

Introduced by Josephine Botting, BFI National Archive Curator Following the death of a rich elderly aunt, a suspicion of murder falls on the extended family, plunging them into turmoil. The slend...

June 18, 2024 | PROJECTING THE ARCHIVE

Douglas Is Cancelled

+ Q&A with cast Hugh Bonneville and Karen Gillan, writer Steven Moffat, executive producer Sue Vertue and director/executive producer Ben Palmer Written by globally renowned screenwriter Steve...

June 18, 2024 | TV PREVIEW

Sunset Blvd.

Gloria Swanson on ‘Sunset Blvd.’ When we started Sunset Blvd. we had only 26 pages of script. [Screenwriter Charles] Brackett and Wilder were determined I should do it. I didn’t want to. Because in...

June 17, 2024 | MEMBER MONDAYS

Io Capitano

+ intro and discussion Senegalese youngsters Seydou and Moussa, keen to pursue a music career, leave Dakar for Europe. Their journey takes them across a vast expanse of desert, where they encounte...

June 17, 2024 | REFUGEE WEEK

Melvyn Bragg
Broadcasting the Arts

Over the course of an incredible 60-year broadcasting career, Melvyn Bragg has unfailingly championed the arts on television. More than this, he has revolutionised the way the arts are presented an...

June 16, 2024 | EVENTS

Àma Gloria

Marie Amachoukeli on ‘Àma Gloria’ In Marie Amachoukeli’s bittersweet coming-of-age drama Àma Gloria, Cléo (an extraordinary six-year-old, Louise Mauroy-Panzani) leaves France to spend a sun-drenche...

June 14, 2024 | NEW RELEASES

Gun Crazy

Gun Crazy’s inspired, lurid title hurtles onto the screen with the tabloid pizzazz of a headline. Just to complicate matters, however, Gun Crazy was originally released by United Artists in January...

June 12, 2024 | BIG SCREEN CLASSICS

8½

Back in the 1960s heyday of the pre-video art-house sector, two filmmakers stood as defining poles of the foreign-language art movie – Ingmar Bergman and Federico Fellini. Their qualities complemen...

June 10, 2024 | MEMBER MONDAYS

The 400 Blows

SPOILER WARNING The following notes give away some of the plot. One of the greatest films about childhood, Truffaut’s partly autobiographical first feature is also profoundly moving. Forever in tr...