Programme Notes

BFI Southbank

Mississippi Mermaid

SPOILER WARNING The following notes give away some of the plot. A contemporary review Oddly enough, after Moreau’s obsessive hunt in La Mariée était en noir, and before the more jocular manipulati...

February 6, 2022 | FRANÇOIS TRUFFAUT
FOR THE LOVE OF FILMS

Maurice

SPOILER WARNING The following notes give away some of the plot. A contemporary review After the near-perfection of A Room with a View, which transformed an only intermittently entertaining piece o...

February 6, 2022 | BIG SCREEN CLASSICS

Rent

After seeing Rent soon after it opened on Broadway, director Chris Columbus (Home Alone, Mrs. Doubtfire, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone) was so inspired, he immediately corralled his 1492...

February 5, 2022 | BIG SCREEN CLASSICS

Finally Sunday!

SPOILER WARNING The following notes give away some of the plot. It is in the nature of wheels to turn full circle. Two years after attacking the Cannes jury as ‘a pack of incompetents who doze thr...

February 5, 2022 | FRANÇOIS TRUFFAUT
FOR THE LOVE OF FILMS

Fahrenheit 451

Nicolas Roeg on Fahrenheit 451 I’ve always felt that, although Truffaut was greatly revered and admired, at the same time, in terms of film and how much he loved film, he was underestimated. Becaus...

February 5, 2022 | FRANÇOIS TRUFFAUT
FOR THE LOVE OF FILMS

Anne and Muriel

The screening on Thursday 17 February will be introduced by actor Kika Markham. SPOILER WARNING The following notes give away the film’s ending. David Thomson on ‘Anne and Muriel’ Truffaut called...

February 5, 2022 | FRANÇOIS TRUFFAUT
FOR THE LOVE OF FILMS

African Redemption
The Life and Legacy of Marcus Garvey

The charismatic Caribbean hero and Pan Africanist Marcus Mosiah Garvey is regarded globally as one of the world’s foremost 20th-century civil-rights leaders. Filmed in Jamaica, Ghana, Canada, USA, ...

February 5, 2022 | AFRICAN ODYSSEYS - UK PREMIERE

Zapata's Gang
The Eskimo Baby

Asta Nielsen was perhaps surprisingly adept at broad comedy, though there’s always a transgressive twist. In Zapata’s Gang, she plays an actor, as she often would, in self-reflexive reference to he...

February 4, 2022 | IN THE EYES OF A SILENT STAR
THE FILMS OF ASTA NIELSEN

Jules et Jim

In 1912, Frenchman Jim (Henri Serre) and the Austrian Jules (Oskar Werner) become firm friends, happily sharing their enjoyment of Paris, art, literature and women, even when their adoration of the...

February 4, 2022 | RE-RELEASES

The Handmaiden

SPOILER WARNING The following notes give away some of the plot. Park Chan-wook’s last film, the US-made Stoker (2013), seemed at the time like a blind alley for the South Korean king of the baroqu...

February 4, 2022 | BIG SCREEN CLASSICS

The Bride Wore Black

SPOILER WARNING The following notes give away some of the plot. Penelope Houston on Hitchcock’s influence on Truffaut In the introduction to his Hitchcock interview book, François Truffaut lists 2...

February 4, 2022 | FRANÇOIS TRUFFAUT
FOR THE LOVE OF FILMS

The Black Dream
The Film Primadonna

In this early role for Asta Nielsen, suited to her mastery of melodrama, she plays Stella, a circus star pursued by two suitors – a handsome count and a creepy jeweller. The Black Dream becomes a h...

February 4, 2022 | IN THE EYES OF A SILENT STAR
THE FILMS OF ASTA NIELSEN

Beautiful Thing

Please note: this film contains dialogue that some viewers find offensive, and which does not reflect the views of the BFI. The mid-1990s was a watershed period for independent gay and lesbian fil...

February 3, 2022 | BIG SCREEN CLASSICS

The Abyss
The ABC of Love

+ intro by season curator Pamela Hutchinson (Thursday 3 February only) SPOILER WARNING The following notes give away the film’s ending. ‘She tore a piece of quivering human flesh out and held it ...

February 3, 2022 | IN THE EYES OF A SILENT STAR
THE FILMS OF ASTA NIELSEN

The ABC of Asta Nielsen

Find out more about Asta Nielsen in this evening devoted to the indelible Danish star of silent cinema. First, season curator Pamela Hutchinson will present an illustrated lecture on Nielsen’s life...

February 3, 2022 | IN THE EYES OF A SILENT STAR
THE FILMS OF ASTA NIELSEN

Young Soul Rebels

Isaac Julien on ‘Young Soul Rebels’ I suppose Young Soul Rebels is a film which tries to deal with a number of questions that people would rather sweep under the carpet at this moment, especially ...

February 2, 2022 | BIG SCREEN CLASSICS

Thirteen

SPOILER WARNING The following notes give away some of the plot. Thirteen was made in 26 days on a small budget by set designer and first-time director Catherine Hardwicke. Filmed in and around LA,...

February 2, 2022 | SEEN & HEARD

All about My Mother

The first of Almodóvar’s 13 features to be shown in competition at Cannes, All about My Mother not only won him the prize for best director but also proved to be the popular hit of the festival, w...

February 2, 2022 | BIG SCREEN CLASSICS

Times For

Dwoskin’s first feature-length film is an intense, sexually charged journey to the end of the night, inspired by James Joyce’s Ulysses, and conceived as an attempt to paint with film. A classic of ...

February 1, 2022 | EXPERIMENTA FOCUS - STEPHEN DWOSKIN

Shoot the Pianist

Based on David Goodis’ novel Down There, François Truffaut’s second feature is a breezy New Wave concoction of genre pastiche, playful stylistic tricks and romantic reverie. Aznavour is charismatic...

February 1, 2022 | FRANÇOIS TRUFFAUT
FOR THE LOVE OF FILMS

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