alec-guimness-films's - Favourites List

Show moreShow less

A true story set in Sweden in the 1900s about one woman’s impressive capacity to survive during a time of great social change and unrest. When Maria Larsson wins a camera in a lottery, her decision to keep it alters her whole life.

It enables her to see the world through new eyes, offering her a path to freedom and independence from her abusive husband.

Show moreShow less

Richard Samuels (Zac Efron) is a 17-year old kid from New Jersey- He's bored of school and dreams of making it big in the dazzling world of the New York theatre.

His dreams are realised when he meets a youthful Orson Welles (Christian McKay) and lucks a place in his legendary production of Julius Caesar. Over the course of a magical week, Richard makes his Broadway debut, finds romance, and experiences the dark side of genius after daring to cross the brilliant Welles. Richard has to grow up fast...

Show moreShow less

On a busy Paris boulevard a youth scornfully tosses a crumpled paper bag into the outstretched hands of a beggar woman.

This is the bond which, for an instant, links several very different characters Anne (Binoche), an actress, her war photographer boyfriend George, his farmer father and younger brother Jean who country to his father's wishes has no interest in inheriting the farm. Amadou a music teacher for deaf mute children and his family who originate from Africa and Maria a Romanian immigrant.

London River tells the story of a friendship which develops between two seemingly unconnected people: Elizabeth (Brenda Bleythn) and Ousmane (Sotigui Kouyate). Both have come to London to search for their children who are missing in the aftermath of the 7/7 bombings.

Show moreShow less

Taking the best elements of The Sopranos and giving them a very British twist Down Terrace focuses on the kind of issues faced by all families.

Such as who grassed up son Karl (Robin Hill) to the local police? How will dad Bill (Robert Hill) explain the recent profit drop to his bosses in London? Can Uncle Eric dispose of a body without making a mess of it again? And what should mum Maggie (Julia Deakin) make for tea? When Bill suspects there's a rat in his criminal operation, he decides it's time to clean house and recrimination, betrayal, murder and a spot of redecorating are quick to follow. But as Bill and his family soon discover, you're only as good as the people you know...

Show moreShow less

Kate and Alex (Catherine Keener and Oliver Platt) own a successful Manhattan furniture store, reselling mid-century modern treasures purchased from the estates of the newly deceased.

Wanting to enlarge and remodel the apartment where they live with their acne-ridden teenage daughter Abby (Sarah Steele), they've bought the unit neighboring their own. But before they can expand their home, they must wait for the current tenant • miserable, 91-year-old Andra (Ann Guilbert), to die. As Kate's family gets to know Andra and the granddaughters who look after her (Rebecca Hall and Amanda Peet), animosity, infidelity, friendship, and empathy play out with sharp humour and pathos.

Show moreShow less

Hailed as the British debut of the year, and the discovery of a major new talent, Joanna Hogg’s film deals with Anna, a fortyish childless woman who, leaving her partner at home, joins the family of an old friend at a Tuscan villa.

Rather than the adults, she finds herself drawn to the company of the teenagers, but discovers she can never really be part of either group. Kathryn Worth gives a highly praised performance as the awkward outsider Anna, and rising new actor Tom Hiddleston also shines as the manipulative eldest son, Oakley.

Show moreShow less

Emma (Tilda Swinton), a Russian emigre and the matriarch of a wealthy Milanese family, lives in a carefully ordered world where duty towards husband and children dominates her life.

But after a chance discovery reveals an unspoken love her world is thrown open to sensuality and she embarks on a journey of unbridled passion that will shake her family's foundations to the core. Hailed by critics and lauded by audiences across the world, 'I Am Love' is a breath-taking tour de force of cinematic beauty. As lush, sumptuous and visually arresting as it is moving, heartbreaking and overwhelmingly powerful, this stunning account of the pain and pleasure of desire will leave you gasping for air.

Show moreShow less

Mary and Max chronicles Mary's trip from adolescence to adulthood, and Max's passage from middle to old age and explores a "bond that survives much more than the average friendship's ups-and-downs.

Both hilarious and poignant Mary and Max is a journey that explores friendship, autism, taxidermy, psychiatry, alcoholism, where babies come from, obesity, kleptomania, sexual differences, trust, copulating dogs, religious differences, agoraphobia and many more of life's surprises.

Show moreShow less

Suzanne (Kristin Scott Thomas) and her husband Samuel (Yvan Attal) enjoy a pleasant, middle-class life with their two children.

When she decides to go back to work as a physiotherapist, Suzanne is brought into contact with a builder called Ivan (Sergi Lopez), a tough yet down-to-earth odd-job man who has recently been released from prison. Their mutual attraction is sudden and violent, sending them on a whirlwind affair of the senses. As Suzanne's life spirals out of control, she must decide between her family and living this all-engulfing passion to the full.

Show moreShow less

Divorced mother Elsa Valentin's (Catherine Rot) life is fraught with tension, fighting for her son in a bitter custody battle and juggling a demanding job.

But nothing can prepare for what happens when she crosses paths with Lola, a young girl whom she believes to be the daughter she lost in a hospital fire over six years ago. Unable to let go of the desperate hope that her daughter might still be alive, Elsa begins to ingratiate herself with Lola's own mother Claire (Sandrine Bonnaire) inching her way into Lola's life. At the expense of her own increasingly distraught family, Elsa's obsession heightens and her behaviour turns increasingly disturbing. But how far will she go for what only she believes is the unsettling truth? Based on an true story.

When an Islamic fundamentalist group massacres a team of foreign workers, fear sweeps through the region and the brothers are faced with abandoning their monastery and the community who depend on them, or making the courageous decision to stay.

Show moreShow less

Becca and Howie Corbett are a married couple struggling to return to normality after a twist of fate throws their lives into chaos. With their world turned upside down they embark on separate journeys, making choices that threaten to pull them apart.

But as events unfold and new meaning is brought into their lives they must decide whether to allow their personal journeys to bring them back together...

The Illusionist is one of a dying breed of stage entertainer whose thunder is being stolen by emerging rock stars. Forced to accept increasingly obscure assignments in fringe theatre, garden parties and bars he meets a young fan who changes his life forever.

Show moreShow less

For reasons known only to himself, architect Tom (Tom Fisher) has abandoned his young family and taken to the streets of south London where he forms a halting relationship with Gillen.

As their bond deepens – thanks in part to kitten named Treacle Jr – the story gravitates toward a conclusion that's as hard won as it is inescapable.