dspc's - Rented List
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The Portuguese Nun (2009)A Religiosa Portuguesa
One of the most critically acclaimed films of 2011 tells the story of Julie, a young French actress shooting a film in Lisbon about a 17th Century nun who is seduced by a soldier. Among the city's enigmatic and transient inhabitants, she encounters a young Nun and the exchange between the two women changes Julie's destiny forever. This absorbing drama is the fourth film by the acclaimed New York-born filmmaker Eugene Green and his first to be released in the UK. - Director:
- Eugène Green
- Cast:
- Leonor Baldaque, Beatriz Batarda, Camané
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Woman of the Dunes (1964)Suna No Onna
When teacher Junpei Niki misses his last bus home after a day out collecting insects on a remote stretch of coast, he is invited by a local villager to take shelter in a young widow's ramshackle hut. Ignoring the fact that her home is at the bottom of a sandpit accessible only by rope ladder, he accepts this hospitality without realising he is the victim of a cruel trick. Trapped, he is forced into an uneasy life with this woman, sharing with her the Sisyphean task of shoveling the sand that threatens to engulf them. - Director:
- Hiroshi Teshigahara
- Cast:
- Eiji Okada, Kyôko Kishida, Hiroko Itô
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A Royal Affair (2012)En Kongelig Affære
Based on the true story of Caroline Mathilda, the English princess who married King Christian VII of Denmark in the early 1770s, "A Royal Affair" is a bold, sumptuous tale of illicit love and political pasion on a sweeping, epic scale. Keen to be a dutiful wife and queen, Caroline's hopes are soon dashed when she discovers the King's true madness. Turning away from the King she finds herself in the arms of the King's physician, a radical libertarian, with whom she embarks upon a passionate affair that would bring the kingdom to the brink of revolution. - Director:
- Nikolaj Arcel
- Cast:
- Alicia Vikander, Kenneth M. Christensen, Mads Hjulmand
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La Bete Humaine (1938)Judas Was a Woman / The Human Beast
Charting the turbulent relationship between a train-driver and a married woman as they plot to kill her husband, Renoir's adaptation of Emile Zola's classic novel is often cited by critics as one of the director's greatest films. Made at the height of Renoir's 1930s poetic realism period, the film also has shades of film-noir with its sexually charged story and self-destructive, hard-boiled anti-hero. Featuring a truly unforgettable performance by Jean Gabin as Lantier, the tormented train-driver, 'La Bete Humaine' was one of Renoir's biggest successes and is just as compelling today as when it was first released. - Director:
- Jean Renoir
- Cast:
- Jean Gabin, Julien Carette, Simone Simon
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Conversation Piece (1974)Gruppo di famiglia in un interno
A retired American professor (Burt Lancaster) lives a solitary and luxurious life in a house in Rome. His world takes an unexpected turn when he is forced to rent part of his house to a countess and her companions: a lover, a daughter and the daughter's boyfriend. Forced into interaction with the unruly younger group, the professor's growing fascination begins to stir the possibilities of a life he had previously kept at arm's length. - Director:
- Luchino Visconti
- Cast:
- Burt Lancaster, Helmut Berger, Silvana Mangano
- Formats:
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Diary of a Chambermaid (1964)Le journal d'une femme de chambre
Written by Bunuel and his regular writing partner Jean-Claude Carriere, the film charts the ambitions of Celestine (Jeanne Moreau), a woman who comes to work in the Normandy estate occupied by Monsieur Rabour (Jean Ozenne), his daughter (Francoise Lugagne), and the daughter's husband, the right wing Monsieur Montiel (Michel Piccoli). Celestine quickly learns that M. Rabour is a more or less harmless boot fetishist, his daughter a frigid woman more concerned with the family furnishings than in returning the affections of her husband, who, in turn, can't keep his hands off the servants. Celestine picks her way through this minefield carefully, spurning the advances of all of the men until it's convenient for her. - Director:
- Luis Buñuel
- Cast:
- Jeanne Moreau, Michel Piccoli, Georges Géret
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Silent Light (2007)Stellet licht
Johan is the head of a family in a Mennonite community in northern Mexico. However, he goes against the law of both God and men by falling in love with another woman and, although he is honest with his wife about the affair, his actions create conflict in their otherwise serine and tranquil existence. - Director:
- Carlos Reygadas
- Cast:
- Cornelio Wall, Maria Pankratz, Miriam Toews
- Formats:
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Set in Toledo in the early 1930s, Bunuel regular Fernando Rey stars as Don Lope, an aging figure of respectability who becomes the guardian of Tristana (Catherine Deneuve), a young woman with whom he is soon completely smitten. Finally accepting Don Lope's proposal of marriage after having her tumorous leg amputated, Tristana chooses a passionless union rather than be subject to the harsh realities of society that refuses to change to the needs of women. - Director:
- Luis Buñuel
- Cast:
- Catherine Deneuve, Fernando Rey, Franco Nero
- Formats:
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A known WWII war criminal, Brossard has never been brought to trial and has lived a peaceful and anonymous life sheltered by the Catholic Church. Now nearly fifty years after his atrocities, the launch of a new war crimes investigation means that both the police and hit-men are after him. Though he manages to keep one step ahead of his pursuers, Brossard knows that his luck is about to run out. - Director:
- Norman Jewison
- Cast:
- Michael Caine, Hakan Coskuner, Tilda Swinton
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Capernaum (2018)Capharnaüm / Chaos
Forced to live by his wits in order to survive, Zain's life in Beirut reaches a turning point when his parents make an unforgiveable deal that will see his younger sister (Haita 'Cedra' Izzam) married off. Left distraught by this terrible turn of event he takes to the road and whilst looking for work at a fairground, befriends a young woman who is working as a cleaner and helps to look after her adorable baby Jonas (Boluwatife Treasure Bankole). Zain (Zain Al Rafeea) and Jonas form a touching bond but things are about to get much more complicated when a set of circumstances force Zain to make choices that will have huge ramifications. 'Capernaum' is a tribute to the resilience of the human spirit - a battle cry for the forgotten, the unwanted and the lost that offers hope in the most unexpected of places. - Director:
- Nadine Labaki
- Cast:
- Zain Al Rafeea, Yordanos Shiferaw, Boluwatife Treasure Bankole
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Set in a military hospital during World War I, the film tells of a real life encounter between army psychologist Dr William Rivers and the poet Siegfried Sassoon, who has been institutionalised in an attempt to undermine his public disapproval of the war. It also concerns young poet Wilfred Owen who, with support from Sassoon, begins to write his great war poems. Rivers, whose duty it is to return shell-shocked officers to the trenches, is tormented by the morality of what is being done in the name of medicine, especially the treatment of working-class officer Billy Prior who has been struck dumb by the carnage he has witnessed. - Director:
- Gillies MacKinnon
- Cast:
- Jonathan Pryce, James Wilby, Jonny Lee Miller
- Formats:
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Escape at Dannemora (2018)Escape at Clinton Correctional
Benicio Del Toro, Patricia Arquette, Paul Dano and Bonnie Hunt star in 'Escape at Dannemora', a Showtime Limited Event Series directed and executive produced by Ben Stiller. Based on the stranger-than-fiction prison break in upstate New York, 'Escape at Dannemora' follows the story of two convicts who spawned a statewide manhunt and were aided in their escape by a married female prison employee who became involved with both men. It's a bizarre tale filled with twists and turns, yet through it all there's one thing that unites the inmates and citizens of Dannemora - everyone's looking for a way out. - Director:
- Ben Stiller
- Cast:
- Benicio Del Toro, Patricia Arquette, Paul Dano
- Formats:
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Edward and Caroline (1951)Édouard et Caroline
Jacques Becker's dark, offbeat comedy about a failing marriage stars Daniel Gelin as Edouard, a poor pianist married to Caroline (Anne Vernon), a beautiful girl from a middle-class family. Caroline's uncle Claude (Jean Galland), a complete snob who looks down on Edouard like the rest of his family, invites the couple to a party at which he is expected to play for his supper in front of Claude's important friends. Add the fact that Claude's son Alain (Jacques Francois) is in love with Caroline and this evening is destined for disaster. - Director:
- Jacques Becker
- Cast:
- Daniel Gélin, Anne Vernon, Elina Labourdette
- Formats:
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From Oscar winning writer/director Adam McKay (The Big Short) comes 'Vice', an audacious and darkly comedic look at former US Vice President Dick Cheney's stealthy rise from Washington intern to the most powerful man on the planet. Oscar winner Christian Bale leads an all-star cast that includes Oscar nominees Steve Carell as the affable, yet steely Donald Rumsfeld, Amy Adams as Cheney's ambitious wife, and Oscar winner Sam Rockwell as the malleable George W. Bush. Spanning a half-century, Cheney's journey from rural Wyoming electrical worker to de facto President of the United States is a hilariously terrifying true tale of the use and misuse of institutional power. - Director:
- Adam McKay
- Cast:
- Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Steve Carell
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Ossessione (1942)Obsession
A restless wife, Giovanna (Clara Calamai), meets Gino (Massimo Girotti), a rough and handsome vagabond. Their passionate affair leads to the murder of Giovanna's boorish husband. Can a strong and sensual affair survive the guilt? Adapted from the James M. Cain's classic novel 'The Postman Always Rings Twice', 'Ossessione' is a dark and provocative drama of sexual tension. It heralded a new era of Italian cinema, establishing Luchino Visconti as a leading and controversial exponent of 'neo-realism'. - Director:
- Luchino Visconti
- Cast:
- Clara Calamai, Massimo Girotti, Dhia Cristiani
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