matti's - Rented List
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"Another Life" is a true story set in Edwardian London. It is the colourful and intensely moving account of Edith Thompson (Natasha Little), a woman wrongly accused of the murder of her husband, a case which became a major 'cause celebre' of its time. The story begins on a Christmas Day 1909 and traces Edith's life from the moment she first falls in love with Percy Thompson (Nick Moran) to her daring affair with her sister's lover, Freddy Bywaters (Ioan Gruffudd). The ability to embellish reality with fantasy is the keynote to Edith's character, and in Freddy she finds someone who matches her passion and thirst for romance. The couple indulge in foolish fantasy, inventing schemes to murder Edith's husband. However, she little realises that her lover is about to translate their game into frightening reality and one night in 1922, as Edith and Percy walk home from the theatre, Percy is attacked and stabbed to death by Freddy. Despite a huge public outcry and Bywater's adamant assertion that she has no hand in the killing, Edith is found guilty of murder alongside her lover, and they are both sentenced to death. - Director:
- Philip Goodhew
- Cast:
- Natasha Little, Nick Moran, Ioan Gruffudd
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This Swedish film centres on circus performer Elvira Madigan (Pia Degermark) and army officer Sixten Sparre (Thommy Berggren). Both have run away from their lives - Elvira from her family's circus, Sixten from the army, his wife and his children. Meeting in a forest, they instantly fall in love and the outside world becomes meaningless. But as summer turns to winter and without food and money, the tragedy of the young lovers' situation becomes apparent. - Director:
- Bo Widerberg
- Cast:
- Pia Degermark, Thommy Berggren, Lennart Malmer
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Paris 1940. The eve of the Nazi takeover. Seven people flee the capital for Bordeaux in order to escape the occupation, taking shelter at the Hotel Splendide. Isabelle Adjani stars as the actress Viviane Denvers. Incredibly beautiful and extremely manipulative, she's looking out for herself. Depardieu is Beaufort, a cabinet minister under Denvers' spell. Two other guests have even more at stake: a scientist and his assistant (Virginie Ledoyen) are hiding a deadly new material from the Nazis. Passions, intrigues and secrets collide as the guests realise the consequences of their actions in the greater scheme of war. In the midst of it all, a young writer (Gregori Derangere) must choose between two women, politics and hoodlums, and a carefree youth and adulthood. - Director:
- Jean-Paul Rappeneau
- Cast:
- Isabelle Adjani, Gérard Depardieu, Virginie Ledoyen
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Story of a Love Affair (1950)Cronaca di un amore
Paola (Lucia Bose) is a strikingly beautiful young woman married to a rich older industrialist who decides to have her past investigated. The detective's enquiry reaches Paola's former lover, Guido (Massimo Girotti), prompting him to seek her after seven years, and they reignite their passion. Antonioni, who defined cool modernism on screen, chronicles the love affair, observing without judgement. - Director:
- Michelangelo Antonioni
- Cast:
- Lucia Bosé, Massimo Girotti, Ferdinando Sarmi
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A Pure Formality (1994)Una Pura Formalita
It's a night of a violent, storm and a writer Onoff (Gerard Depardieu) is desperately running down a street when the police stop him. Unable to produce any identification, he is brought to the police station for questioning. Some hours ago a women, as yet unidentified, was killed in her hotel room. The Superintendent (Roman Polanski) begins what turns out to be a night of relentless and anguishing interrogation. With no memory of his movements Onoff becomes the Superintendent's prime suspect. At dawn the identity of the women is revealed and the writer is faced with new and frightening consequences. - Director:
- Giuseppe Tornatore
- Cast:
- Gérard Depardieu, Roman Polanski, Sergio Rubini
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Dreams (1955)Kvinnodröm
Also known as 'Journey in Autumn', this classic drama follows fashion director Susanne and young model Doris as they journey to Gothenburg for a fashion shoot and hope to fulfill their dreams of finding love. However, the unsatisfactory affairs in which the women become entangled offer little escape from their disillusionment. Acknowledged one of the finest male directors of women, Ingmar Bergman's intimate and absorbing film examines the agony of love and impenetrable barriers that consumerism and material things erect between people. - Director:
- Ingmar Bergman
- Cast:
- Eva Dahlbeck, Harriet Andersson, Gunnar Björnstrand
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Academy Award winners Robin Williams and Cuba Gooding Jr., embark on a supernatural journey beyond the realm of mortality in this visually stunning and unforgettable epic. Deceased Chris Nielsen (Williams) begins to adapt to his new state of being in a setting that can only be described as heavenly. When his distraught wife, Annie (Annabella Sciorra) takes her own life, she is banished to eternal damnation. Chris vows to find her so they can share eternity together. With the help of his heavenly friends, Chris sets out on the most perilous and harrowing journey of his life, or afterlife: a quest for everlasting love that will take him to hell and back! - Director:
- Vincent ward
- Cast:
- Robin Williams, Cuba Gooding Jr., Annabella Sciorra
- Formats:
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Jorgos is a young Greek guest worker in Germany, known pejoratively as a "Katzelmacher," Bavarian slang for "cat screwer," referring to the supposed sexual habits of foreigners. He rents a room in Elisabeth's house in the Munich suburbs. She and Peter hang out with a group of disaffected and bored young people who resent Jorgos and beat him up when he dates a German girl. - Director:
- Rainer Werner Fassbinder
- Cast:
- Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Hanna Schygulla, Hans Hirschmüller
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A sinister and enthralling mystery thriller adapted from the novel by crime and suspense writer Agatha Christie. Starring Hayley Mills as an affluent heiress who marries a mysterious and charming chauffeur. Soon after moving into their dream house strange things begin to happen, culminating in a tragic death. Murderous twists and thrilling turns with a stunning climax set to shock even the most devoted Christie fans. - Director:
- Sidney Gilliat
- Cast:
- Hayley Mills, Hywel Bennett, Britt Ekland
- Formats:
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Stalin: Reign of Terror (2009)Within the Whirlwind
Two-time Oscar nomineee Emily Watson stars in this gripping and critically-acclaimed drama based on the remarkable true story of writer Eugenia Ginzburg. A college professor and loyal communist party member living comfortably in the Soviet Union, she became a victim of Stalin's infamous purges during his 'Reign of Terror'. Accused of being a terrorist traitor she was sentenced to ten years in one of the toughest Gulag concentration camps in Eastern Siberia. Facing a brutal future in one of the most desolate and unforgiving places on earth, her story became an inspirational testament to the triumph of the human spirit. - Director:
- Marleen Gorris
- Cast:
- Emily Watson, Pam Ferris, Ian Hart
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From the producer of Mulholland Drive and The Pianist comes Nathalie, a seductive tale of sexual intrigue and manipulation, starring Emmanuelle Beart, Academy Award nominee Gerard Depardieu and acclaimed actress Fanny Ardant. Tormented by the suspicion of her husband's adultery, Catherine, a bourgeois Parisian businesswoman, seeks the of a beautiful but mysterious call-girl, Nathalie, to uncover the truth once and for all. As she hears the intimate details of her husband's meeting with Nathalie, Catherine also begins to learn more about herself and her own desires. However as she loses her control over Nathalie's actions she begins to question who is deceiving whom. Nathalie is a stylish and provocative drama set against the backdrop of the world's most seductive city, which looks at the nature of relationships, and the subtle line that separates love from desire. - Director:
- Anne Fontaine
- Cast:
- Fanny Ardant, Emmanuelle Béart, Gérard Depardieu
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The Brute (1953)El Bruto
Two of Mexico's finest actors star in this early fiery melodrama by master director Luis Bunuel. Pedro Armendariz plays Pedro - "El Bruto"; a physically strong, but simple-minded slaughterhouse worker who is hired by Andres (Andres Soler), the ruthless landlord of an apartment complex (due for demolition), to evict unwanted tenants. Pedro's life is complicated when he falls for his seductive co-worker, Paloma, played by Ariel-winner Katy Jurado - who also happens to be the slumlord's wife. Things get stickier for Pedro when, whilst strong-arming the tenants of the old building, he accidentally kills an old man who stands up to him. Pedro duly flees with Paloma, now his lover, and the pair go into hiding. Meanwhile Meche (Rosa Arenas), the young and charming daughter of the murdered man, assists Pedro in avoiding the furious neighbour tennants, all the while unaware that she is aiding the murderer of her father. In time, Pedro starts to feel that he is being used by Andres, although he is (perhaps unsurprisingly) the last to realize something important about his erstwhile employer. In the meantime, 'El Bruto' begins to develop feelings for Meche, eventually offering his home to her. For her part, Meche soon develops a soft spot for the naive and suggestible Pedro. - Director:
- Luis Buñuel
- Cast:
- Pedro Armendáriz, Katy Jurado, Rosa Arenas
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Mike Church (Branagh) is a L.A. gumshoe with a knack for tossing off wisecracks and tracking down missing persons. But Church doesn't have a clue when he's hired to help a beautiful amnesia victim tormented by blood-curdling nightmares. Then an eccentric antiques dealer and hypnotist leads Church to a startling discovery: The source of the nightmares may lie in a past-life connection to Margaret Strauss, a world-famous pianist allegedly murdered by her composer-husband... in 1948. - Director:
- Kenneth Branagh
- Cast:
- Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson, Andy Garcia
- Formats:
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Escape from Warsaw (2013)Lauf Junge lauf
Warsaw 1942. The Second World War rages throughout Europe and Polish Jews are confined to life in harsh ghettos. Srulik, an eight year old boy, manages to escape from the Warsaw ghetto where he is held captive and flees into the nearby forest. Managing to live undetected in the forest he evades the Nazi soldiers sent to find him and soon finds his way onto a Polish farm where he must survive and avoid capture. 'Escape from Warsaw' is a true story of courage, survival and bravery against the backdrop of the horrors of WWII. - Director:
- Pepe Danquart
- Cast:
- Andrzej Tkacz, Kamil Tkacz, Elisabeth Duda
- Formats:
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The Bad Sleep Well (1960)Warui yatsu hodo yoku nemuru
Koichi Nishi (Toshiro Mifune) is a grieving son seeking revenge for the 'suicide' of his father. By assuming a new identity he rises through the ranks of the Public Corporation and cynically marries the President's daughter to better infiltrate the company and expose the corrupt practice that was responsible for his father's death. However, as Koichi falls in love with his wife, disaster looms. - Director:
- Akira Kurosawa
- Cast:
- Toshirô Mifune, Masayuki Mori, Kyôko Kagawa
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