paul-b's - Rented List

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'Gertrud' is the story of a woman's search for a romantic ideal of total and perfect love. A once famous singer now in her early forties, Gertrud makes the decision to leave her lawyer husband for her lover, a young composer.

Discovering the next day that her lover has betrayed her, and is unable to give her his total love, Gertrud rejects both husband and lover, choosing a life of solitude and study over the compromise of love that is merely half-measure.

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1940, Paulette (Brigitte Fossey), a young French girl, is orphaned in a Nazi air attack during the battle of France. She is befriended by Michel (Georges Poujouly), the son of a poor farmer whose family take her in to their home to care for her.

Together the two children forge a tight bond, attempting to come to terms with the realities of the death and destruction that surrounds them by creating their own reality, building their own small graveyard to bury dead animals they find. In this sealed universe they have created, Paulette and Michel experience their first and most wonderful love story.

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With extraordinary beauty, talent and grace, Spanish dancer Maria Vargas (Ava Gardner) was born to be a star. Aided by American movie director Harry Dawes (Humphrey Bogart), she attains great success and fortune in Hollywood's land of dreams.

But, though she gives her all for stardom, there is one thing Maria will never compromise - her soul. No matter what the cost, The Barefoot Contessa will dance to no-one's music but her own.

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On a dark, deserted street a half naked, visibly abused girl runs screaming. Bruised, bloody and suffering from dementia she is eventually rescued by the local police.

Her name is Lucie and she's been missing for over a year but refuses to give away any information describing her captors or any details concerning her violent abduction. During an intensive investigation the police eventually discover an abandoned slaughterhouse containing what looks like a torture chamber. But what exactly took place and how Lucie managed to escape remains a mystery. Many years after the horrific incident a seemingly normal family have an unexpected guest during breakfast. Their surprise visitor is a distraught young woman carrying a loaded shotgun, intent on revenge.

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From the celebrated Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky comes his most autobiographical work and one that is regarded by many as his magnum opus.

Reflecting upon his own childhood and the destiny of the Russian people, 'Mirror' is a sublime expression of memory, imagination, thoughts and dreams intertwined with real life and family relationships. A transcendent, inspired and multilayered masterpiece that continues to grow in stature, 'Mirror' has an exceptional resonance and rewards countless viewings.

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When Ellen, the matriarch of the Graham family, passes away, her daughter Annie (Toni Colette) and her husband (Gabriel Byrne) and their two children begin to unravel cryptic and increasingly terrifying secrets about their ancestry.

The more they discover, the more they find themselves trying to outrun the sinister fate they seem to have inherited.

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"I've been looking for a girl every Saturday night of my life", says Marty Piletti (Ernest Borgnine). Yet, despite all his efforts, this 34-year-old Bronx butcher remains as shy and uncomfortable around women today as on the day he was born.

So when he meets Clara (Betsy Blair), a lonely schoolteacher who's just as smitten with him as he is with her, Marty's on top of the world. But not everyone around him shares Marty's joy. And when his friends and family continually find fault with Clara, even Marty begins to question his newfound love... until he discovers, in an extraordinary way, the strength and courage to follow his heart.

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Pacific Northwest. 1983 AD. Outsiders Red Miller (Nicolas Cage) and Mandy Bloom (Andrea Riseborough) lead a loving and peaceful existence.

When their pine-scented haven is savagely destroyed by a cult led by the sadistic Jeremiah Sand (Linus Roache), Red is catapulted into a phantasmagoric journey filled with bloody vengeance and laced with fire.

When 15 year-old Steve is thrown out of a juvenile centre, his single mother Diane takes on the daunting task of home schooling her troubled son. Struggling to make ends meet and rocked by Steve's livewire temperament, a shy, reclusive neighbour may prove to be the duo's unlikely saviour.

The belief in evil - and that evil can be cast out. From these two strands of faith, author William Peter Blatty and director William Friedkin wove The Exorcist, the frightening and realistic story of an innocent girl inhabited by a malevolent entity.

New York City detectives "Popeye" Doyle (Gene Hackman) and Buddy Russo (Roy Scheider) hope to break a narcotics smuggling ring and ultimately uncover 'The French Connection'. But when one of the criminals tries to kill Doyle, he begins a deadly pursuit that takes him far outside the city limits.

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Wrongly accused city banker Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) arrives at Shawshank Prison in 1947 after receiving a double life sentence for the brutal murders of his wife and her lover. He discovers that when they send you to Shawshank for life...that's exactly what they take.

His quiet strength slowly earns him the respect and friendship of the prison fixer Red (Morgan Freeman). He also becomes popular with the warden and prison guards, as he is able to use his banking experience to help the corrupt officials amass fortunes. But Andy's seemingly stoic acceptance of his unjust imprisonment hides a fierce determination for freedom and provides a unique chance to change his fate.

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Widely misunderstood and shamefully denigrated at the time of its original release, but now recognised as not simply one of Rossellini's greatest films but as one of the key works of modern cinema, 'Journey to Italy' is a deceptively simple piece.

There is little plot to speak of: a marriage is breaking up under the strains of a trip to Italy, and we watch. But in its deliberate rejection of many aspects of 'classic' Hollywood narrative and its stubborn pursuit of a quite different aesthetic, its meandering story line creates space for ideas and time for reflection.

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Five years, eight months, 12 days. That's how long Debbie Ocean (Sandra Bullock) has been concocting the greatest heist of her storied career. It will require the best in the field, including her former partner in crime, Lou (Cate Blanchett), and a crew of specialists.

Their target: $150 million in diamonds that will adorn the neck of a world-famous actress (Anne Hathaway) at the event of the year, the Met Gala. The plan appears rock-solid, but it needs to be flawless for them to get in and get away - all in plain sight.

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A calculation used by insurers to assess the monetary worth of a life cut short, 'Human Capital' questions the material and emotional value of both the living and the dead as it weaves a tangled web of greed, lust and death.

The film traces the financial and emotional entanglement of two Italian families; one bloated by the profits of lucrative hedge-funds, the other led by a modest estate agent who dreams of bigger things. Their relationship unravels around the onset of the financial crisis and the mysterious hit-and-run death of a local waiter, ultimately revealing both the financial and moral bankruptcy of each family.