seen-list's - Rented

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Whether in front of the camera or behind it, Agnés Varda was a visual storyteller who eschewed convention and prescribed approaches to drama.

In 'Varda by Agnés' - the director's swansong film - she offers a personal insight into her oeuvre, using excerpts from her work to illustrate her unique ideas and artistic vision.

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Young orphan Pip (Jeremy Irvine) is given a chance to rise from his humble beginnings thanks to a mysterious benefactor.

Moving through London's class ridden world as a gentleman, Pip uses his new found position to pursue die beautiful Estella (Holliday Grainger); a spoilt heiress he's loved since childhood. Yet the shocking truth behind his great fortune will have devastating consequences for everything he holds dear.

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Examining the close bond shared by an elderly couple when one of them begins to suffer from an illness, Amour tells a heart-rending story of sacrifice, devotion and the limits that love can drive us to.

Amour is one of the most honest, intimate and deeply affecting portraits of love ever committed to film.

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An irreverent, uplifting comedy about friendship, trust and human possibility.

Based on a true story of friendship between handicapped millionaire (Francois Cluzet) and his street smart ex-con caretaker (Omar Sy), "Untouchable" depicts an unlikely camaraderie rooted in honesty and humour between two individuals who, on the surface, would seem to have nothing in common.

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The powerful feature-film debut of acclaimed young director Joe Stephenson, this compelling coming-of-age drama builds upon on a remarkable central performance from newcomer Scott Chambers.

Chambers plays Richard, a fifteen-year-old boy with learning difficulties who lives in a shabby caravan with his older brother, Polly. Life for the siblings is harsh, with the engaging, nature-loving teenager yearning for stability while frequently finding himself on the wrong side of his brother's destructive, often violent moods. Finding it easier to communicate with animals none more so than his beloved hen, Fiona Richard nevertheless forms a strong friendship with rebellious seventeen-year-old Annabel, whose family have recently acquired the farmland on which the brothers live. But growing conflict with the new landowners will lead to a situation that severely tests Richard's natural optimism, as a world of privilege collides with the brothers' precarious, marginalised existence.

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The film that took last year's Cannes by surprise. Le Quattro Volte explores the cycles of life in a wordless portrait of a Calabrian village that progresses through life-forms from man to animals (goats and a star turn from a dog) to a tree.

It works both as a simple celebration of nature and as an exploration of our place in the world, and an extraordinary piece of pure and often very funny cinema.

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By a little bay near Marseilles lies a picturesque villa owned by an old man.

His three children have gathered by his side for his last days: Angela (Ariane Ascaride), an actress living in Paris, Joseph (Jean-Pierre Darroussin), who has just fallen in love with a girl half his age and Armand (Gérard Meylan), the only one who stayed behind in the bay to run the family's small restaurant. It's time for them to weigh up what they have inherited of their father's ideals and the community spirit he created in this magical place. The arrival, at a nearby cove, of a group of boat people will throw these moments of reflection into turmoil.

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Is he the village idiot or a genius in disguise? 17 year old Noi (Tómas Lemarquis) drifts through life on a remote fjord in the north of Iceland, cut off from the outside world by a shroud of snow.

He dreams of escape from this white-walled prison with Iris (Elín Hansdóttir), a pretty young city girl who works in a local gas station, but his clumsy breaks for freedom spiral out of control and seem doomed to end in failure.

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Jia Zhangke's eighth feature is an intimate yet epic drama spanning several decades which charts the impact of China's move towards capitalism on the lives of one family.

Divided into three parts (set in 1999, 2014 and Australia in 2025), 'Mountains May Depart' follows the life of Shen Tao (played by Jia's regular collaborator Zhao Tao) and her family through 26 tumultuous years. Perhaps his most ambitious film yet, Jia's film is an astute, humane study of how the emergent culture of capitalist materialism and the forces of globalisation have impacted on Chinese society and family life.

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At the end of the First World War, beloved children's author A. A. Milne (Domhnall Gleeson) creates the magical world of Winnie-the-Pooh - which brings him immediate acclaim.

But the books' international success comes at a cost to the author, his young son Christopher Robin (Will Tilston) and his wife Daphne (Margot Robbie), in this beautifully filmed, poignant story about fame and family that also stars Kelly Macdonald.

Margherita is a film director who quickly finds out that her lead Hollywood actor (John Turturro) is rather difficult to work with. If his demands weren't enough, her mother's health has recently declined and Maigherita struggles to find die balance and harmony between work and family life.

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On the hottest day of the year Antoine and Helene hit the road, destined for the south of France.

The oppressive heat and traffic gridlock take their toll on Antoine's frazzled nerves and, as he attempts to cool off with one cold beer after another, tensions between the bickering couple are pushed to boiling point. As night draws in Antoine stops off at yet another bar but returns to the car to find Helene missing. Panic-stricken, he embarks on a desperate search, only to find events spiralling far beyond his control with horrifying consequences...

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From legendary filmmaker Paul Verhoeven, 'Elle' is a gripping psychological noir thriller. Starring iconic actress Isabelle Huppert in a career-defining role, 'Elle' follows Michele LeBlanc (Huppert), founder and CEO of a successful video game company, who is attacked in her own home.

Upending our expectations, Michele begins to track down her assailant, and soon they are both drawn into a curious and thrilling game, one that at any moment may spiral out of control.

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Three Brothers (Tre Fratelli) explores similarly knotty social and political territory through the seemingly straightforward story of three siblings returning to their native southern Italy to pay homage to their late mother.

However, their various professions - a judge in Rome (Philippe Noiret), a spiritual counsellor in Naples (Vittorio Mezzogiorno), a factory worker in Turin (Michele Placido) - have a profound effect on their response to this reunion.

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Concluding six parts of Edgar Reitz's epic series chronicling the last 80 years of German history by focusing on the individual stories of ordinary people.

This volume takes the story up to the momentous years between 1989 to 2000, when the collapse of the Berlin Wall led to a reunification of the German nation and an attempt to re-evaluate the nature and history of the country. Set against the backdrop of these historical forces is the personal story of Hermann Simon (Henry Arnold), now a famous conductor, who has finally reunited with Clarissa (Salome Kammer). Together they make the decision to move back to the village of Hunsruck.