Subgenre Sampler
Rental > Drama > Foreign Cinema: 171 Films to Rent on VHS
- In Praise of Love (Eloge de L'amour) (2001)
- Dir. Jean-Luc Godard
Feat. Bruno Putzulu, Cecile Camp, Jean Davy…
- Dir. Godard’s first major film in over a decade presents intellect and filmmaking in full–flight, while stubbornly refusing to provide a…
- Vertical Ray of the Sun, The (At the Height of Summer) (2001)
- Dir. Tran Anh Hung
Feat. Tran Nu Yen-Khe, Nhu Quynh Nguyen, Le Khanh
- Conjuring once more the scent, hue and atmosphere of Vietnam, the dir. of SCENT OF GREEN PAPAYA depicts the complicated sisterhood of three women in…
- Day I Became a Woman, The (2000)
- Dir. Marziyeh Meshkini
Feat. Fatemeh Cherag Akhur, Hassan Nebhan, Shahr Banou Sisizadeh
- A trio of strong metaphorical tales that outline three aspects of “a woman’s lot” in contemporary Iran, with humour and cinematic…
- Farewell - Brecht's Last Summer, The (2000)
- Dir. Jan Schutte
Feat. Josef Bierbichler, Monika Bliebtreu, Elfriede Irrall
- Prior knowledge of the life of playwright Bertolt Brecht (played by Josef Bierbichler) will enhance this accomplished chamber–drama, set at an…
- Me You Them (Eu Tu Eles) (2000)
- Dir. Andrucha Waddington
Feat. Regina Case, Lima Duarte, Stenio Garcia
- Set in the arid hinterlands of Brazil, this serio–comic study of rural polyandry has Regina Case (Brazil’s Oprah Winfrey) hitch up three…
- Road Home, The (2000)
- Dir. Zhang Yimou
Feat. Zhang Ziyi, Honglei Sun, Hao Zhang
- Tackling the period of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, period dir. Zhang Yimou (RAISE THE RED LANTERN) gives the story of a young man's return home…
- Shower (Xizhao) (2000)
- Dir. Zhang Yang
Feat. Pu Cunxin, Zhu Xu
- A popular success with international audiences, this Chinese comedy is centred around a modern–day bathhouse in Beijing without a…
- Bleeder (1999)
- Dir. Nicolas Winding Refn
Feat. Kim Bodnia
- Hard–nosed drama about a brooding man who turns destructive when he learns of his girlfriend’s pregnancy in…
- Cabaret Balkan (The Powder Keg) (1999)
- Dir. Goran Paskaljevic
Feat. Nikola Ristanovski
- Troubling split–portrait of the Serbian psyche, depicting a series of often violent incidents over the course of a single night in Belgrade,…
- Colour of Paradise, The (1999)
- Dir. Majid Majidi
Feat. Mohsen Ramezani
- A gripping, compassionate study of a blind Iranian boy’s attempts to connect with his egotistical father and a carpentry tutor when he is taken to…
- La Veuve de Saint-Pierre (Widow Of Saint-Pierre) (1999)
- Dir. Patrice Leconte
Feat. Emir Kusturica, Juliette Binoche, Daniel Auteuil
- In 1850, on a tiny island near Canada, an oafish Emir Kusturica is sentenced to die by guillotine.
While waiting for an executioner to arrive from…
- Lies (Gojitmal) (1999)
- Dir. Jang Sun-Woo
Feat. Kim Tae Yeon, Lee Sang Hyun
- Highly controversial in its native Korea (the source novel was banned) this tale of S&M sex–addiction between a schoolgirl and an older…
- Mifune (1999)
- Dir. Soren Kragh-Jacobson
Feat. Iben Hjejle, Anders W Berthelsen, Jesper Asholt…
- The third Dogma 95 film is in many ways as traditional a European romantic comedy as you could come across, a breezy and smart take on a yuppie…
- Venus Beauty Institute (Venus Beauty) (1999)
- Dir. Tonie Marshall
Feat. Nathalie Baye, Audrey Tautou
- A modest beauty salon is the setting for this wry ensemble piece about the vagaries of womanhood, with an engagingly eccentric collection of clients…
- Alice Et Martin (1998)
- Dir. Andre Techine
Feat. Juliette Binoche, Carmen Maura, Mathieu Amalric
- A maladjusted young drifter (Alexis Loret) has success as a Paris fashion model and a torrid love affair with his half–brother's…
- Chance or Coincidence (1998)
- Dir. Claude Lelouch
Feat. Alessandra Martines, Pierre Arditi, Marc Hollogne
- Bereaved wife Alessandra Martine speeds like a comet through this intriguing comedy from dir. Lelouch equal parts melodrama, musical and…
- Drifting Clouds (1998)
- Dir. Aki Kaurismaki
Feat. Kati Outinen, Kari Vaananen, Elina Salo…
- Day–glo colours collide with glum silences in Aki Kaurismaki's unemployment comedy, effortlessly combining the previously unreconcilable genres…
- Left Luggage (1998)
- Dir. Jeroen Krabbe
Feat. Isabella Rossellini, Marianne Sagebrecht, Laura Fraser
- Concerning a free–spirited young woman working as a nanny in a Jewish household in Antwerp, this resolutely serious drama struggles with…
- Love Etc. (1998)
- Dir. Marion Vernoux
Feat. Charlotte Gainsbourg, Charles Berling, Yvan Attal
- Depicts an infernal love–triangle between three friends – taken from the novel ‘Talking It Over’ by Julian Barnes. Charming comedy…
- Marquise (1998)
- Dir. Vera Belmont
Feat. Sophie Marceau
- Bawdy, naturalistically–styled period romp about the artistic clashes between playwrights Moliere and Racine at the court of Louis XIV. Sophie…
- Men with Guns (1998)
- Dir. John Sayles
Feat. Frederico Luppi
- Criminally denied a theatrical release, this masterful study of Third World realities is arguably prolific indie dir. John Sayles most accomplished…
- Apple, The (1997)
- Dir. Samira Makhmalbaf
Feat. Massoumeh Naderi, Zahra Naderi, Ghorban Ali Naderi
- More than the curiosity piece you'd expect from its 17 year old director, this is a strange, small film that uniquely blends documentary footage with…
- Kitchen (1997)
- Dir. Yim Ho
Feat. Jordan Chan, Yasuko Tomita
- Treading the same grungy Hong Kong streets as the films of Wong Kar–Wai, this adaptation of a novel by Banana Yoshimoto concerns a love affair…
- On Connait la Chanson (Same Old Song) (1997)
- Dir. Alain Resnais
Feat. Pierre Arditi, Sabine Azema, Jean-Pierre Bacri…
- A winner of seven Cesar awards, this light–hearted homage to Dennis Potter applies his musical–cinematic ideas to the…
- Post Coitum (1997)
- Dir. Brigitte Rouan
Feat. Brigitte Rouan
- The director herself plays a 40–year–old wife, mother and book editor who has her respectable life devastated after a whirlwind affair…
- Secrets of the Heart (Secretos del Corazon) (1997)
- Dir. Montxo Armendariz
Feat. Andoni Erburu, Inigo Garces
- A subdued drama that views rural Spain through the childs' eye of its protaganist, a young boy whose curiosity leads him into a haunted house…
- Bag of Rice (1996)
- Dir. Mohammad-Ali Talebi
Feat. Jairan Abadzade, Shirin Bina, Masume Eskandari
- A child and her elderly neighbour have small adventures on the streets of Tehran while trying to buy a sack of rice. Those seeking a rare alternative…
- Devil's Island (1996)
- Dir. Fridrik Thor Fridriksson
Feat. Baltasar Kormakur, Gisli Halldorsson
- The director of COLD FEVER bites off a little more ice than he can comfortably chew, with this sprawling tale of the difficulties of life in 1950s…
- East Palace / West Palace (1996)
- Dir. Zhang Yuan
Feat. Vicki Zhao, Si Han, Jun Hu
- This rare independent mainland Chinese film is a difficult, often devastating two–hander between a gay man and the policeman sent to arrest him…
- Eighth Day, The (1996)
- Dir. Jaco Van Dormael
Feat. Daniel Auteuil
- The director of the much–loved TOTO THE HERO makes another film about magic at ground level, with Daniel Auteuil having his humdrum life…
- Fiesta (1996)
- Dir. Pierre Boutron
Feat. Jean-Louis Trintignant, Gregoire Colin
- Biting, rigorously intelligent parable of the Spanish Civil War, watches unblinking as a young soldier is intiated into the brutalities by his…
- Horseman on the Roof (1996)
- Dir. Jean-Paul Rappeneau
Feat. Juliette Binoche, Olivier Martinez
- Strapping melodrama in the old–fashioned Errol Flynn milieu set during the cholera epidemic of 1800s France. A tale of chivalry, loyalty and…
- O'Quatrilho (1996)
- Dir. Fabio Barreto
Feat. Fabio Barreto, Mariana Pellegrino Barreto
- Steamy Latino variant on the patented love–triangle/adultery story, set among immigrants newly settled in turn of the century Brazil, freshly…
- Other Side of Sunday, The (1996)
- Dir. Berit Nesheim
Feat. Marie Theisen, Bjorn Sundquist, Hildegun Riise
- Yearning to discover the 'other side' of life in 1950s Norway, teenager Marie Theisen evades her harshly religious father to explore the amorphous…
- Ponette (1996)
- Dir. Jacques Doillon
Feat. Victoire Thivisol
- Staying at her Aunt's provincial cottage after the accidental death of her mother, a four–year–old girl comes to terms with death, while…
- Prisoner of the Mountains (1996)
- Dir. Sergei Bodrov
Feat. Oleg Menshikov, Sergei Bodrov Jr, Susanna Mekhraliyeva…
- A Tolstoy fable is here seamlessly transposed to the Chechean conflict, with two Russian soldiers apprehended by a Chechean village elder who hopes…
- Self Made Hero, A (1996)
- Dir. Jacques Audiard
Feat. Mathieu Kassovitz
- Mattieu Kassovitz (director of LA HAINE) proves to be no slouch actor here as a WW2 idler who swats up and cheekily ascends the ranks of the…
- Summer in La Goulette (1996)
- Dir. Ferid Boughedir
Feat. Sonia Mankai, Ava Cohen-Jonathan, Sarah Pariente…
- Three families of disparate cultures enjoy harmony in Tunisian paradise, until three of their beautiful daughters flirt with losing their virginity,…
- When the Cat's Away (1996)
- Dir. Cedric Klapisch
Feat. Garance Clavel, Zinedine Soualem
- A movie for cat lovers and young romantics alike, this Latino–tinged, funky, yet alluringly modest French film follows the dowdy–cute…
- Will It Snow for Christmas? (1996)
- Dir. Sandrine Veysset
Feat. Dominique Reymond, Daniel Duval
- Not a seasonal film 'for the whole family', rather a slow–paced evocation of hard–won, rural life for an impoverished French family of…
- All Things Fair (1995)
- Dir. Bo Widerberg
Feat. Johan Widerberg, Marika Lagercrantz
- The late Bo Widerberg's swansong records a bittersweet memoir of his love affair with a teacher 22 years his senior. The casting of his young son in…
- Brother of Sleep (1995)
- Dir. Joseph Vilsmaier
Feat. Andre Eisermann, Dana Vavrova, Ben Becker…
- A bastard child born in remote 19th century Bavaria proves to have an eerie, powerful musical gift, causing consternation among the inbred, somewhat…
- Colonel Chabert, Le (1995)
- Dir. Yves Angelo
Feat. Gerard Depardieu, Fanny Ardant, Fabrice Luchini…
- After being presumed dead in Napoleonic battle, Gerard Depardieu returns to his home town to find his wife, his money and his honour being betrayed…
- Convent, The (1995)
- Dir. Manoel de Oliveira
Feat. John Malkovich, Catherine Deneuve
- Academic couple John Malkovich and Catherine Deneuve survey a spooky ancient convent in a quest to prove that Shakespeare is of Spanish descent. From…
- French Woman, A (Une Femme Francaise) (1995)
- Dir. Regis Wargnier
Feat. Emmanuelle Beart, Daniel Auteuil
- Emmanuelle Beart stars in this period tale of idyllic romance compromised by the reality of war. The director of INDOCHINE again embraces the…
- Land of Milk and Honey (1995)
- Dir. Joseph Destein
Feat. Lumi Cavazos, Richard Panebianco
- A hired man plumbs the secrets of a Spanish–American family on a remote Californian coastal farm, in this stark, brooding melodrama. Stars…
- Les Miserables (1995)
- Dir. Claude Lelouch
Feat. Jean-Paul Belmondo
- Widely considered the definitive screen version of this granddaddy of French literary staples. Few concessions have been allowed in staging a…
- Letters from the East (1995)
- Dir. Andrew Grieve
Feat. Ewa Froling, Mark Womack, Ingeborga Dapkunaite
- The political turmoil of the Baltic Republics provides a backdrop for this Anglo–Estonian drama, in which a young English woman searches for…
- Like Grains of Sand (1995)
- Dir. Hashiguchi Ryosuke
Feat. Yoshinori Okada, Kouta Kusano
- Remarkable, intense Japanese high school romance is centrally about a gay relationship, though it essentially captures the universal,…
- Mina Tannenbaum (1995)
- Dir. Martine Dugowson
Feat. Romane Bohringer, Elsa Zylberstein
- Two childhood girl–friends of different character and ambition endure a tempestuous friendship over three decades. A freshly drawn, stylish…
- Molom (1995)
- Dir. Marie Jaoul De Poncheville
Feat. Molom Tseded, Yonden Yondejunai
- Mystical travelogue of a spiritual nomad/shaman who comes to earth as an eagle, then traverses the breathtaking landscapes of rural Mongolia as the…
- Sun Valley (1995)
- Dir. He Ping
Feat. Feng Gu, Xueqi Wang
- A vengeful Chinese warrior drifts into a small village on the Silk Road, where he is destined for a climactic showdown with a rival suitor of a young…
- White Balloon, The (1995)
- Dir. Jafar Panahi
Feat. Aida Mohammadkhani, Mohsen Kalifi, Fereshteh Sadr Orfani
- Sophisticated kids and adults alike should seek out this multiple prize–winner from Iran that follows a seven–year–old–girl's…
- Blush (1994)
- Dir. Shaohong Li
Feat. Ji Wang, Zhiwen Wang, Caifei He…
- A sensual historical epic that follows the fortunes of two prostitutes who escape the Chinese revolution by fleeing their brothel in 1949 Shanghai.…
- Day the Sun Turned Cold (1994)
- Dir. Yim Ho
Feat. Siqin Gaowa
- Stark melodrama set in Northern China about a man who accuses his mother of having murdered his father some years before. Tantalising central tale,…
- Ermo (1994)
- Dir. Zhou Xiaowen
Feat. Liya Ai, Liu Peiqi
- A young woman yearns to acquire the largest colour tele in her village, largely as a bid in the popularity stakes. The Chinese flirt with materialism…
- Silences of the Palace (1994)
- Dir. Moufida Tlatli
Feat. Amel Hedhili, Hend Sabri, Najia Ouerghi…
- The daughter of a palatial servant reflects on her upbringing and steady revolt of her birthright obligations.
Impassioned look at the status of…
- Story of Xinghua (1994)
- Dir. Yin Li
Feat. Wen Jiang, Xingli Niu, Shaojun Tian…
- Set in a remote village at the ruins of the Great Wall in Northern China, this explores the conflict between moral corruption, ancient traditions and…
- Through the Olive Trees (1994)
- Dir. Abbas Kiarostami
Feat. Mohamad Ali Keshavarz, Farhad Keradmand, Zerifeh Shiva
- An extreme simplicity of style and storytelling disguises complex meditations on human nature and cinema in a typically distinctive film –…
- Especially On a Sunday (1993)
- Dir. Giuseppe Tornatore, Giuseppe Bertolucci, Marco Tul
Feat. Jean-Hugues Anglade, Patricia Arquette, Nicoletta Braschi…
- Three stories of love and loss from the pen of Tonino Guerra brought to screen life by three directing talents. Sublime fare in the finest European…
- I Don't Kiss (J'embrasse Pas) (1993)
- Dir. Andre Techine
Feat. Emmanuelle Beart, Philippe Noiret
- A 19–year old breaks away from his sheltered rural life and drifts into the seedy world of Parisian streetlife where he falls in love with…
- I Don't Want to Talk About It (1993)
- Dir. Maria Luisa Bemberg
Feat. Marcello Mastroianni, Luisina Brando, Alejandra Podesta
- The mother of a dwarf sets about removing all references in her town to dwarfism in order to protect her daughter from prejudice. Things complicate…
- Slingshot, The (1993)
- Dir. Ake Sandgren
Feat. Jesper Salen, Stellan Skarsgard, Basia Frydman
- A bittersweet snapshot of pre–war Stockholm in which an enterprising 10–year–old flirts with boyhood rebellion. This local…
- Sofie (1993)
- Dir. Liv Ulmann
Feat. Liv Ullmann
- Actress Liv Ullmann makes a confident directing debut with this period drama about a Jewish woman's emotional journey over 20 years that begins with…
- Temptation of a Monk (1993)
- Dir. Clara Law
Feat. Joan Chen, Zhang Fenyi
- Graphic chronicle of blood–letting by a fierce warrior general in 7th century China, that hews to the visual traditions of the classic Japanese…
- Accompanist, The (1992)
- Dir. Claude Miller
Feat. Richard Bohringer, Romane Bohringer
- A humble pianist is hired to accompany a wealthy soprano in occupied France, but their partnership becomes fraught with rivalry and…
- Best Intentions (1992)
- Dir. Bille August
Feat. Samuel Froler, Pernilla August, Max von Sydow…
- Sincere, meticulous yet characteristically bleak adaptation of Ingmar Bergman's biographical account of his parents' turbulent courtship and…
- Conte D'hiver (A Winter's Tale) (1992)
- Dir. Eric Rohmer
Feat. Charlotte Very, Frederic Van Den Driessche
- A whirlwind romance ends abruptly for a young woman when she accidentally gives her lover a wrong address. Four years pass and she remains possessed…
- Discrete, La (1992)
- Dir. Christian Vincent
Feat. Fabrice Luchini, Judith Henry, Maurice Garrel…
- Things don't go to plan for a philandering writer who refuses to commit emotionally. A literary yet accessible essay on sexual game–playing,…
- Fiorile (1992)
- Dir. Paolo Taviani, Vittorio Taviani
Feat. Claudio Bigagli, Galatea Ranzi, Michael Vartan
- The brothers' Taviani spin three torrid tales of hot–blooded Italians at love and war, recounted by a father to his children about family myths…
- La Reine Blanche (1992)
- Dir. Jean-Loup Hubert
Feat. Catherine Deneuve, Richard Bohringer
- The return of a childhood friend to his home fishing village has fateful consequences for a long–married couple.
- Lolo (1992)
- Dir. Francisco Athie
Feat. Damian Alcazar, Lorena Caballero, Alonso Echanove
- An unflinching portrait of an urban Mexican slum in which a 17–year–old's pursuit of happiness is shattered when a petty crime leads to…
- Mima (1992)
- Dir. Philomene Esposito
Feat. Nino Manfredi, Margarita Lozano, Virginie Ledoyen
- The first–time director captures the nuance and feeling of her own experience as a young girl who witnesses the mysterious disappearance of her…
- Ox, The (1992)
- Dir. Sven Nykvist
Feat. Stellan Skarsgard, Ewa Froling, Lennart Hjulstrom
- During the famine years of Sweden in the 1860s, a peasant family slaughter their employer's ox, then reap the consequences. Directed by Ingmar…
- Savage Nights (1992)
- Dir. Cyril Collard
Feat. Cyril Collard, Romane Bohringer, Carlos Lopez…
- A audaciously frank and romantic tale of the life, love and passions of its bisexual director and star, who died of AIDS and was posthumously…
- Station, The (1992)
- Dir. Sergio Rubini
Feat. Sergio Rubini, Margherita Buy, Ennio Fantastichini
- Beguiling film about a disillusioned society woman who becomes drawn to a humble station–master while waiting for the first available train.
- Stolen Children, The (1992)
- Dir. Gianni Amelio
Feat. Enrico Lo Verso, Valentina Scalici, Giuseppe Ieracitano
- Two kids are reluctantly escorted from Milan to Palermo after they are refused asylum at an orphanage. A warts–and–all, portrait of…
- Story of Qui Ju, The (1992)
- Dir. Zhang Yimou
Feat. Gong Li
- Docu–drama about a peasant wife's determined fight for her justice after her husband is assaulted. An insight into modern China is glimpsed…
- Warszawa (1992)
- Dir. Janusz Kijowski
Feat. Julie Delpy, Lambert Wilson, Hanna Schygulla
- Tense and original drama has a young Jewish couple (Lambert and Delpy) escaping the Warsaw massacre in 1943, by hiding with an older woman…
- Conte De Printemps (A Tale of Springtime) (1991)
- Dir. Eric Rohmer
Feat. Anne Teyssedre, Hugues Quester, Florence Darel…
- The first of the director's 'Tales of Four Seasons', as invigorating as its Springtime theme. Complex relationships are woven from the meeting of two…
- Herman (1991)
- Dir. Erik Gustavson
Feat. Anders Danielsen Lie, Elisabeth Sand, Bjorn Floberg
- A gentle, wry tale of a boy who finds his hair is falling out at the ripe old age of 11 but, instead of wallowing in puberty blues, chooses to turn…
- Indecent Woman, The (1991)
- Dir. Ben Verbong
Feat. Jose Way, Coen Van Vrijberghe de Coningh, Huub Stapel
- A married violinist is drawn into a no–holds–barred relationship with a mystery man. A decent erotic parable that perceptively explores…
- Journey of Hope (1991)
- Dir. Xavier Koller
Feat. Necmettin Cobanoglu, Emin Sivas, Yaman Okay
- Powerful but heart–breaking drama about an exiled Turkish family who trek through the Swiss alps in a desperate bid for a new homeland. Upset…
- Life On a String (1991)
- Dir. Chen Kaige
Feat. Zhongyuan Liu, Lei Huang, Qing Xu
- A richly poetic chronicle of a blind man who devotes himself to music. Like the director's subsequent FAREWELL MY CONCUBINE, some messages may be…
- Merci La Vie (1991)
- Dir. Bertrand Blier
Feat. Charlotte Gainsbourg, Anouk Grinberg
- Two young girls bond on a magical, mysterious tour played out against shifts in time, from the present to Occupied France. The audacious mix of ideas…
- Rhapsody in August (1991)
- Dir. Akira Kurosawa
Feat. Sachiko Murase, Richard Gere
- A Japanese grandmother shares painful memories of Nagasaki with her four grandchildren who travel to meet extended kin–folk in Hawaii.
Dir.…
- Tous Les Matins Du Monde (All the Mornings of the World) (1991)
- Dir. Alain Corneau
Feat. Jean-Pierre Marielle, Gerard Depardieu, Anne Brochet…
- Gerard Depardieu duets with real–life son Guillaume in this romantic tale of love, betrayal and classical music in the 17th Century. Exquisite…
- C'est La Vie (1990)
- Dir. Diane Kurys
Feat. Nathalie Baye, Richard Berry
- Another twee autobiographical snapshot, set at a French holiday resort in a late–'50s summer. A teenager's coming of age is marked by the…
- Close to Eden (Urga) (1990)
- Dir. Nikita Mikhalkov
Feat. Badema , Bayaertu , Vladimir Gostyukhin
- The vanishing ancient culture of Mongolia is offered spellbinding yet humourous insight through a herdsman's family whose simple life is threatened…
- Close-Up (1990)
- Dir. Abbas Kiarostami
Feat. Hossain Sabzian, Mohsen Makhmalbaf
- A uniquely–devised work intermingling life and art, documentary and fiction, born of a real life incident in which an unemployed film buff is…
- Life and Nothing But (1990)
- Dir. Bertrand Tavernier
Feat. Philippe Noiret, Sabine Azema
- Philippe Noiret plays a Missing–in–Action chief officer whose obsession to account for the anonymous casualties of WW1 draws him to a…
- Man and Two Women, A (1990)
- Dir. Valerie Stroh
Feat. Valerie Stroh, Lambert Wilson, Dianne Pierens
- Inspired by the writings of Doris Lessing, three sensuous stories are thoughtfully realised from the imagination of an emotionally inhibited writer.
- Martha and I (1990)
- Dir. Jiri Weiss
Feat. Michel Piccoli, Marianne Sagebrecht
- A touching, humourous yarn from the director's childhood memoirs. He witnesses his eccentric uncle (Michel Piccoli) marry his under–educated…
- Night Sun (Il Sole Anche Di Notte) (1990)
- Dir. Paolo Taviani, Vittorio Taviani
Feat. Julian Sands, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Nastassja Kinski
- After rejecting nobility, a soldier (Julian Sands) struggles to find fulfilment at a monastery. A thoughtful, near–mythical meditation based on…
- Royal Hunt, The (1990)
- Dir. Vitaly Melnikov
Feat. Nikolai Yeryomenko Ml, Svetlana Kryuchkova, Anna Sumokhing
- Erotic and exotic expose of Catherine the Great and the claimants to her throne in 17th Century Russia. Passion, scandal and lavish costumes come…
- Seduction: The Cruel Woman (1990)
- Dir. Monika Treut, Elfi Mikesch
Feat. Udo Kier
- The director of VIRGIN MACHINE takes her subversive sensibilities further with this outing exploring the activities of a domanatrix. Udo Kier takes…
- Story of Boys and Girls (1990)
- Dir. Pupi Avati
Feat. Felice Andreasi, Angiola Baggi, Davide Bechini
- A piquant soap opera in which love, lust and class rivalry add to a twenty course meal shared by the thirty relatives of a newly engaged couple in…
- Yaaba (1990)
- Dir. Idrissa Ouedraogo
Feat. Fatimata Sanga, Noufou Ouedraogo, Roukietou Barry
- All–too–rare African film to emerge on Western shores is a simple delight about a friendship between a 12–year–old boy and an…
- A World Without Pity (Un Monde Sans Pitie) (1989)
- Dir. Eric Rochant
Feat. Hippolyte Girardot, Mireille Perrier, Yvan Attal
- A young Parisian slacker falls in love with an ambitious, bright student but finds the tables turning on his egocentric existence. Rochant's debut…
- Belt, The (La Cintura) (1989)
- Dir. Giuliana Gamba
Feat. James Russo
- American teacher James Russo embarks on an affair with a beautiful Italian woman in Rome, which gets interesting when she buys him a belt... to whip…
- Circus Boys (1989)
- Dir. Kaizo Hayashi
Feat. Hiroshi Mikami, Moe Kamura, Shu Ken
- Sumptuous film blends illusion and reality in contrasting the paths of two brothers from a circus family, one an idealist who attempts to rejuvenate…
- City of Sadness, A (Beiging Chengsi) (1989)
- Dir. Hou Hsiao-Hsien
Feat. Tony Leung (Chiu-wai), Hsin Shu-fen, Chen Sown-yung…
- The first of the director’s trilogy of films about the modern history of Taiwan, here depicting the unstable post–WW2 period through the eyes…
- Emma's Shadow (1989)
- Dir. Soeren Jacobsen
Feat. Line Kruse, Borje Ahlstedt, Erik Wedersoe
- 12–year–old Emma, feeling that her affluent parents would care more for her if she were missing, fakes her own kidnapping, and discovers…
- Five Days in June (1989)
- Dir. Michel Legrand
Feat. Sabine Azema, Annie Girardot, Matthieu Roze
- Yet another addition to the canon of dramas based on childhood memoirs. A renowned composer takes the helm to recall five days in his life on the…
- Lily Was Here (1989)
- Dir. Ben Verbong
Feat. Marion Van Thijn, Thom Hoffman, Coen Van Vrijberghe de Coningh
- Well known for Eurythmics' Dave Stewart's seductive score, the film follows the desperate plight of a young woman forced to resort to prostitution…
- Little Thief, The (1989)
- Dir. Claude Miller
Feat. Charlotte Gainsbourg, Didier Bezace
- Penned by the late Francois Trauffant and completed by his protege, this engaging tale of mis–spent youth follows the adventures of a…
- Open Doors (1989)
- Dir. Gianni Amelio
Feat. Gian Maria Volente, Ennio Fantastichini, Renato Carpentieri
- A resonant political drama set in corrupt fascist Italy about a juror's attempt to save a political murderer from the gallows.
- Sandwich Years (Les années sandwiches) (1989)
- Dir. Emile Ghigo
Feat. Michel Aumont, Clovis Cornillac
- In post–war France, a young Jewish boy befriends an elderly op–shop owner after his parents are arrested.
- Secret Wedding (1989)
- Dir. Alejandro Agresti
Feat. Floria Bloise, Mirta Busnelli, Tito Haas
- An amnesic returns to his home village after 15 years to try to reconstruct his life, but the townspeople shun him and the authorities get…
- This Dance Is Ours (Waltzing Regitze) (1989)
- Dir. Kaspar Rostrup
Feat. Frits Helmuth, Mikael Helmuth, Ghita Norby
- Longtime married couple reminisce the good times and bad when Regitze hosts a party for family and friends. Finely crafted family drama with inspired…
- Zanzibar (1989)
- Dir. Christine Pascal
Feat. Fabienne Babe, Andre Marcon, Francis Girod
- An enigmatic, sensual work set in the tumultuous and fickle world of film–making where three self–interested obsessives – the…
- 36 Filette (Virgin) (1988)
- Dir. Catherine Breillat
Feat. Delphine Zentout, Etienne Chicot, Olivier Parniere
- The thrills and fears of a young girl's willed sexual awakening are explored when she opts to accept a ride from a mysterious stranger in order to…
- I'm the King of the Castle (1988)
- Dir. Regis Wargnier
Feat. Jean Rochefort, Dominic Blanc, Regis Arpin
- The young sons of a rich widowed industrialist and his house matron enter into an increasingly dangerous power play as their parents become close.…
- Mapantsula (1988)
- Dir. Oliver Schmitz
Feat. Eugene Majola, Darlington Michaels, Thomas Mogotlane
- A disturbingly accurate evocation of township unrest in Soweto, as a young black petty criminal is throne into jail with a militant fraternity whom…
- Rouge (1988)
- Dir. Stanley Kwan
Feat. Leslie Cheung
- Beautiful, haunting ghost story about a 1930s courtesan whose restless spirit roams modern Hong Kong. Asian stars Anita Mui and Leslie Cheung…
- Une Affair Des Femmes (a Story of Women) (1988)
- Dir. Claude Chabrol
Feat. Isabelle Huppert, Francois Cluzet
- Traumatic, gripping fact–based story about the last woman to be guillotined in France. Isabelle Huppert is in feverish form as the woman both…
- Dark Eyes (1987)
- Dir. Nikita Mikhalkov
Feat. Marcello Mastroianni
- The Soviet director ventures to Italy for this exquisite Chekhovian romantic tragedy in which Marcello Mastroianni abandons rationale for the allure…
- Girl Who Lived Twice, The (1987)
- Dir. Francois Villiers
Feat. Julian Sands
- Julian Sands stars in this fantasy/drama about an Indian girl's obsession with finding her alleged rich husband of a past life. Shot in Nepal.
- Grand Chemin, Le (1987)
- Dir. Jean-Loup Hupert
Feat. Anemone , Richard Bohringer
- A charming, heartfelt drama about a childless and unhappy couple who are entrusted with the care of a 9–year–old relative over the summer…
- Long Live the Lady (1987)
- Dir. Ermanno Olmi
Feat. Marco Esposito, Simone Brandalise, Stafania Busanello
- Six teenage catering scholars await a banquet at a remote chateau. A telling observation of boyhood evolves, with an emphasis on action and…
- Sur (1987)
- Dir. Fernando Solanas
Feat. Susu Pecoraro, Miguel Angel Sola, Philippe Leotard
- A political prisoner, freed after five years, confronts his haunting past and alien present before reconciling with his wife. Deeply personal,…
- Bashu, The Little Stranger (1986)
- Dir. Bahram Beizai
Feat. Susan Taslimi, Parvis Pourhosseini, Adrian Afravian
- Compassionate film follows the plight of a 10–year–old boy whose raided Iranian village forced him to take contentious refuge. Certain to…
- Decline of the American Empire (1986)
- Dir. Denys Arcand
Feat. Pierre Curzi, Remy Girard, Yves Jacques…
- An astute and devastatingly frank expose of the sexes from the director of JESUS OF MONTREAL, that alternately eavesdrops on the separate gatherings…
- Good Morning, Babylon (1986)
- Dir. Paolo Taviani, Vittorio Taviani
Feat. Vincent Spano, Joaquim De Almeida, Greta Scacchi
- Two artisan Italian brothers seek their fortune in America and wind up sculpting for D.W. Griffith on the set of INTOLERANCE. An elegant tribute to…
- Man and A Woman: 20 Years Later, A (1986)
- Dir. Claude Lelouch
Feat. Anouk Aimee, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Richard Berry
- Worthy follow–up to Lelouch's seminal 60's romantic drama benefits from appealing performances by it's two leads.
- Mauvais Sang (The Night Is Young) (1986)
- Dir. Leos Carax
Feat. Michel Piccoli, Denis Lavant, Juliette Binoche
- A street–punk joins a gang of hoods intent on stealing a top–secret serum, but complications prevail. Romantic thriller contains…
- Therese (1986)
- Dir. Alain Cavalier
Feat. Catherine Mouchet, Aurore Prieto, Sylvie Habault…
- Brooding realisation of the diaries of a convent girl who achieved sainthood. The meticulous, stylised treatment offers an experience akin to…
- Great Wall, A (The Great Wall is A Great Wall) (1985)
- Dir. Peter Wang
Feat. Peter Wang, Sharon Iwai, Kelvin Han Yee
- The first American film to be shot in China follows a Chinese–American computer executive (the director) and his family to Peking where they…
- Mishima - A Life in Four Chapters (1985)
- Dir. Paul Schrader
Feat. Ken Ogata
- Fascinating study of the controversial Japanese author/militarist whose desire to merge life and art led to his ritualistic suicide. A luminous…
- And the Ship Sails On (1984)
- Dir. Federico Fellini
Feat. Freddie Jones, Barbara Jefford, Victor Poletti
- An idyllic odyssey aboard an ocean liner, where celebrated guests who have gathered for the funeral voyage of a great opera star are introduced in…
- Holy Innocents, The (1984)
- Dir. Mario Camus
Feat. Alfredo Landa, Terele Pavez, Belen Ballesteros
- A soldier returns to his rural croft and recalls his impoverished family's struggle with daily life and unscrupulous landlords. The bitter climate of…
- Runner, The (1984)
- Dir. Amir Naderi
Feat. Abbas Nazeri, Majid Niroumand, Musa Torkizadeh
- On a coastline strewn with the flotsam of the Arabian Gulf, an Iranian orphan boy scrapes a living together scavenging and selling ice before it…
- Swann in Love (1984)
- Dir. Volker Schlondorff
Feat. Jeremy Irons, Ornella Muti, Alain Delon…
- Lavish filming of Proust's novel 'Remembrance of Things Past' which centres around a high class man who risks everything for his erotic obsessions.…
- Three of Us, The (Noi Tre) (1984)
- Dir. Pupi Avati
Feat. Christopher Davidson, Ida De Benedetto, Gianni Cavina…
- Charming, though slender, portrayal of Mozart’s teenage life as the 14–year old musical prodigy spends a summer in Italy and starts to…
- Yellow Earth (1984)
- Dir. Chen Kaige
Feat. Quiang Liu, Tuo Tan, Xueyin Wang…
- This spearheaded the wave of modern Chinese cinema to be seen outside the People's Republic. A communist soldier visits a backwards village in 1939…
- Return of Martin Guerre (1982)
- Dir. Daniel Vigne
Feat. Gerard Depardieu, Nathalie Baye
- A legendary French tale with Gerard Depardieu as the 16th century peasant who returns to his family after an eight year absense but is suspected of…
- That Night in Varennes (1982)
- Dir. Etore Scolla
Feat. Marcello Mastroianni, Jean-Louis Barrault, Harvey Keitel
- An enthralling, vivid historical drama set during the last days of Louis XVI's reign during the 1791 revolution, but focusing largely on a band of…
- Choix Des Armes, Le (Choice of Arms) (1981)
- Dir. Alain Corneau
Feat. Yves Montand, Catherine Deneuve, Gerard Depardieu
- Two disparate ex–convicts face difficulties settling into normal society. Boasts France's greatest acting talents.
- Les Uns et Les Autres (Bolero) (1981)
- Dir. Claude Lelouch
Feat. James Caan, Geraldine Chaplin, Robert Hossein…
- Sprawling extravaganza of questionable taste is not without its devotees. It charts the impact that music has made on the lives of four…
- No Time for Tears (1981)
- Dir. Hark Bohm
Feat. Marie Colbin, Michael Gwisdek
- True story of Marianne Bachmeier who shot the murderer of her child during his trial. Subtle yet disturbing film concentrates on the background to…
- Pixote (1981)
- Dir. Hector Babenco
Feat. Marilia Pera, Ramos Da Silva
- Inspired by the plight of his country's homeless children, dir. Babenco created this semi–improvised odyssey of three boys in the slums of…
- To Forget Venice (1979)
- Dir. Franco Brusati
Feat. Mariangela Melato, Eleonora Giorgi, Erland Josephson
- Brooding melodrama about an extended family reunion in the house of an Operatic matriach.
- Orchestra Rehearsal, The (1978)
- Dir. Federico Fellini
Feat. Baldwin Baas, Clara Colosimo, Elizabeth Labi
- A comedy of the absurd about a group of orchestra musicians who stage a revolt against the conductor after the building collapses. Allegory may be…
- Chess Players, The (1977)
- Dir. Satyajit Ray
Feat. Richard Attenborough
- India's first internationally renowned film–maker draws upon the ancient game of chess as a metaphor for Anglo–Indian political relations…
- Despair (1977)
- Dir. Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Feat. Dirk Bogarde
- Fassbinder's blackly comic adaptation of Nabakov's novel about delusion, depression and decline of the human spirit. Dirk Bogarde plays a Russian…
- Goalkeeper's Fear of the Penalty, The (1971)
- Dir. Wim Wenders
Feat. Arthur Brauss
- Enigmatic tale of a maturing goalkeeper who abandons his soccer team and ambles about Germany. Dir. Wender's typical sketchbook narrative provides…
- Spider's Stratagem, The (1970)
- Dir. Bernardo Bertolucci
Feat. Giulio Brogi, Alida Valli
- Investigating the death of his anti–fascist father, Giulio Brogi is enveloped in an atmosphere of mystery as he strolls the sleepy town where…
- Femme Infidele, La (The Unfaithful Wife) (1969)
- Dir. Claude Chabrol
Feat. Michel Bouquet, Stephane Audran, Maurice Ronet
- French bourgeoisie couple Michel Bouquet and Stephane Audran form a murderous love–triangle with seducer Maurice Ronet, revealing the hidden…
- Milky Way, The (1968)
- Dir. Luis Bunuel
Feat. Paul Frankeur, Laurent Terzieff, Alain Cuny…
- Bunuel experiments with narrative in relating theories of traditional Catholicism to the encounters of two wandering vagrants.
- Oedipus Rex (1967)
- Dir. Pier Paolo Pasolini
Feat. Silvana Mangano, Franco Citti, Alida Valli
- Striking visual achievement, filmed amidst the Moroccan desert and Bologna, describes the Oedipal tale of a tortured soul who murders his father and…
- Before the Revolution (1966)
- Dir. Bernardo Bertolucci
Feat. Adriana Asti, Francisco Barilli
- Bertolucci's second film – made at the age of 22! – demonstrates his bravura visual style fully formed around this coming of age in the…
- Guerre Est Finie, La (1966)
- Dir. Alain Resnais
Feat. Yves Montand, Ingrid Thulin, Genevieve Bujold…
- (The War is Over). Deeply romantic film in which Spanish Civil War refugee Yves Montand tries in vain to keep alive the memory of his struggle.
- Hamlet (1964)
- Dir. Grigori Kozintsev
Feat. Innokenti Smoktunovsky
- The legendary Russian version of Shakespeare's play, which visually at least, stands as the greatest yet.
Staged amidst the massive battlements of…
- Madame (1962)
- Dir. Christian-Jaque
Feat. Sophia Loren, Robert Hossein
- Rags–to–riches tale set in Napoleonic France mirrors the real life of its Italian bomb–shell star, Sophia Loren.
- World of Apu, The (1959)
- Dir. Satyajit Ray
Feat. Soumitra Chatterjee, Sharmila Tagore, Alok Chakravarty
- Final installment of the 'Apu trilogy' sees the complexities of adulthood painfully and euphorically realised for Apu through ambition, marriage and…
- Magician, The (The Face) (1958)
- Dir. Ingmar Bergman
Feat. Max von Sydow
- Bergman's allegorical self–portrait of a controversial travelling magician who exacts revenge on a cynical doctor, but becomes trapped in his…
- Life of Oharu (1953)
- Dir. Kenji Mizoguchi
Feat. Kinuyo Tanaka, Toshiro Mifune
- The prolific, though rarely seen dir. Mizoguchi came to attention with this chronicled downfall of a court–concubine in 17th century Japan,…
- Summer with Monika (1952)
- Dir. Ingmar Bergman
Feat. Harriet Andersson
- Early Bergman turns his lens on a pair of working class, teenage lovers. At first this rebellious holiday boat ride comes across as dreamy escapism…
- Stromboli (1950)
- Dir. Roberto Rossellini
Feat. Ingrid Bergman
- After his neo–realist masterpieces, this is one of the dir.'s best films, concerning a WW2 refugee who hastily marries an Italian fisherman and…
- Summer Interlude (1950)
- Dir. Ingmar Bergman
Feat. Maj-Britt Nilsson, Birger Malmsten, Alf Kjellin
- Perhaps Bergman's first significant work, about an aging ballerina who reflects on a youthful romance with her now–deceased lover in moody…
- Paisa (1946)
- Dir. Roberto Rossellini
Feat. Carmela Sazio, Robert Van Loon, Benjamin Emmanuel
- Six short films focusing on the minor victories and losses of ordinary folk during WW2. Pioneering the now–familiar use of documentary footage,…
- Torment (Hets) (1944)
- Dir. Alf Sjoberg
Feat. Stig Jarrel, Alf Kjellin, Mai Zetterling…
- Impressionistic study of authoritarian education and adolescent love was scripted by a young Ingmar Bergman, and its universe of cruel twists and…
- Eternel Retour, L' (1942)
- Dir. Jean Delannoy
Feat. Jean Marais, Madeleine Sologney, Yvonne de Bray…
- (Love Eternal) A contemporary take on the legend of Tristan and Isolde, lovers united after death. Jean Cocteau's script is realised with the…
- Les Visiteurs Du Soir (1942)
- Dir. Marcel Carne
Feat. Arletty, Marie Dea, Fernand Ledoux…
- Two of the Devil's henchmen are dispatched to a fairytale–like 15th century castle with an eye to corrupting its inhabitants, especially a pair…
- Jour Se Leve, Le (Daybreak) (1939)
- Dir. Marcel Carne
Feat. Jean Gabin, Arletty
- A renowned example of 'poetic realism', Jean Gabin gives another consummate performance as a doomed anti–hero. His tragic story is told in…
- I Accuse (J'Accuse) (1938)
- Dir. Abel Gance
Feat. Victor Francen, Line Noro, Marie Lou
- Dir. Gance’s own remake of his 1919 silent classic, in which a soldier traumatised by the slaughter of WWI attempts to prevent future…
- Marseillaise, La (1938)
- Dir. Jean Renoir
Feat. Pierre Renoir, Lisa Delamare, Leon Larive…
- Renoir's classic depicts events leading up to the French revolution in the 18th Century, electing to extract history from the heart of the common…
- Le Crime De Monsieur Lange (1935)
- Dir. Jean Renoir
Feat. Rene Lefevre, Florelle , Jules Berry
- One of the dir.’s early classics. Rene Leferve rises to newsprint fame as the author of the serial “Arizona Jim” after his boss, a…
- Liebelei (1933)
- Dir. Max Ophuls
Feat. Arthur Schnitzler
- An early work from the German maestro of the tracking shot, whose tale of doomed romance between a young soldier and fraulein (taken from a play by…
- Blood of a Poet (1930)
- Dir. Jean Cocteau
Feat. Lee Miller, Pauline Carton
- Cocteau's first film is a surrealist gem that sewed the seeds of his style. The Dali/Bunuel influence is clear, but this goes one step further with…
- Diary of a Lost Girl (1929)
- Dir. G.W. Pabst
Feat. Louise Brooks
- Exceptional follow–up to the eye–opening PANDORA’S BOX, with Louise Brooks again provoking disorder with her unrestrained vitality and…