Ralph Thomas's very watchable adaptation of Dickens's tale of revolutionary France. Bogarde plays the melancholy, self-pitying lawyer Sidney Carton, who finds his metier in the daring rescue of a French nobleman. Bogarde's laconic delivery makes the film. Excellent. find out more...

A little Reaganite romance about a dashing fighter pilot and a simple girl from the town. It's tough trying to make it at pilot training school, but then Richi is just so hunky.... find out more...

Winner of four Oscars, this film is shot with the most beautifully scenic backgrounds and with great attention to costume detail. An Irish adventurer, Barry Lyndon, crosses Europe from woman to job, but in the end returns to Britain seeking a wealthy marriage. find out more...

The young Jane Austin is a feisty, forthright young lady on the cusp of a good marriage with rich, nice Mr Wisley when the dashing, reckless, irresponsible Tom Lefroy enters her myopic world. At first repelled by his arrogance the two soon become smitten but what chance does their love have in the face of overwhelming social disdain? 'Becoming Jane' is a lush and pleasantly performed imagining of the young writer's life. Though the idea that her novels were little more than dramatized biogs of h find out more...

Energetic, stylish and often witty BBC dramatisation that alternates between the gripping love triangle involving the young Casanova, Henriette and her husband Grimani, and the swan song of the world's most notorious lothario. Written by Russell T. Davies, creator of 'Queer As Folk' and the scribe behind the new 'Doctor Who'. find out more...

For the first time in his life, the legendary Casanova (Ledger) is about to meet his match in an alluring feminist Venetian beauty, Francesca (Miller), who does the one thing he never thought possible, refuse him. Through a series of clever disguises and scheming ruses, he manages to get ever closer to Francesca, but he is playing a most dangerous game, one that will risk not only his life and reputation, but his only opportunity for true love. A charming period romance with lots of humour. find out more...

At the peak of her international career, Maria Enders is asked to perform in a revival of the play that made her famous twenty years ago. But back then she played the role of Sigrid, an alluring young girl who disarms and eventually drives her boss Helena to suicide. Now she is being asked to step into the other role, that of the older Helena. She departs with her assistant to rehearse in Sils Maria; a remote region of the Alps. A young Hollywood starlet with a penchant for scandal is to take find out more...

In a relentless battle of intrigue the Marquise and her ex-lover the Vicomte set up a web of seduction and counter-seduction to exercise their rivalry. Their obsessive powerplay inevitably creates both pleasure and pain. Well adapted and beautifully set and shot, this is absorbing and disturbing. find out more...

A sumptuous swashbuckler, with romance, swordfights and a slyly subtle wit. It's 1699, and dashing young blade Lagardere (Daniel Auteil) becomes the best friend of the fabulously wealthy Duc de Nevers (Vincent Perez) who must produce a legitimate heir. Loitering with intent is Nevers's treacherous cousin, Count Gonzague, who rather fancies a bite of the cherry, and is prepared to do anything to get it. An excellent, highly entertaining adaptation of Paul Feval's novel. find out more...

Set during the height of the French aristocracy, Le Bossu is a classic swashbuckling romp, thick with skulduggery, revenge and some fantastic swordsmanship. A rip roaring period adventure. find out more...