This is the middle story of Satyajit Ray's Bengali trilogy and, after Pather Panchali, we find Apu on the cusp of adulthood. The young lad moves with his family to Benares but with the death of his father, Apu's desire to continue his learning is affirmed and as his passion for knowledge grows so he and his mother find themselves drifting apart, especially as he wants to leave home and go to Calcutta to study. Aparajito is a beautifully drawn film and an immaculate observation of the characters find out more...

In a Catholic boarding school during the Nazi occupation of France, Julien Quietin, played by Gaspard Manesse as the character based around Malle, is no ordinary student, he is intelligent and different from the others. A new student arrives at the school one day and becomes a sort of intellectual rival to Julien, but, after some early hostilities, the boys begin to connect and eventually become good friends. Malle does not rely on overly dramatic sequences where not necessary as a way to build find out more...

Luis Bunuel's caustic foray into the life and lusts of the French bourgeoisie is an elegant version of Joseph Kessel's novel and an amoral comedy of manners. Deneuve enchants as the bored and hypnotic housewife who turns to courtesanship to fill the void in her life. Complications are rife, with Deneuve's odd mix of customers providing some delicious fun. 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...

Michelangelo Antonioni's 'Red Desert' is an undeniable cinematic masterpiece which tells the story of Giuliana (Monica Vitti), a complicated and lonely woman, who is on the brink of having an affair. The film's harsh landscapes, remarkable colouring (this was Antonioni's first colour picture) and grating, industrial soundtrack are exemplary in their explication of the emotional isolation and mental illness from which Giuliana suffers. Aesthetically breathtaking, this is an absolute must-see. find out more...

Resnais's controversial attempt at collaboration with avant garde author Alain Robbe-Grillet. The film sets up a puzzle that is never resolved, a man meets a woman in a rambling hotel and believes he may have had an affair with her the previous year at Marienbad - or did he? Or was it somewhere else? Deliberately scrambling chronology to the point where past, present and future become meaningless, Resnais creates a vaguely unsettling mood by means of stylish composition, long, smooth tracking sh find out more...

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Life is crazy. You're crazy, I'm crazy, we're all crazy. We're all a little bit Minnie, and a little bit Moskowitz. Sometimes it does seem best to be sensible...but then what might you be missing out on? You gotta be you. You don't have to park cars and semi-randomly yell at people, but you can't hide yourself behind a veil (or dark sunglasses) and pretend and act like ever find out more...

A thirteen-year-old girl is drafted in as a substitute teacher in a small, isolated mountain village in rural China. When one of her poverty stricken pupils elopes to the city to try and earn some much needed readies she is determined to follow him and bring him back. Shot in verite style using real people, not actors, this heart-warming audience pleaser won the prestigious 1999 Golden Lion at the Venice film festival. find out more...

Carmen is a terrorist who falls in love with a young cop guarding a bank that she and her gang try to rob. She leads him on, the pair of them legging it to her film-maker uncle's beach pad, while dragging the two of them closer to their ultimate doom. Carmen runs around naked a lot, string quartets play Beethoven, uncle (Godard himself) can't get his film act together and the romance fizzles out. As for you Bizet fans out there, make of it what you will, but 'Carmen' is in there, albeit in a con find out more...