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...

Lady Susan Vernon takes up temporary residence at her in-laws' estate and, while there, is determined to be a matchmaker for her daughter Frederica and herself too, naturally.

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Max Ophuls's penultimate film, this adaptation of the Louise de Vilmorin novel 'Madame de...' is a beautifully paced melodrama. The story concerns an 18th Century Countess and her doomed love affair with a Baron. A pair of diamond earrings function as a pivotal plot device, initially given to the Countess by her husband, they pass through a number of owners before ending up back with the Countess, allowing a satirical take on the superficiality and greed of the times. Ophuls' characteristic movi find out more...

A truly remarkable adaptation of Woolf's novel. Tilda Swanton is enthralling as the androgenous and ageless Orlando seeking love in a 400 year odyssey; from the finery of Elizabeth the First's court, through the Civil War, the early colonial period, the literary salons of 1750, by which time Orlando is a woman, the Victorian era of property, and finally to the present day. Potter's direction adds a marvellous period feel. Superb, this is a magical story . find out more...

A dark and enthralling tale of love, obsession, murder and ultimately redemption. Sweeney Todd tells the story of the murderous barber of Fleet Street, East London, who slashed the necks of his unsuspecting victims whilst they sat in his chair. When Mrs Lovett, a young lady who isn't too choosy about her men, or the source of meat for her pies, is installed in a shop next door to Sweeney's thriving business, the pair forge a complex destructive partnership and customers begin to disappear with a find out more...

Peter Brook's adaptation of the John Gay opera follows the story of roguish highwayman Captain MacHeath as he awaits his seemingly inevitable trip to the gallows. It is only the Captain's studious use of a file that provides him with the opportunity of escape, but as the highwayman prepares to flee, a beggar who has written an opera of the great man's exploits waylays him. "The Beggar's Opera" is a hugely enjoyable satire on 18th Century society and says much that still rings true today. find out more...

To spark up or not to spark up? This rambling, flamboyant, incoherent ‘head movie' should be approached with caution by anyone who hasn't got any drugs in their system. In the Napoleonic wars, an officer finds an old book that relates his grandfather's story. On a trip to Madrid a Belgian soldier takes a short cut across the mountains, a land of robbers, body snatching gypsies and devils, and stays at an inn named the Venta Quemada....Luis Buñuel (who seldom viewed movies more than once) liked t find out more...

A visually extravagant production of this classic tale of adventure and romance. There's lots of swashbuckling action as D'Artagnan and the Three Musketeers try to return the stolen diamonds to the Queen of France in time for the ball. With energetic performances this is a fun film to see! find out more...

18th Century France and the calculating and malicious Madame de Merteuil wishes revenge on her lover, who is set to marry the virginal and childish Cecile. To do this she enlists her old friend the playboy Valmont and in doing so makes a bet over his ability to bed the straight-laced Madame de Tourvel. However when Valmont sets out on his task the unexpected happens, he finds a heart, and this threatens de Merteuil's plans. Overshadowed by the simultaneous release of Stephen Frears' 'Dangerous L find out more...