Mona’s teenage life defines the word ‘crap’, not tragic, just without hope; her brother is the only family she has left and he’s found God in the same obsessively sociopathic way that he originally found booze, while a weekly hump in the back of a van with a married man actually constitutes fun rather than repetitive sexual abuse. Into this world wanders Tamsin, pretty, pretentious, spoilt but ignored and with a dangerous sense of mischief born of arrogance and naivety. An intense relationship b 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...

Frontiersman Vern Haskell (Arthur Kennedy) wanders the West obsessed with finding the culprits responsible for murdering his fiancee. His quest leads him to Chuck-a-Luck - the film's original title - a combination horse ranch and criminal hideout overseen by saloon chanteuse Altar Keane (Marlene Dietrich). Posing as an escaped criminal Haskell falls in with murderous gunslinger Frenchy Fairmont (Mel Ferrer) and gradually becomes indistinguishable from the men he is hunting. find out more...

The true story of Karen Silkwood, a worker at the Kerr-McGee nuclear plant in Cimarron, Oklahoma, who becomes aware of cover-ups about the dangers to her and her fellow workers and gets immersed in fighting her bosses for safety rights. The film very effectively mixes her personal life, ex-hubby, boyfriend, lesbian mate, child custody, heart to hearts, and her political struggle. Eventually she discovers she has a highly radioactive fridge and they are out to get her. Meryl Streep is again brill find out more...

All time classic wonderfully filmed by Wilder, featuring great performances from Holden, as a bankrupt screenwriter seeking refuge, and Swanson, a faded star in a crumbling mansion, who pins her hopeless hopes of a comeback on the writer. Deliriously dark and nightmarish masterpiece. find out more...

Two best friends leave their Arkansas town for a weekend break, but become fugitives before crossing the state line. As the police get closer the friends grow farther away from the women they were when they first left town. Their hair comes down as they take to the fugitive life but they grow ever out of control of their own situation. Wrongly hailed as an anti-man flick upon its original release, this feminist classic has become a landmark in the history of film. Davis and Sarandon were duall find out more...

Samantha Morton plays Liverpool lass Iris, whose life starts going downhill when her mother's given just weeks to live. Unable to cope with her grief and the growing distance between her and her happily married, pregnant and "normal" sister, Iris reacts by shedding her boyfriend, job, and self-respect. Dark, emotionally charged and excellently played. find out more...

Vera Drake, is one of the kindest, most selfless individuals any right thinking person could hope to meet, the mother of two grown up children, the wife of a loving husband, she works as a cleaner and is the epitome of a warm hearted decency. Vera is not just devoted to her family however, in the little spare time available to her she helps young girls terminate unwanted pregnancies and, though she takes no payment, this is 1950s Britain and the consequences for her actions, should she be discov find out more...

Nana is a provincial girl working as a shop assistant who, after separating from her husband, decides to embark on a career as an actress. She watches the silent classic 'The Passion Of Joan Of Arc' and, with tears streaming down her face, abandons her ambition and instead drifts into a life of prostitution. The film is presented in twelve episodes which navigate us through Nana's sad life climaxing with a shocking and poignant finale. Jean-Luc Godard expertly directs his then wife, Anna Karina, find out more...