ROH Ballet

Classic ballet in two acts. Encore by satellite from the Royal Opera House.

‘Giselle’ is the quintessential Romantic classic, a love affair that begins in the real world and continues beyond the grave. The ballet’s title role also offers one of the great challenges of the ballet repertory, as Giselle transforms from an innocent peasant girl, duped into love, to a forgiving spirit who saves her lover from death. For the ballerina this is a role of two contrasting halves: in Act I she must appear naïve and artless, her dancing alive with an earthy enthusiasm; in Act II she transforms into light and air, her dancing so ethereal as to seem weightless.

In Peter Wright’s production, the dual aspect of the ballet is perfectly achieved: the first act dramatized in rich, naturalistic detail and the second with a spectral, moonlit beauty. Composed by Adolphe Adam revised by Joseph Horovitz. Dancers include Marianela Nuñez and Vadim Muntagirov. Running time 135m approx including interval.

Tickets £17.50 (Friends/Students £15)

Christopher Nolan’s dazzling and ambitious race against time thriller was the first big film to lead us back into theatres after Lockdown.

If you found Nolan’s ‘Interstellar’ and ‘Inception’ riveting yet baffling, then prepare yourself for more of the director’s tinkering with time and structure. The plot concerns John David Washington known simply as ‘the Protagonist’ who is tasked with preventing World War III. What makes his task even harder is the inversion of time - at one point the Protagonist ends up fighting a past version of himself. Getting a handle on Tenet’s plot is like doing a Rubik’s cube inside a tumble drier. Nevertheless, with Nolan you get a truly cinematic experience. Expect extensive globetrotting from one dazzling set piece to another. Buckle up.

UK 2020 Christopher Nolan 150m

With their partners away serving in Afghanistan, a group of women on the home front form a choir and quickly find themselves at the centre of a media sensation and global movement.

The film focuses on two women and their differing attempts to raise the spirits of those left behind at a military base. With their partners away in Afghanistan, the women fall into a familiar routine, glumly aware of what lies ahead as they either wait for their return or for news they hope will never arrive. It’s a mode of living that Kate (Kristin Scott Thomas) knows all too well, her son killed in battle while her husband continues to fight and as she hands over social committee duties to Lisa (Sharon Horgan), she finds it difficult to let go. Kate is uptight and chilly while Lisa is laidback and unconventional and the two clash as they find ways to distract the women around them. But an uneasy partnership is formed as they decide upon a choir, an idea that grows into something neither of them could have expected. There is no denying that this is a film that squeezes a well-known true story into the crowd-pleasing packaging of a feelgood Brit-com. But we know it will be a blast, especially as the director rose to fame with 1997’s ‘The Full Monty’.

UK 2020 Peter Cattaneo 110m

Portrait de la Jeune Fille en Feu

A vivid 18th century portrait of the stolen romantic relationship between two young women, played by Noémie Merlant and Adèle Haenel, who have a persuasive onscreen connection which gives this affair a life of its own.

Brittany 1760. Painter Marianne (Merlant) is commissioned to do the wedding portrait of Héloïse (Haenel). Héloïse is a reluctant bride-to-be and Marianne must paint her without her knowing. She observes her by day and secretly paints her at night. Intimacy and attraction grow between the two as they share Héloïse’s first and last moments of freedom, all whilst Marianne paints the portrait that will end it all. One of the hits at Cannes 2019. "Sciamma brings the erotic together with the cerebral … I was on the edge of my seat.” - The Guardian. (Subtitles)

France 2019 Céline Sciamma 119m

Divorce drama that feels bracingly original and nuanced set against a landscape of pebbly beaches, rocky crags and chalky cliffs.

Delving into the anatomy of a broken relationship, ‘Hope Gap’ stars Annette Benning as Grace and Bill Nighy as Edward who suddenly announces his intention to end their long marriage. Described by writer director William Nicholson as a midpoint between ‘Brief Encounter’ and ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf’ the film explores the emotional fallout on Grace and her grown son. Filmed on the Sussex coast near Seaford this is a classy and insightful directorial debut as well as a reminder that some couples are better off apart.

UK 2019 William Nicholson 100m

La Vérité

Masterful Japanese writer-director Hirokazu Kore-eda (‘Shoplifters’) teams up with two French acting legends, and revisits familiar themes with a typically sensitive touch.

Fabienne (Catherine Deneuve) is an aging French movie star who remains a venerable force to be reckoned with. Upon the publication of her memoirs, her daughter Lumir (Juliette Binoche) returns to Paris from New York with her husband (Ethan Hawke) and daughter to commemorate its release. A sharp and funny battle of wits ensues between the mother-daughter duo, as Lumir takes issue with Fabienne's rose-coloured version of the past. Reflected cleverly by Fabienne's latest role in a sci-fi drama, their strained relationship takes a poignant journey toward possible reconciliation. Charming, bold, and imbued with endless emotional insight, ‘The Truth’ offers a relatable look at human relationships, featuring exquisite performances from its all-star cast. Kore-eda transforms the magisterial persona that Deneuve frequently supplies to other directors into something more complex, tragic and yet defiant. (Subtitles)

France/Japan 2019 Hirokazu Kore-eda 106m

The third collaboration between Bill Murray and director Sophia Coppola. A young mother reconnects with her larger-than-life playboy father on an adventure through New York.

Having experienced sudden doubts about her marriage, Laura (Rashida Jones) teams up with her father (Bill Murray) to tail her husband. What follows is a love letter to New York with Murry and Jones prowling the city at night, careering from uptown parties to downtown hotspots. However, at the heart of their journey lies an examination of their own relationship. Sophia Coppola is at her light-hearted best in this clever generation-clash comedy that slyly observes how we see relationships differently from our parents.

USA 2020 Sophia Coppola 96m

By Noël Coward

Matthew Warchus directs Andrew Scott (BBC’s Sherlock, Fleabag) in Noël Coward’s provocative comedy 'Present Laughter'.

As he prepares to embark on an overseas tour, star actor Garry Essendine’s colourful life is in danger of spiralling out of control. Engulfed by an escalating identity crisis as his many and various relationships compete for his attention, Garry’s few remaining days at home are a chaotic whirlwind of love, sex, panic and soul-searching. Captured live from The Old Vic in London, Present Laughter is a giddy and surprisingly modern reflection on fame, desire and loneliness.

Time tbc inc interval.

Tickets £17.50 (Friends £15)

La Darone

A crackerjack performance from Isabelle Huppert with one of her most relatable characters - a police translator turned drug dealer.

A French-Arabic police translator specialises in phone tapping for the anti-narcotics unit. One day, while listening to wanted drug dealers, she discovers one of them is the son of the fantastic woman who takes care of her mother. She decides to protect him and is brought into the middle of a drug network. When she gets her hands on a huge load of hash, with the help of her new partner, the former police dog called DNA, she seizes the opportunity and becomes “Mama Weed”, drug wholesaler. (Subtitles)

France 2020 Jean-Paul Salomé 104m

'Cyrano de Bergerac' gets the 'Shakespeare in Love' treatment in this entertaining and unashamedly entertaining backstage farce.

Alexis Michalik’s period-set biopic reveals the drama behind the playwright’s most famous work Cyrano de Bergerac. We meet Edmond Rostand (Thomas Solivérès) during the explosion of artistic production that marked the Belle Époque in late 19th-century France. Despite being a clearly gifted writer, his career has yet to take off, and his bruised ego makes it difficult for him to find further inspiration. But, with the support of the legendary Sarah Bernhardt (Clémentine Célarié), stage legend Constant Coquelin (Olivier Gourmet) approaches Edmond and demands to star in his next play. With only three weeks to write it and only the title – Cyrano de Bergerac – to work with, can he accomplish the impossible? (Subtitles)

France 2018 Alexis Michalik 112m

An enchanting and timeless adventure celebrating friendship, nature and the limitless power of childhood imagination, where an orphaned girl discovers a magical garden hidden at her strict uncle's estate in Yorkshire.

‘The Secret Garden’ tells the story of Mary Lennox (Dixie Egerickx), a prickly and unloved 10-year-old girl, born in India to wealthy British parents. When she is sent back to England to live with her uncle, Archibald Craven (Colin Firth) at Misselthwaite Manor, under the watchful eye of Mrs. Medlock (Julie Walters) Mary dreams of company. She begins to uncover many family secrets, particularly after meeting her sickly cousin Colin (Edan Hayhurst), and through her discovery of a wondrous garden, locked away and lost within the grounds of Misselthwaite Manor. While searching for Hector, the stray dog who had led Mary to the garden walls, she befriends local boy Dickon (Amir Wilson). Together, these three damaged, slightly misfit children heal each other as they delve deeper into the mysteries of the garden – a magical place of adventure that will change their lives forever. From the producer of ‘Paddington’ and ‘Harry Potter’ comes a visionary adaptation of one of the world’s most enduring children’s stories.

UK/France 2020 Mark Munden

In partnership with the Chichester Festival Theatre.

Professor Simon Barker, with Rosemary Coxon and Patrick Hargood from the Cinema Education Team, discuss political and cultural representation in Assassins, alongside an exploration of Stephen Sondheim’s great works including clips from a range of films.

120m

Tickets £10

This French submission for the Best Foreign Film Oscar, sees a policeman from the provinces moves to Paris where he discovers an underworld where the tensions between different groups mark the rhythm.

Stéphane (Damien Bonnard), has recently joined the Anti-Crime squad in Montfermeil, a sensitive multi-ethnic district of the Paris projects. Paired up with Chris (Alexis Manenti) and Gwada (Djebril Zonga), whose methods are sometimes unorthodox, he rapidly discovers the tensions between the various neighbourhood groups. When the trio finds themselves overrun during the course of an arrest, a drone begins filming every move they make. The next thing you know, the police are cornered by a mob of armed and angry children. The final scene is nothing short of breath-taking, and even though this film never had a chance at the Oscar up against ‘Parasite’, it was probably a clear second. (Subtitles)

France 2019 Ladj Ly 104m

Bolshoi Ballet - Captured live from Moscow

The star-crossed lovers’ tragic fate inspired Prokofiev a remarkable cinematic score, from the delicate theme of Juliet to the ominous Dance of the Knights.

In spite of each of their families being merciless enemies, Romeo and Juliet are deeply in love. The rivalry between the Capulets and the Montagues will cost Mercutio’s life, causing Romeo a desire of vengeance for the loss of his friend    Bolshoi stars Ekaterina Krysanova and Vladislav Lantratov wholly embody the two eternal lovers in Alexei Ratmansky’s stunning evocation of love at first sight.

Music Sergei Prokofiev; Choreography Alexei Ratmansky; Libretto Sergei Prokofiev, Sergei Radlov and Adrian Piotrovsky (after William Shakespeare); Ekaterina Krysanova (Juliet), Vladislav Lantratov (Romeo), Igor Tsvirko (Mercutio), Dmitry Dorokhov (Benvolio), Vitaly Biktimirov (Tybalt) and the Bolshoi Corps de Ballet

165m approx including 2 intervals.

Tickets £17.50 (Friends/Students £15)

Sun 29 Mar 15:00 - 17:50 approx

In 1969, seven people were charged by the federal government with conspiracy and more, arising from the protests at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin has clearly caught the directing bug following his entertaining debut with ‘Molly’s Game’. Sorkin’s film tackles the trial of seven activists accused of inciting riots during the 1968 riots at the 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago. These events were documented in 1969’s ‘Medium Cool’. Sorkin, however, places emphasis on the aftermath and has recruited an ensemble cast including. Sacha Baron Cohen, Eddie Redmayne, Mark Rylance, Michael Keaton and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Sorkin’s knack for scintillating trial dialogue was first exhibited in ‘A Few Good Men’. Hope for more of the same.

USA Aaron Sorkin 129m

Salvatore returns to his hometown to attend the funeral of Alfredo the town’s projectionist and surrogate father to Salvatore. A piece of cinematic escapism that explores the very reasons we escape to the cinema.

Sentimental is too often used pejoratively. Cinema Paradiso is sentimental in that it conjures feelings of tenderness, sadness and nostalgia. And in the hands of director Giuseppe Tornatore these emotions are front and centre as Salvatore recalls his childhood and adolescence. Of course it looks gorgeous and has a wistful soundtrack by Ennio Morricone. But it’s the wonderful chemistry between Alfredo (Philippe Noiret) and the young Salvatore that tends to leave such an impression on all who see it. Bring tissues.
Italy 1988 Giuseppe Tornatore 124m