The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972)

Essential Viewing

France/Italy/Spain

Feature Film

Original Title: Le charme discret de la bourgeoisie

Director: Luis Buñuel

Writers: Luis Buñuel, Jean-Claude Carrière

Cinematographer: Edmond Richard

Cast: Fernando Rey, Paul Frankeur, Delphine Seyrig, Bulle Ogier, Stéphane Audran, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Julien Bertheau, Milena Vukotic

A group of wealthy friends attempt to enjoy a dinner party but are constantly interrupted, in Buñuel’s bitingly funny, enigmatically satirical, and delightfully cynical portrait of the idle rich, attackingly depicting corruption, prejudice, double standards, and illogical social conventions. Iain.Stott

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Open Your Eyes (1997)

Recommended

Spain/France/Italy

Feature Film

Original Title: Abre los ojos

Director: Alejandro Amenábar

Writers: Alejandro Amenábar, Mateo Gil

Cinematographer: Hans Burman

Composers: Alejandro Amenábar, Mariano Marín

Cast: Eduardo Noriega, Penélope Cruz, Chete Lera, Fele Martínez, Najwa Nimri, Gérard Barray, Jorge de Juan

A man in a prison hospital, accused of murder, wearing a rubber mask, relates a fantastic story – involving beautiful women, disfiguring car crashes, revolutionary plastic surgery, and cryogenics – to his psychiatrist, explaining to him how he came to be there, in Amenábar’s thoughtful, disquieting, and thoroughly unpredictable piece of science fiction. Iain.Stott

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Mid-August Lunch (2008)

Recommended

Italy

Feature Film

Original Title: Pranzo di ferragosto

Director: Gianni Di Gregorio

Writers: Gianni Di Gregorio, Simone Riccardini

Cinematographer: Gian Enrico Bianchi

Cast: Gianni Di Gregorio, Valeria De Franciscis, Marina Cacciotti, Maria Calì, Grazia Cesarini Sforza, Alfonso Santagata, Luigi Marchetti, Marcello Ottolenghi

A greying, middle-aged bachelor, who lives with his elderly widowed mother, finds his flat filled with mischievous, troublesome old women, when he feels obliged to look after the mothers and aunts of two acquaintances, to whom he is financially beholden, over a long weekend, in Di Gregorio’s feather light, charming, and thoroughly authentic feeling little film. Iain.Stott

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Antichrist (2009)

Recommended

Denmark/France/Sweden/Italy/Poland/Germany

Feature Film

Writer/Director: Lars von Trier

Cinematographer: Anthony Dod Mantle

Cast: Willem Dafoe, Charlotte Gainsbourg

Following the accidental death of their infant son, a grieving couple travel to an isolated cabin in the woods in an attempt to work through their grief, guilt, and fear, but their problems merely become exacerbated, in von Trier’s polarising psychological horror film; a harrowing, painful, and occasionally brilliant work, boasting two exceptional and exceptionally brave performances. Iain.Stott

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Romanzo Criminale (2005)

Recommended

Italy/France/UK

Feature Film

Original Title: Romanzo criminale

Director: Michele Placido

Writers: Giancarlo De Cataldo, Sandro Petraglia, Michele Placido, Stefano Rulli

Cinematographer: Luca Bigazzi

Composer: Paolo Buonvino

Cast: Stefano Accorsi, Kim Rossi Stuart, Pierfrancesco Favino, Claudio Santamaria, Riccardo Scamarcio, Jasmine Trinca, Elio Germano, Anna Mouglalis, Toni Bertorelli, Stefano Fresi, Massimo Popolizio, Francesco Venditti

Adapted from De Cataldo’s fact-based novel, this epic gangster film – following the ups and downs of a group of dirt-poor childhood friends, who grew-up together to become one of Rome’s most violent criminal gangs, dealing in drugs, prostitution, and vengeance – proves, despite its breakneck pacing and the odd cliché, to be a thoroughly entertaining if not particularly fresh addition to the genre. Iain.Stott

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My House in Umbria (2003)

Not Recommended

UK/Italy

Television Film

Director: Richard Loncraine

Writers: Hugh Whitemore, William Trevor

Cinematographer: Marco Pontecorvo

Composer: Claudio Capponi

Cast: Maggie Smith, Ronnie Barker, Chris Cooper, Benno Fürmann, Giancarlo Giannini, Timothy Spall, Libero De Rienzo, Emmy Clarke

Although some of the performances (not to mention the plot) are less than convincing, and visually, despite its locale, it is often a tad bland, this tale of unlikely friendships formed under tragic circumstances – in which the survivors of a terrorist attack take comfort in each others’ company at an idyllic country retreat – just about manages to hold the attention throughout. Iain.Stott

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Gomorrah (2008)

Recommended

Italy

Feature Film

Original Title: Gomorra

Director: Matteo Garrone

Writers: Maurizio Braucci, Ugo Chiti, Gianni Di Gregorio, Matteo Garrone, Massimo Gaudioso, Roberto Saviano

Cinematographer: Marco Onorato

Cast: Toni Servillo, Gianfelice Imparato, Maria Nazionale, Salvatore Cantalupo, Gigio Morra, Salvatore Abruzzese, Marco Macor, Ciro Petrone, Carmine Paternoster

Interweaving five stories of figures on the periphery of Camorra life – from teenage Tony Montana wannabes to timid middle-men – this pleasingly low-key gangland anti-drama, which never feels any less than thoroughly authentic, takes its viewers on a painfully eye-opening journey into a violent world populated by grotesques and hopeless innocents. Iain.Stott

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Miracle in Milan (1951)

Essential Viewing

Italy

Feature Film

Original Title: Miracolo a Milano

Director: Vittorio De Sica

Writers: Mario Chiari, Suso Cecchi d'Amico, Vittorio De Sica, Adolfo Franci, Cesare Zavattini

Cinematographer: Aldo Graziati

Composer: Alessandro Cicognini

Cast: Francesco Golisano, Paolo Stoppa, Guglielmo Barnabò, Emma Gramatica, Brunella Bovo, Anna Carena, Alba Arnova, Flora Cambi

Much like Capra’s It’s a Wonderful life (1946), De Sica’s fantasy comedy – following the ups and downs of the residents of a shanty town on the outskirts of Rome – is a much misunderstood film, with irony and social comment often being mistaken for sentiment and whimsy, feel-bad for feel-good, as it posits the distinctly bleak theory that the only way for the little man to defeat the nefarious capitalist is with divine intervention. Iain.Stott

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Il Divo (2008)

Not Recommended

Italy/France

Feature Film

Original Title: Il divo: La straordinaria vita di Giulio Andreotti

Writer/Director: Paolo Sorrentino

Cinematographer: Luca Bigazzi

Composer: Teho Teardo

Cast: Toni Servillo, Anna Bonaiuto, Giulio Bosetti, Flavio Bucci, Carlo Buccirosso, Giorgio Colangeli, Alberto Cracco

Breathlessly paced and as slick as pomaded hair, Sorrentino’s portrait of the downfall of seven times Italian prime minister Giulio Andreotti – which could prove rather confusing for those not schooled in 20th century Italian politics – proves to be of only mild interest, with no real human core to gather us in, as most of the characters are drawn ever-so-sketchily and then disposed of without giving us sufficient time to get to know them. Iain.Stott

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Saint Francis, God's Jester (1950)

Highly Recommended

Italy

Feature Film

Original Title: Francesco, giullare di Dio

Director: Roberto Rossellini

Writers: Federico Fellini, Father Antonio Lisandrini, Father Félix Morlión, Brunello Rondi, Roberto Rossellini

Cinematographer: Otello Martelli

Composer: Renzo Rossellini

Cast: Fra Nazario Gerardi, Fra Severino Pisacane, Aldo Fabrizi, Peparuolo, Arabella Lemaitre, and the Monks of the Nocere Inferiore Monastery

Funny, moving, and full of life, Rossellini’s masterful film – following St. Francis of Assisi and his devout brethren through several episodes of simple 13th century country life – is a work that celebrates all of the best qualities of Christianity, and does so in a way that will move deeply even the most committed of atheists, producing, as it does, such a human depiction of sainthood. Iain.Stott

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Les Bonnes Femmes (1960)

Highly Recommended

France/Italy

Feature Film

Original Title: Les bonnes femmes

Director: Claude Chabrol

Writers: Claude Chabrol, Paul Gégauff

Cinematographer: Henri Decaë

Composers: Pierre Jansen, Paul Misraki

Cast: Bernadette Lafont, Clotilde Joano, Stéphane Audran, Mario David, Lucile Saint-Simon, Pierre Bertin, Jean-Louis Maury, Albert Dinan, Ave Ninchi, Sacha Briquet

Chabrol’s masterful misanthropic thriller – populated by repulsive males and delusional females, experiencing drab days and hedonistic nights, committing casual rapes, and consumed by unhealthy dreams – manages to be simultaneously sexy, alluring, repulsive, funny, scary, accusatory, and above all else absolutely compelling. Iain.Stott

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Au Revoir les Enfants (1987)

Essential Viewing

France/Italy/West Germany

Feature Film

Original Title: Au revoir les enfants

Writer/Director: Louis Malle

Cinematographer: Renato Berta

Cast: Gaspard Manesse, Raphael Fejtö, Francine Racette, Stanislas Carré de Malberg, Philippe Morier-Genoud, François Berléand, François Négret

Based on an incident from the film-maker’s childhood, Malle’s immensely moving film – set in a catholic boarding school in German occupied France during the Second World War, portraying the friendship, built-up gradually, between an existing pupil and a new boy, who happens to be Jewish – is a beautifully crafted work, which not only provides a devastatingly tragic portrait of nightmarish times but also perfectly captures the ups and downs of boyhood. Iain.Stott

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La Terra Trema (1948)

Recommended

Italy

Feature Film

Original Title: La terra trema: Episodio del mare

Director: Luchino Visconti

Writers: Antonio Pietrangeli, Luchino Visconti

Cinematographer: Aldo Graziati

Composer: Willy Ferrero

Cast: Antonio Arcidiacono, Giuseppe Arcidiacono, Nelluccia Giammona, Agnese Giammona, Rosa Costanzo, Nicola Castorino

Although a tad didactic at times, Visconti’s much praised neo-realist film – shot on location with a cast of non-professionals, portraying a family of fishermen fed up with being exploited by wholesalers, who attempt (and tragically fail) to trade their wares independently – proves to be, never the less, a very human depiction of injustice and cruelty. Iain.Stott

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