Alfonso Cuaron's Children of Men

Science fiction is perennial, but with the recent success of Inception –  an especially intelligent sci-fi blockbuster –  it is perhaps timely to look at some of the most pertinent depictions of the future on the silver screen.

Children of Men (2006)

A modern masterpiece and one of the best films of the entire noughties, there is so much happening that it is hard to decide what to start to talk about. Opening with the Earth’s youngest person murdered, we then focus on Clive Owen’s civil servant still grieving over the death of his child and the separation from his wife (played by Julianne Moore). An Orwellian culture now exists with rigid controls over the population, as well as an H.G. Wells-ian idea of Eloi and Morlocks where illegal immigrants are treated in similar ways to the photos revealed from the Abu Ghraib prison. There are images of cattle being burned, a thinly-veiled reference to mad-cow and foot and mouth diseases, and genetic modified food. There is terrorism on a large scale, where even coffee houses are targets. And the human population is dying off. No baby has been born in 18 years. This is an allegory par excellence.

Among all this tragedy is a glimmer of hope where one woman is revealed to be pregnant. Children of Men takes us on a thrilling ride as Owen’s Theo has to get her to safety – everyone has a vested interest in the mother and more importantly, the unborn child. Director Alfonso Cuaron and cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki ingrain images into your mind that are so extraordinary that you want to rewind sequences to admire theme, e.g. a car chase/siege done in one take entirely from within the vehicle as it is attacked. This will be referenced at film schools for years to come.

Jurassic Park (1993)

Another morality tale, albeit more upbeat than the above, this is a story that harks back to both Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein with its unconsidered scientific breakthrough, and The Monkey’s Paw by W.W. Jacobs, through the theme of resurrecting the dead. Jurassic Park is also a metaphor for The Manhattan Project with Richard Attenborough’s John Hammond as a sort of Dr. Oppenheimer facilitator. Not as satisfying as the novel, with the darker elements toned by sentimentality and the seeming desire to reach as a wide an audience as possible, this was one of those blockbusters that blew the mind of virtually of everyone. Computer-generated imagery had already begun, but this took it to another level.

Scientists and a mathematician are given a tour of an island that is the home to the latest theme park and scientific marvel: at Jurassic Park you can see dinosaurs walk the Earth, fulfilling a dream of every child and, let’s face it, many adults. However, human weakness, coupled with nature’s ways, go to scupper an act of hubris.

Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991)

Science again; here, robotics and time travel. America develops a computer program so sophisticated that it becomes sentient and overthrows its human master. The future is now a post-nuclear holocaust wasteland with humanity mounting a barely effective resistance. The machines send a robot into the past to kill the mother of the rebellion leader, John Connor. They fail, and in this sequel they send a more sophisticated model back to kill the pre-teen Connor, while the adult Connor sends a robot to protect himself. There is an argument as to which is superior, but the sequel for me pips the post, as it is not as simple as machines bad, humans good. The flaws and positives in each are demonstrated in one of the best action films ever made.

Tron (1982)

Long before James Cameron made Avatar, Disney released Tron. The most sophisticated programmers have game avatars, sentient versions of themselves existing in computers. A corporation has developed an incredibly powerful program called Master Control, which is devouring other ones. Soon it will be too powerful to halt. Former employee Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) attempts to do just that, but is sucked into this computer world by a newly developed laser. Far ahead of its time, Tron tackled the gaming world and the issue of corporate monopoly in a dazzling designed movie.

Travolta and Cage work it out in Face/Off

Face/Off (1997)

Physical alteration manifests itself in an insanely energetic look at what some will do to prevent crime. To infiltrate a gang and stop a bomb exploding in Los Angeles, John Travolta’s Sean Archer swaps his face with that of Nicolas Cage’s coma patient and master crook Castor Troy. The surgery wakes Troy from his coma and he in turn takes on the identity of Archer. Not only is this an example of charismatic acting taken to another level, it is an intriguing look at empathy; where two people walk in the shoes of another and understand their lives a little better and are changed for it. The action also merits a nod, notably the boat chase scene.

Strange Days (1995)

Empathy reaches its zenith in Kathryn Bigelow’s extraordinarily directed pre-millennium thriller. Set in the dying days of 1999, a new technology has become the drug of choice; a user wears a device to record sensory impressions of their usually illicit activities. These memories of then sold to punters looking for vicarious thrills, who can relive others’ experiences through another device.

“This is not like TV only better. This is life. It’s a piece of somebody’s life. It’s pure and uncut, straight from the cerebral cortex, I mean, you’re there, you’re doing it, you’re seeing it, you’re hearing it, you’re feeling it.” - Lenny

Ralph Fiennes’ Lenny Nero is an ex-cop and now a purveyor of these experiences, calling himself the “Santa Claus of the subconscious”. However, he gets sucked into a thrilling conspiracy where various memories provide the evidence to multiple killings.

What strikes us here is how just ten years on from its release, with portable technology almost ubiquitous and augmented reality being the hot topic of the moment, somehow the idea of reliving others’ experiences really doesn’t seem that fantastical…

X-Men (2000)

Enhancing the human and body as a metaphor for puberty, abuse and discrimination, the X-Men universe is an allegory in particular for the civil rights movement; as those who with super-powers (telekinesis, metal manipulation, fast healing, etc.) are persecuted. The first picture in the series (already ten years old) is a look at a Martin Luther King, Jr. figure (Professor Xavier – Patrick Stewart) attempting to thwart a Malcolm X figure (Magneto – Ian McKellen) from a violent solution to this hatred aimed at the newly established mutants. A mixture of wish fulfilment and social commentary.

If a lot of these predictions have yet to be realised (thank goodness, in some cases) it is interesting to note that while we often think of sci-fi as concerned with the future and removed from the present, in fact, many of the themes are extremely reflective of situations and preoccupations particular to when the film was produced. This may only become fully perceptible in hindsight, but it might be worth trying to think ahead next time you catch a contemporary flick – you might see things differently…

An impressive scene from Children of Men

Fellini toasts his Oscar win in Italian style

Woody Allen, David Lynch, Pedro Almodovar and Terry Gilliam are just a few of the cinematic elite who claim to have been influenced by the Italian director Federico Fellini. So who is he?

The Early Years

Born in 1920, Federico Fellini grew up in the small seaside town of Rimini as the eldest of three children. Growing up in Mussolini’s Italy with the threat of compulsory subscription to the army, a young Fellini found his dreams unsurprisingly haunted by destructive scenes and nightmarish visions. In the 1960s, these dreams became so strong that Fellini began writing them down in a notebook that would serve as some of the more disturbing influences upon much of his later work.

‘You exist only in what you do’

Aged just 18, Fellini felt the call of the bright lights and artistic promise of Rome, and left home. On his arrival in Rome the young ingénue enrolled in law school but quickly found that he was not at home amongst the academic study of legal matters – far too many bow ties and chinos. Without much hesitation Fellini found happiness as a cheeky dungaree clad wandering caricature artist until he was hired by Marc Aurelio in 1939. The wit and enthusiasm that was required for successful caricaturing is discernable later in the satire that characterises much of his cinema. Fellini was then employed as a scriptwriter and so called ‘gagman’ for the film industry. His political sympathies lent him towards the neorealist school where stories were often set amongst the poor and working class, filmed on location, and frequently using nonprofessional actors.

First Steps in Film Direction

Seven years and eleven co-written films later, Fellini made his directorial debut with Lo Sceicco Bianco (The White Sheik) in 1952. The story follows two honeymooners in Rome, both with very different approaches to life – think neo-realist rom-com. Ivan (Leopoldo Trieste) is a typical petit-bourgeois, who has meticulously planned a tour of national shrines. He is accompanied by Wanda (Brunella Bovo) – a romantic daydreamer more concerned with tracking down her ‘pinup’ and idol the White Sheik. The two lovers are only truly joined when they have resolved the disparities between their mental states, reflecting the struggle Fellini had with the discrepancies between his.

1954′s La Strada (The Road) was Fellini’s next notable picture, also representing one of the first significant instances of criticism of his work. The film starred his wife, Giulietta Masina – the woman who tamed the man quoted as saying  that “it is easier to be faithful to a restaurant than a woman”.

Masina plays  Gelsomina – a child-like pauper who finds herself on the road with a travelling circus and a not-so-nice companion. The neorealist camp were critical of the emphasis on characters’ moral dilemmas as opposed to real people with real problems. In other words – more ‘Beauty and the Beast’ than gritty and grounded. La Strada marked a turning point in the progression of the neorealist movement.

La Dolce Vita and the End of Neorealism

Celebrity culture, outrageous sexual orgies in decadent settings and exuberant costumes – La Dolce Vita (The Sweet Life – 1959) charts the birth of all the things that are the lifeblood of Heat magazine today. Critics claim that this is the point where Fellini’s neorealist films gave way to art films, others highlight the importance of Fellini’s new-found modernist approach to narrative – but La Dolce Vita is also just a truly great film. And film fact buffs take note: the term papparazi comes from a journalist named ‘Papparazo’ in La Dolce Vita.

La Dolce Vita: the iconic fountain scene

A gritty look at the ‘fabulous’ café culture of 50s and 60s post-war Italy make La Dolce Vita one of the most iconic films of the 20th Century. Traditionally realistic narrative is rejected in favour of striking imagery and a pace that allows disparate scenes to flow naturally. This approach to narrative also allows Fellini to spend plenty of time (guilt-free) with his camera on Anita Ekberg in her shoulderless black gown, frolicking in (and out of) the Trevi Fountain. And why not?

Italian New Wave – Fellini in His Element

Roma (1972), considered one of the seminal works of the Italian New Wave, this film presents Fellini’s impression of Rome in an innovative and experimental way. Concrete experiences of Italy’s capital mingle with the director’s perceptions of mood and atmosphere in the city. There is a distinct lack of plot in the film that leaves the audience feeling as thought they have awoken from a dream they can’t quite remember. Some criticism accused Fellini of creating Roma in the interest of his own self-indulgence (surely not?!). A firm believer that ‘all art is autobiographical; the pearl is the oyster’s autobiography’, the man himself would probably not argue at the suggestion, but smile wryly. Others argue that this is among his best and most natural work.

The End of the Road

The last of Fellini’s works to make it into the nutshell guide is the rather notorious La Voce della Luna (Voice of the Moon – 1989). It would be nice to end on a high in this hand-picked run down Fellini’s finest, but unfortunately, I cannot. The Voice of the Moon represents, what many critics believe to be, a pure exercise in cinematic self-indulgence. Dubbed by one reviewer as ‘pretentious nonsense’, it was pretty unpopular with cinema-goers and politely declined by all North American distributors. Not what your studio want to hear when you ask them to invest thousands of pounds in your latest artistic foray. Alas, a sorry anticlimax to Fellini’s filmography.

In April 1993, Fellini received a standing ovation at the Oscars ceremony where he received his fifth award for Lifetime Achievement. The great man himself died aged 73 after suffering an initial stroke in his hometown and muse, Rimini. He died two months later, a day after his fiftieth wedding anniversary. A great man and a revolutionary amongst revolutionaries, Fellini’s works and attitude to film making as an art will no doubt go on inspiring generations of aspiring directors.

Also Worth a Look…

● I Vitelloni - A coming-of-age tale set in small-town Italy.

● Amarcord – There’s a hilarious cast of characters in this look at village life during the pre-Mussolini years.

● 8½ – Fantasy and reality meet in this semi-autobiographical classic.

● Juliet of the Spirits – Also starring Masina, this award-winning surrealist film focuses on the life of a housewife.

The final scene in Fellini’s 1954 masterpiece La Strada

With Hugh Grant in Bitter Moon

A national treasure on both sides of the channel, we examine Kristin Scott Thomas’ CV to see where it all went right…

First major films: Bitter Moon and Four Weddings and a Funeral

Most recently released film: Nowhere Boy.

Currently filming: Bel Ami.

Significant acting awards to date: Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Newcomer (1988); BAFTA for Best Actress in a Supporting Role (1994); Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actress (1994 and 1995); National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress (1996); Best European Actress in a Leading Role (2008); London Film Critics Circle Award for British Actress of the Year (2008).

Aged 19, whilst training to be a drama teacher in London, Kristin Scott Thomas was told that she would never be able to make a living out of acting. But this didn’t stop her moving to Paris and enrolling at its renowned arts institute, ENSATT. Almost immediately after her graduation in 1985, she landed her first film role, and has never looked back.

‘Movies make you immortal and ageless.’ - Kristin Scott-Thomas

Early Work

Kristin’s career began with a leading role in the 1985 Under the Cherry Moon. Her 1988 performance as Brenda Last in A Handful of Dust saw her win the Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Newcomer. She then went on to star in several French films until she landed a role in Bitter Moon (1992) opposite Hugh Grant, and then again opposite Grant in Brit-flick rom-com Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994). Her status as a British actress to be watched was firmly in place, and her role as haughty big-hat wearing Fiona put her name firmly on the map.

Her success was followed by roles in several more French films – she actually says she feels more French than British, having lived in Paris since she was nineteen, as well as raising her three children there. 1996’s The English Patient saw her star soar even higher as the adulterous Katharine Clifton who conducts a passionate affair with Ralph Fiennes’ Count Laszlo. The film was nominated for several awards, and Kristin won the Bafta (but lost the Oscar) for her portrayal of Clifton. In the same year she also starred in Mission: Impossible, alongside Tom Cruise.

Kristin in ensemble piece Gosford Park

2001 saw the release of the multi award-winning Gosford Park, a 1930s murder mystery set in a stately home. Scott Thomas played the meddling Lady Sylvia McCordle and starred alongside a stellar ensemble cast including Sir Michael Gambon, Dame Maggie Smith, Charles Dance and Laurence Fox.

The Big Break

Following the success of Gosford Park, Kristin’s career began to accelerate. The noughties alone have seen her star in over twenty films, many of which have had great success. Her role in Keeping Mum in 2005, starring alongside Rowan Atkinson and Maggie Smith, bagged her a nomination for London Film Critics Circle Award for British Actress of the Year and her next big role – her first leading role conducted entirely in French – in I’ve Loved You So Long won her two awards and several other nominations. Her performance as troubled Juliette received positive acclaim, and one critic wrote of her that “Kristin Scott Thomas’ performance is one of a small handful of highlights by which people will remember this year in movies”.

In the last few years she has balanced more independent work with a selection fo Hollywood blockbusters: she played Anne Boleyn’s mother in the 2008 adaptation of The Other Boleyn Girl and received two nominations for her role as Mrs. Whittaker in the jazzy Easy Virtue. She also made a tongue-in-cheek appearance as a French fashion magazine editor in 2009’s Confessions of a Shopaholic, before returning to homegrown films with Nowhere Boy, depicting the early life of John Lennon.

And as for the future? She is currently filming Bel Ami, due for release in 2011, alongside Robert Pattinson and Uma Thurman, and plays one of a debauched Pattinson’s love interests. Undoubtedly there will be more theatre; Scott Thomas has walked the boards in theatres throughout France, and has also won an Olivier Award for her 2007 appearance in Chekhov’s The Seagull in London. We can’t wait to see what Kristin will turn her highly-talented hand to next – whatever it is, it’s sure to be a class act.

Kristin Scott Thomas in a scene from Under the Cherry Moon with Prince

Heavy Metal Drummer – Toby MacDonald and Luke Morris

This classic from 1995 gives us an engaging and entertaining look into the life of the young drumming-loving Badou, a Moroccan boy with certain responsibilities and restraints that just ain’t rock n roll.

DIY – Royston Tan

Singaporean filmmaker Royston Tan has a host of original acclaimed short films to his name, and DIY does not let the side down. Depicting the collective rhythm of the neighbourhood, after watching this you may just find yourself tapping your feet when your neighbour starts hoovering.

Music for one Apartment and Six Drummers – Ola Simonsson and Johannes Stjärne Nilsson

The Swedish treasure brings us a tribe of music lovers so devoted that they will go to extreme lengths just to thrash out a tune. No object cannot be transformed into an instrument and you may never look at your toothbrush in the same way again.

Function at the Junction – Justin McArdle

Reminding us that a dance scene can be as ruthless as it is fun, Function at the Junction features some breathtaking dance sequences alongside fast-paced comedy (look out for Paul Kaye, aka Dennis Pennis). A Northern Soul short film classic.

Love You More – Sam Taylor-Wood

Brit artist Sam Taylor-Wood made her foray into narrative film with this short film which debuted at Cannes in 2008, and paved the way for her John Lennon feature Nowhere Boy. Music plays a key role in both her short and her feature, with the former depicting two young 70s teens both desperate for the new Buzzcocks’ record. They end up sharing the record, and a lot more, when they go back to her house… Alas only the first half is available online, but it gives you a good taste of the story and just how good it is.

Shimmell and Binoche in Certified Copy

Certified Copy is a film which is as beautiful as it is painful. Provoking questions about the relationships between us and those we love the most, whether mother and son, husband and wife or even between two strangers.

Written and directed byIranian-born Abbas Kiarostami, Certified Copy is a story which Kiarostami professes ‘could happen to anyone, anywhere’ but it is not, however, like any film you are likely to have encountered before. And despite its focus on a romance between a man and woman, it is by no means your usual Hollywood romcom.

The many themes that construct this film, including art, marriage, and children make for a complex plot but then, life is complicated and that is surely one of the messages Kiarostami is trying to impress upon the viewer.

Juliette Binoche is completely mesmerising in the lead female role; she won Best Actress at Cannes for her performance in the film. Unlike the famous Binoche, however, in the male lead is the relatively unknown William Shimell. Although highly respected in his usual vocation as opera singer, the British protagonist had never acted in a film before Certifed Copy.

The film focuses on Binoche and Shimell’s characters, almost exclusively. Most of the film happens in real time, making the dialogue extremely important – just as well then that it is an exquisitely written script.

The cinematography is truly stunning, helped of course by the glorious rural Italian setting. Self-consciously naturalistic the film has no soundtrack, instead focusing on each scene’s unique background noise and the long lingering shots from a hand-held steady cam make for an almost uncomfortably intimate effect.

Shimell’s character is writer, James Miller, in Italy to talk about his latest book (called Certified Copy) and Binoche, known simply as ‘She’, is an antiquities shop owner who attends his talk with keen interest.

It appears that she has an overwhelming desire to be original, as seen when she spontaneously whisks the middle-aged writer away to the countryside. She is also searching for originality in her life – perhaps why she maintains such a strained relationship with her son – in many ways a copy of her and/or his father.

He, however, has little emotional attachment to original things, placing just as much importance on cheap imitations and causing much debate between the pair.

While away the strangers are mistaken for a married couple in a café and appear to keep up the charade. Walking through the beautiful village nestled in the Tuscan countryside the couple talk about their wedding, their life together, and decide it’s their anniversary but of course it’s all an act. Or is it?

If you leave Certified Copy unsure of anything else you can console yourself in that Kiarostami’s film certainly leaves ample room for interpretation and therein lies the catch, and it will either thrill or infuriate you.

The trailer for Certified Copy; it’s all an act. Or is it?

Terrorists with a difference in Four Lions

Paris’s truly unique Etrange Festival is back for its 16^th edition this Friday (Etrange meaning ‘strange’), with what looks to be one of its most weird and wonderful programmes to date. As a reminder, Running in Heels was there last year to catch a highly eclectic and entertaining collection of short films, and we’re tempted by at least half a dozen screenings from this year’s selection…

Opening night kicks off with the highly anticipated Four Lions from Chris Morris, taking a delicately satiric look at suicide bombing. Perhaps a too-thoroughly British tale for most European audiences, this film does not yet have any distribution secured outside the UK, which is exactly why it’s fantastic that we can take a peek in Paris thanks to the Etrange team.

Other highlights include Julien Temple’s Oil City Confidential about punk in 1970s UK, which completes his rock trilogy and elsewhere in rock docs is Lemmy, an intimate portrait of the Motorhead founder. I will be looking forward to catching The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle – the debut feature from the exceptionally talented David Russo, who brought us the wonderful stop motion masterpiece I am not Van Gogh. The Runaways – otherwise known as the Joan Jett biopic featuring Kristen Stewart also makes an appearance. We previewed Quentin Dupieux’s film Rubber about the adventures of a rampant spare tyre and Im Sang-Soo’s tale The Housemaid in our Countdown to Cannes – and these two crop up again here.

There is a Vampire Night without a Cullen sibling in sight – instead presenting three brand new films which all get their French premieres – Suck, Prowl and Vampires, from Canada, the USA and Belgium respectively. Rob Stefanuk’s Suck looks particularly interesting; a comedy centred on a rock ‘n’ roll band that will do anything to become famous which boasts a stellar cast including Malcolm McDowell, Iggy Pop and Alice Cooper. There is also a surprise film, but I still don’t think you’ll see any Pattinson action.

Alejandro Jorodowsky gets carte blanche and chooses an interesting selection including Miss Mona – a little-known French drama from 1987 which Jorodowsky describes it as a ‘true gem’. Dealing with themes including sex changes, immigration and rape, Jorodowky alludes to the film’s ‘tenderness’ in its treatment of these issues. He also includes Valhalla Rising by Nicolas Winding Refn in his selectio, although Refn actually gets Carte Blanche at the festival too. His own selection includes Carl Dreyer’s 1932 film Not Against the Flesh (aka Vampyr) which Refn says for him is “the closest thing I’ve seen to cinematographic perfection […] for both its beautiful representation of what we can see, and of what we cannot.”

There are also two interesting homages – to the actors Mimsy Farmer and Jean-Pierre Kalfon – which give an excellent panorama of their careers. The short film programmes look intriguing – featuring new work by rising Belgian experimental director Nicolas Provost (Long live the New Flesh) and a new piece from the Quay Brothers (Maska). There is also a night of ‘Etrange musique’ featuring bands Kni Crik, The Pop Group and Alec Empire.

The trailer for The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle, debut feature film from David Russo

For more information, see L’Etrange Festival website.

Noomi Rapace: spotless performance...

Misogyny, wince-inducing violence and heart-stopping suspense: this sequel follows in the footsteps of the first opus of the Millennium series.

Set a year later, The Girl Who Played with Fire (based on Stieg Larsson’s best-selling novel) picks up where The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo left off. Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace), the unlikely heroine, is still abroad— living off the assets she cunningly stole in the previous instalment— and has carefully, and for no apparent reason, avoided any contact with her former partner in detection, Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist). The latter, despite secretly hoping for a sign from the enigmatic young woman, is trying to move on with his life by focusing all his energies on uncovering an extensive sex-trafficking network involving several high names of the political sphere, with the help of Dag, a freelance journalist, and his criminologist girlfriend Mia.

Unaware of this state of affairs, Lisbeth decides to return to Stockholm. However, her homecoming is far from smooth and trouble-free as Mia and Dag are soon found dead in their apartment and she is inexplicably framed for the murder.

Of course, Blomkvist is convinced of her innocence and dives into an indefatigable search for the truth. But questions remain: what is the connection between Lisbeth and a sex-trafficking network? And why is she being targeted by Zala, the evanescent crime boss who terrorises over the trafficking underworld but whom no one seems to have ever seen? Lisbeth undertakes her own investigation, while constantly endeavouring to elude both the police and Zala’s handymen, and what she discovers hits closer to home than she would have ever imagined.

Packed with flashbacks, this second instalment allows the viewer to finally come to terms with Lisbeth’s elusive personality and past. Her character is finally given the psychological depth necessary to justify her more problematic actions and mystifying outlook on life. The puzzling immolation scene is finally explained and the mystery surrounding her institutionalisation and her family tree elucidated.

Noomi Rapace’s performance as Lisbeth Salander is spotless in The Girl Who Played with Fire, yet the film’s plot doesn’t quite live up to that of the previous film. It has its moments of brilliance and the tension is palpable on more than one occasion but it is interspersed with many slow-paced episodes which fall short of carrying the action forward. As for the gut-wrenching scenes of violence and explicit sexual content,  they are not so much a feature of the film, as in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, but the go-to device to make up for the script’s shortcomings. Ditto the lucky but very unlikely coincidences and the convenient indestructibility of most of the characters who somehow manage to cheat death more often within a week than your average human being within a lifetime.

Fans might be disappointed. My opinion: considering how high the first feature has placed the bar, the sequel does a pretty good job of entertaining the audience. Go for Rapace’s performance if nothing else.

Heart-stopping suspense: the trailer for The Girl Who Played with Fire

Zipping by on a Vespa in Roman Holiday

The European summer is so unpredictable – and short-lived, for that matter – that we must seize every possible opportunity to embrace it and be reminded of it. And what better way than curling up with a film? Admittedly, our pale and interesting look will benefit more than the tan we were dreaming of, but watching films can tickle our fancies and make us daydream that even the dreariest corner of Slough is in fact a sun-drenched city somewhere tropical…

Here are our top five summery films; please, don’t get too upset reading this, I’m sure the sun will come back soon.

Roman Holiday

Audrey Hepburn plays a stifled princess in this vintage rom-com, running away from her royal duties during an official trip to Rome and pretending to be a ‘normal’ person, craftily changing her name from Ann to the incredibly ingenious Anya Smith. A life-changing encounter with the delicious Gregory Peck leads to one of the most romantic and unforgettable plots in cinema history. Roman Holiday is set in Italy’s historic capital, and rides on Vespas past the Coliseum and the hustle and bustle of hot, sunny afternoons in Rome are all dreamy indications of the adventures that summer can bring (whether you’re royal or not). Audrey is also fabulous in Paris When It Sizzles and Funny Face – both capturing the fun and frivolity of summer in Paris.

Alice In Wonderland

No, silly, not the recent remake starring Johnny Depp (swoon) but rather the award-winning 1972 all-British version. With Michael Crawford as the White Rabbit and a wide-eyed Fiona Fullerton as Alice, it is a lavish romp from start to finish. It’s considered one of the most faithful adaptations of Lewis Carroll’s classic, despite the fact that it’s also a musical, with songs inlcluding ‘The Me I Never Knew’ and ‘The Pun Song’ sung by the cast, and a score by master composer John Barry. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is one of those stories that will always be magical and the idea of tea parties with the Mad Hatter, croquet with the Queen of Hearts and dozing on the riverbank are all subtle hints at the great British summertime.

500 Days of Summer

This is a cheat film. It has only managed to claw its way on to the list due to the simple fact that it has the word ‘summer’ in its title and so therefore one cannot help but think of lovely sunshine-based things. It may have divided critics, but 500 Days of Summer was one of the biggest and most commercially successful films of 2009. Centring around hapless – but lovely – Tom and his endeavours to make free-spirit Summer his girl, the film has lots of warbly summery music; ‘Sweet Disposition’ by The Temper Trap was used in the film and subsequently played to death throughout the year. Summer wears lots of pretty dresses and there are picnics in the park and big gushing fountains, all of which add up to broken hearts and, ultimately, a changing of the seasons. At the very end of the film, Tom starts dating a girl named – wait for it – Autumn.

Riverside exploits in Chocolat

Chocolat

Chocolat is a American film that’s pretending to be French.  And it stars the very American Johnny Depp, as a French gypsy with an Irish accent. And the very French Juliet Binoche as a sensual, chocolate-loving single mother who speaks English. And it was released in 2001, but is set in the 1950′s. Yes, you’re probably slightly puzzled, but that could just be the heat. Much of the film was shot in the pretty and picturesque Burgundy countryside and as the audience we are given a delicious insight into 1950′s village life, human relationships and, perhaps most importantly, chocolate-making. With hazy French evenings, exploits with guitar-strumming gypsies by the riverbank and flirty teadresses, you’re guaranteed to be lusting for summer (and chocolate) by the time the credits roll.

The Bicycle Thieves

If the Italians are good at one thing (apart from food, art and fashion!), it’s pulling off the perfect summer image with ease (see Roman Holiday). The Bicycle Thieves is Vittorio de Sica’s 1948 masterpiece, chronicling the difficulties faced by post-war Italians. The plot focuses on impoverished Antonio Ricci who, along with his young son, strives to retrieve his stolen bicycle. The bicycle is representative of Ricci’s family’s survival; devoid of a happy ending, the film may not be traditionally ‘summery’, but the scenery and settings are too beautiful to ignore despite the misery that they co-exist with. The scorched earth and squinting eyes are tangibly real and raw, as were the actors: de Sica chose to cast regular people who he found on the streets of Italy rather than big name Hollywood stars. Not exactly happy viewing but definitely hot enough to make you fancy some gelato.

And if you like your films a little more arty…

● Wild Strawberries – Ingmar Bergman’s 1957 film is an enigmatic, contemplative masterpiece. The title refers to the wild strawberries that symbolise the brief, yet glorious summer days in Sweden.

● Respiro – With the dramatic scenery of Lampedusa as backdrop, Emanuele Crialese’s film is a cinematographic delight. Myth and realism meet in the dramatic storyline and it’s a moving, vital film that reflects the passion and power of Sicily.

● Contempt -  Taking in Rome and Capri, Jean Luc Godard’s sundrenched shots of a sensual, beguiling Brigitte Bardot are captivating. It’s underscored by Georges Delerue’s hypnotic compositions, which make for a very seductive film indeed.

● Black Cat, White Cat – Emir Kusturica’s hilarious film features a cast of colourful characters, including aged gangsters, dwarf  brides and gypsy mafiosi. It’s a riot from beginning to end, played along to gypsy beats during a sweltering Balkan summer.

● In The City of Sylvia – As slow and dreamy as a lazy summer afternoon, José Luis Guerín’s film is very simple, yet beautiful and different, filled with memories and longing.

The trailer for Emanuele Crialese’s Respiro

Anna Mouglalis stars as Coco Chanel

While it would be inaccurate to say somebody was born to play the role of Coco Chanel, Anna Mouglalis can certainly lay claim to having spent much of her life in training. The 32-year-old was discovered by Karl Lagerfeld in 2002 and so taken was he with the French actress and model that he chose her to be his muse and to model that year’s Amateur Allure de Chanel campaign. Turns as the face of Allure Sensuelle and brand ambassador for Chanel Fine Jewellery followed, but it’s in playing Chanel herself in new film Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky that Mouglalis faces her most challenging role to date.

Based on Chris Greenhalgh’s book Coco & Igor, the film is a dramatised account of the clandestine relationship that took place in the 1920s between Chanel and the married Russian composer, played by Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen. While rumours of the duo’s illicit pairing caused controversy at the time, Mouglalis tells Running in Heels at the UK première of the film that the taint of disrepute is something that would have made their relationship even more compelling for Chanel. “[She] was the exterminating angel of the 20^th century; she fell in love with the taste of scandal, [then] with the music of Stravinsky and then with the artist.”

At a time when women were labelled the weaker sex, the depiction of Chanel as a pioneer who was shrewd and calculating not just in business but also in love places her at odds with the repressed women who surround her in the film (typically as her staff rather than as friends), but her forthrightness is something that Mouglalis again finds unsurprising. “For me, Chanel embodies the modern woman, forever, because she built herself. She built an empire, and she knew that she could be free if she achieved financial independence. She became a monumental figure because everything she was doing, she was doing for herself. She wasn’t doing it especially for women actually – she was more of a misogynist than a feminist – but she was doing it for herself.  She had charisma and she was someone incredible. I think her masterpiece is her life.”

Chanel’s undoubted artistic genius and groundbreaking business acumen is something that Mikkelsen also sees as pivotal to the relationships she develops, but her power and independence are attributes that Stravinsky struggles to accept. “[The film is] about a lot of different things; it’s about a particular time in history, it’s about women, and the rights of women, and it’s also about two people [Chanel and Stravinsky] who are banging their heads together. It’s an epic story…. I think it’s interesting that two extreme egos like that, two extremely powerful people, became fascinated with each other for different reasons.  How can two egos like that get around each other? “

It’s a question that the film tackles in subtle ways as it progresses. The story opens in sumptuous, subtly dramatic style with the debut performance of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. Highly unorthodox in its stage production, the performance is ridiculed as a worthless flight of fancy by a ferociously critical audience and so Stravinsky’s star is quenched while Chanel’s is in the ascendant. A generous patron of the arts, she invites the composer – and his wife and children – to reside for a time in her villa, domesticated and dependent on her charity while she continues to excel in business and develops her first fragrance.

It’s this inversion of traditional male-female roles at a time when they were so firmly entrenched that illustrates how ahead of her time Chanel truly was and that quietly fuels much of the film – it is Chanel who initiates the couple’s first sexual encounter; it is she who departs at while for a life of leisure and glamour in Paris while Stravinsky remains her kept man in rural France – but just as indicative of her foresight and self-confidence are the clothes that feature so lavishly throughout the story.

Karl Lagerfeld and Chanel made their archives and collections available to Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky’s production crew and Anna Mouglalis wears several original Chanel garments in the film. Draped in shimmering silks, embroidered lace and garlands of pearls, Mouglalis’ inimitably, innately elegant Chanel floats from scene to scene resplendent and regal, and always a step ahead of the women who depend on their men rather than themselves.

For Mouglalis, this domineering and at times unapologetically ruthless portrayal of Chanel is something that sits comfortably with the reality of who she was. “She was such a complex character… We’re showing her in a moment in which she became the woman she wanted to be. She built that character: Coco Chanel, the rich independent woman able to give money to art… I could feel that echo even on the set. You can sense that what she must have been feeling was ‘things are changing, thank God. I’m never going to have nostalgia for a time before, because I’m a woman and I want women to be free’.”

Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky is released in the UK on 6th August.

Duris and Paradis on fire in Heartbreaker

Aside from a handful of rare gems, Hollywood has been churning out sub-standard romantic-comedies for years now: take a look at any of the recent high profile releases and you will see flop after flop (even the highly-anticipated Sex and the City 2 failed to spark much public interest after a succession of poor reviews).

However, the recent release of Heartbreaker (L’Arnacoeur, directed by Pascal Chaumeil) has brought the European rom-com back to the greater public’s attention. With audiences tiring of the formulaic fare offered by the big American studios, it is no surprise that films like this are enjoying significant success.

Heartbreaker is a rom-com à la française, with the hero (a swarthy Romain Duris) hired to break up the engagement between a wealthy businessman’s daughter (Vanessa Paradis, face of Chanel and impeccably chic) and a dull Englishman (Andrew Lincoln, a rom-com fan favourite from Love Actually). Set in dazzlingly expensive Monaco, whilst we always know deep down that the beautiful leads twist are going to get together, the intricate and entertaining route they take to get there is pleasantly surprising.

However, the European rom-com is nothing new. Heartbreaker itself shares many similarities with the 2006 smash Priceless (Hors de Prix, directed by Pierre Salvadori); both are set against the stunning backdrop of the French Riviera, both involve mistaken identities and both feature top French actors in the lead roles (Audrey Tautou and comedian Gad Elmaleh).

On the evidence of these two films, the French rom-com is light, frothy and glamorous – Josiane Balasko’s 1995 film French Twist (Gazon Maudit) – another witty and aesthetically pleasing gem – adds weight to the argument. What makes the difference here is the eponymous twist: the archetypal French cinematic image of the ménage-à-trois actually revolves around one woman’s marriage – and her affair with a woman. Balasko utilises the typical vaudeville smut and subverts it (the film is rife with crude jokes and language; even the original title is a sexual pun) in order to confront the audience’s conventional ideas of gender and sexuality. This is clearly something a little more intellectual than the standard sappy plot of a romantic comedy.

The queer rom-com has also recently achieved success in Italy. Loose Cannons (Mine Vaganti) premiered in February this year and is soon to be released internationally. Ferzan Ozpetek’s film may seem out-dated to some, but in conservative Southern Italy, it is a daring portrayal of a young gay man’s ’outing’ to his family – with unexpected, and amusing, results. Similarly to the French offerings, Italian romantic comedies also exploit lush landscapes: Loose Cannons is set in gorgeous Lecce, while 2000’s Bread and Tulips (Pane e tulipani, directed by Silvio Soldini) tells the tale of a housewife who, fed up with her family’s attitude towards her, escapes to idyllic Venice and finds a new lease of life.

Take a lesson in Italian for beginners...

The romantic Italian stereotype is further perpetrated in a Danish film from the same year – Italian for Beginners (Italiensk for begyndere). Lone Scherfig’s characters convene at Italian evening classes and soon find that the lingua d’amore draws them together. Interestingly, this rom-com was made according to the Dogme 95 rules and so is more aesthetically challenging than would be expected from a ’chick-flick’.

Pedro Almodóvar’s 1990 film Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (¡Átame!) is another rom-com that is tricky to classify. A young Antonio Banderas plays a mentally unstable man who kidnaps old fling (and ex-porn star) Victoria Abril – also seen in French Twist – and attempts to persuade her to fall in love with him. Darkly comic and visually bright, it contains many of the Spanish master’s hallmarks, but is just camp enough to qualify as a comedy rather than a thriller.

It seems that camp could be the only way to make a romantic-comedy in Spain, reinforced by 2002’s exuberant musical-comedy The Other Side of the Bed (El Otro Lado de la Cama, directed by Emilio Martínez Lázaro). Best described as an ‘ambisexual romp’, the film is a sexy and summery addition to the rom-com genre.

Poland’s Just Love Me (Tylko mnie kochaj, 2006, by Ryszard Zatorski) is more conventional in its execution. Its plot revolves around a young, hip, have-it-all who suddenly discovers he has a daughter. Needless to say, complications ensue amid hilarity, but whilst the film lacks in originality, it is uplifting to watch a typical genre from a different perspective. Mostly Martha (2001, directed by Sandra Nettelbeck) spins a romantic tale in a food and cookery setting and was such a hit that it was even adapted for American audiences – becoming 2007’s No Reservations.

So as we can see, although the end results may always be as inevitable and as predictable as the last minute dash to declare undying love, the European rom-com is a highly recommended palate cleanser for anyone who has had their fill of romance the Hollywood-way.