Claude, Romy, Michel… and the Others

With ‘Cesar and Rosalie’, starring Yves Montand and Romy Schneider screening in this year’s French Film Festival, this talk looks back at the remarkable career of its director, Claude Sautet.

Sat 23 Nov 10:30 - In the Auditorium

NT Encore

Written and directed by celebrated playwright Conor McPherson and featuring Tony Award-winning orchestrations by Simon Hale, ‘Girl From the North Country’ reimagines 20 legendary songs of Bob Dylan as they’ve never been heard before.

Sat 23 Nov 13:00

Everyone’s favourite bear Paddington returns to Peru, as he and the Browns visit his beloved Aunt Lucy. A thrilling adventure ensues when a mystery plunges them into an unexpected journey through the Amazon and beyond.

UK 2024 Dougal Wilson 103m

Coup de Chance

Woody Allen features in the French Film Festival UK for the first time with a thriller set in the upper-class echelons of Paris society and written, acted and filmed entirely in French.

For his 50th film Allen deals with a bored wife in Paris (Lou de Laâge) who cheats on her wealthy and aloof husband (Melvile Poupaud) with an old high school friend (Niels Schneider)… which triggers fatal consequences. Allen at 88 has more than a half-century career as a writer and director of influential classics such as ‘Annie Hall’ (1977) and ‘Crimes and Misdemeanours’ (1989). He has an affection for France and his 2011 comedy ‘Midnight in Paris’ brought him his fourth Oscar, for original screenplay. Here he has coaxed superb performances from a sterling cast especially newcomer Lou de Laâge, who has distinct traces of Diane Keaton. Stunning cinematography by Vittorio Storaro. ‘Restores the masterful filmmaker to his deserved position as one of the screen’s most profound storytellers’ - The Observer. (Subtitles)

France/USA/UK 2024 Woody Allen 96m

Met Opera

In this production of Puccini's masterpiece, extraordinary soprano Lise Davidsen stars as the volatile diva Floria Tosca for her first time at the Met.

Sun 24 Nov 14:30

Thu 28 Nov 19.15

En corps

Élise is a talented ballet dancer whose life is turned upside down – first by injury and then when she catches her boyfriend cheating with her understudy.

On a path to physical and emotional recovery, she travels from Paris to Brittany, where she embraces the artistic freedom of contemporary dance. On this journey of self-discovery, she finds friendship and new ways to reinvent herself. Cédric Klapisch (Someone Somewhere, Back to Burgundy) delivers a tale of strength and resilience. Cast includes Marion Barbeau, Hofesh Shechter, Denis Podalydès, Pio Marmaï, François Civil, Muriel Robin. (Subtitles)

France/Belgium 2022 Cédric Klapisch 117m

In this psychological thriller, two young women of religion are drawn into a game of cat-and-mouse in the house of a strange man.

Hugh Grant is arguably delivering career-best work here as the sinister Mr. Reed, a theologist who engages in a riveting game of matching wits and beliefs with Sisters Barnes (Sophie Thatcher) and Paxton (Chloe East), two Mormon missionaries, who visit his seemingly humble abode with the initial intention of converting him. ‘Heretic’ brings an incredibly sharp religious thriller script to life through a chilling and charismatic performance by Grant. Most of the movie's horror and tension is achieved through dialogue and conversations about faith and power. It's provocative, divisive and challenges the audience to question their own convictions when it comes to faith.

USA 2024 Scott Beck & Bryan Woods 110m

César et Rosalie

A man is in love with a woman. But she isn't making it easy for him, especially when her old flame enters the picture.

One of Claude Sautet's most celebrated films, this film reunited the director with his on-screen muse Romy Schneider. After her marriage ends in divorce, the beautiful Rosalie (Romy Schneider) begins dating César (Yves Montand), a wealthy playboy and businessman. But when her old flame, David (Sami Frey), unexpectedly re-enters her life, the two men simultaneously vie for her affections. This is a snapshot of the shifting sands in the Seventies sexual revolution. The cast also includes Bernard Le Coq, Eva Maria Meineke and Isabelle Huppert. We are screening this as a classic tribute to Claude Sautet in the centenary year of his birth. (Subtitles)

France 1972 Claude Sautet 111m