Cinematheque Film Schedule

Ireland, United Kingdom | 2012 | James Marsh

Clive Owen and Andrea Riseborough (W.E., Oblivion) star in the new film from the director of Man on Wire and Project Nim. It’s a taut, slow-burn thriller, set in 1993 Belfast, about an Irish woman and I.R.A. member who agrees to become a mole for MI5 rather than go to prison and leave her young son. With Gillian Anderson. “Critics’ Pick…Gripping.” –The NY Times.

Ireland, United Kingdom | 2012 | James Marsh

Clive Owen and Andrea Riseborough (W.E., Oblivion) star in the new film from the director of Man on Wire and Project Nim. It’s a taut, slow-burn thriller, set in 1993 Belfast, about an Irish woman and I.R.A. member who agrees to become a mole for MI5 rather than go to prison and leave her young son. With Gillian Anderson. “Critics’ Pick…Gripping.” –The NY Times.

Finland, Sweden | 1990 | Aki Kaurismäki

The deadpan proletarian fables of Finland’s master filmmaker Aki Kaurismäki walk a fine line between tragedy and comedy. This is well seen in this droll but affecting blue collar masterpiece, about a shy, lonely factory worker (Kaurismäki’s muse Kati Outinen) who has a dull job, a pathetic home life, and a drab social life. Nevertheless, she prevails. “Just about perfect.” –David Denby.

United States | 1932 | Erle C. Kenton

Charles Laughton and Bela Lugosi star in this notorious film version of H. G. Wells’ The Island of Dr. Moreau, about a mad scientist on a remote island who tries to turn jungle beasts into humans. Dialogue from this creepy movie (which was banned in Britain for over 25 years) has seeped into pop culture, also inspiring rock musicians from Devo (“Are we not men?”) and Oingo Boingo to Van Halen. Cinematography by Karl Struss...

France | 1953 | Henri-Georges Clouzot

Yves Montand stars in this classic French thriller, one of the most suspenseful movies ever made! Set in a Central American petroleum republic, the film follows four down-on-their-luck drifters who take on a veritable suicide mission: driving two truckloads of volatile nitroglycerine across 300 miles of perilous mountain roads. From the director of Diabolique.

Finland, Sweden | 1990 | Aki Kaurismäki

The deadpan proletarian fables of Finland’s master filmmaker Aki Kaurismäki walk a fine line between tragedy and comedy. This is well seen in this droll but affecting blue collar masterpiece, about a shy, lonely factory worker (Kaurismäki’s muse Kati Outinen) who has a dull job, a pathetic home life, and a drab social life. Nevertheless, she prevails. “Just about perfect.” –David Denby.

France | 1953 | Henri-Georges Clouzot

Yves Montand stars in this classic French thriller, one of the most suspenseful movies ever made! Set in a Central American petroleum republic, the film follows four down-on-their-luck drifters who take on a veritable suicide mission: driving two truckloads of volatile nitroglycerine across 300 miles of perilous mountain roads. From the director of Diabolique.

United States | 1932 | Erle C. Kenton

Charles Laughton and Bela Lugosi star in this notorious film version of H. G. Wells’ The Island of Dr. Moreau, about a mad scientist on a remote island who tries to turn jungle beasts into humans. Dialogue from this creepy movie (which was banned in Britain for over 25 years) has seeped into pop culture, also inspiring rock musicians from Devo (“Are we not men?”) and Oingo Boingo to Van Halen. Cinematography by Karl Struss...

France | 2012 | Alain Resnais

Tonight we mark the 27th anniversary of the Cinematheque’s first film showing at the Cleveland Institute of Art with a special screening at our home away from home: the Capitol Theatre on Cleveland’s West Side. (There will also be free cookies!) You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet is the highly acclaimed new film by the great Alain Resnais (Last Year at Marienbad; Hiroshima, Mon Amour ), now 91 and still turning out bold, innovative masterpieces that...

United States | 1977 | Michael Schultz

Richard Pryor plays three different roles in this raunchy but hilarious American remake of Lina Wertmüller’s The Seduction of Mimi. It tells of a poor California orange picker who has trouble with labor relations and human relations at work, marital relations and sexual relations at home. With Lonette McKee and Margaret Avery.

France, India, United States | 1951 | Jean Renoir

A teenage British girl living with her upper middle class family in colonial India experiences the pangs of first love. Jean Renoir's exotic, lyrical, and deeply moving drama partially inspired Wes Anderson's The Darjeeling Limited. Claude Renoir, nephew of the director and grandson of the painter, did the exquisite Technicolor cinematography. A young Satyajit Ray also worked on the film. From a Rumer Godden novel.

Canada, United Kingdom | 2012 | Deepa Mehta

Salman Rushdie adapted his own novel for Deepa Mehta’s epic film version. (He also narrates the story.) Two Indian boys—one from a wealthy family, the other the son of a beggar—are born at midnight on August 15, 1947, the day India broke free of British rule. Switched at birth, the two lead very different lives during the next 30 years. Their growing pains reflect those of their young nation. “Big in both ideas and heart.”...

France, India, United States | 1951 | Jean Renoir

A teenage British girl living with her upper middle class family in colonial India experiences the pangs of first love. Jean Renoir's exotic, lyrical, and deeply moving drama partially inspired Wes Anderson's The Darjeeling Limited. Claude Renoir, nephew of the director and grandson of the painter, did the exquisite Technicolor cinematography. A young Satyajit Ray also worked on the film. From a Rumer Godden novel.

Canada, United Kingdom | 2012 | Deepa Mehta

Salman Rushdie adapted his own novel for Deepa Mehta’s epic film version. (He also narrates the story.) Two Indian boys—one from a wealthy family, the other the son of a beggar—are born at midnight on August 15, 1947, the day India broke free of British rule. Switched at birth, the two lead very different lives during the next 30 years. Their growing pains reflect those of their young nation. “Big in both ideas and heart.”...

United States | 1977 | Michael Schultz

Richard Pryor plays three different roles in this raunchy but hilarious American remake of Lina Wertmüller’s The Seduction of Mimi. It tells of a poor California orange picker who has trouble with labor relations and human relations at work, marital relations and sexual relations at home. With Lonette McKee and Margaret Avery.

Romania | 2007 | Cristian Mungiu

The winner of the top prize at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival remains perhaps the most acclaimed work of the Romanian New Wave: a gripping, suspenseful drama about a young woman in Ceauşescu’s Romania who tries to help her college roommate get an illegal abortion. The film’s overall metacritic.com score (97 out of 100) was the highest of 2008!

France, Italy | 1952 | Jean Renoir

The theater vies with life in Jean Renoir’s colorful romance set in 18th-century South America, about a touring commedia dell’arte star (Anna Magnani) who is wooed by three different men—a bullfighter, a soldier, and a viceroy. Cinematography by Claude Renoir. François Truffaut loved this film so much that he named his production company after it.

United States | 2012 | Henry Alex Rubin

Jason Bateman, Hope Davis, Paula Patton (Precious), Michael Nyqvist (Sweden’s Millennium trilogy), Alexander Skarsgård, and Andrea Riseborough star in this new Crash-like thriller—a cautionary tale about the perils of modern technology, which drives people apart as much as it brings them together. The film’s multiple strands touch on cyber-bullying, identity theft, internet porn, and more. From the co-director of Murderball. “Fascinating and riveting.” –San Francisco Chronicle.

France, Italy | 1952 | Jean Renoir

The theater vies with life in Jean Renoir’s colorful romance set in 18th-century South America, about a touring commedia dell’arte star (Anna Magnani) who is wooed by three different men—a bullfighter, a soldier, and a viceroy. Cinematography by Claude Renoir. François Truffaut loved this film so much that he named his production company after it.

United States | 2012 | Henry Alex Rubin

Jason Bateman, Hope Davis, Paula Patton (Precious), Michael Nyqvist (Sweden’s Millennium trilogy), Alexander Skarsgård, and Andrea Riseborough star in this new Crash-like thriller—a cautionary tale about the perils of modern technology, which drives people apart as much as it brings them together. The film’s multiple strands touch on cyber-bullying, identity theft, internet porn, and more. From the co-director of Murderball. “Fascinating and riveting.” –San Francisco Chronicle.

Romania | 2007 | Cristian Mungiu

The winner of the top prize at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival remains perhaps the most acclaimed work of the Romanian New Wave: a gripping, suspenseful drama about a young woman in Ceauşescu’s Romania who tries to help her college roommate get an illegal abortion. The film’s overall metacritic.com score (97 out of 100) was the highest of 2008!

Italy, USSR | 1983 | Andrei Tarkovsky

Long unavailable on 35mm in the U.S. (we last showed it in 1987!), Andrei Tarkovsky’s penultimate film—and the first movie he made outside the USSR—is a melancholy, poetic tale of alienation, exile, and homesickness. A Russian poet and musicologist (Oleg Yankovsky) experiences a crisis of confidence and faith while visiting Tuscany to research the life of a little-known 18th-century Russian composer. But the village’s mysterious lunatic (Erland Josephson) claims to have a remedy for the...

Poland | 1958 | Andrzej Wajda

Andrzej Wajda's fourth feature is one of the greatest Polish films ever made. At the close of WWII, Maciek, a young Polish Resistance fighter, is ordered to kill the new Communist district leader. But a budding love affair makes him realize he has grown weary of violence and bloodshed. Wajda imbues his war movie with baroque imagery and film noir style. Maciek is played by Zbigniew Cybulski, an iconic star of post-WWII Polish cinema who...

Poland | 1958 | Andrzej Wajda

Andrzej Wajda's fourth feature is one of the greatest Polish films ever made. At the close of WWII, Maciek, a young Polish Resistance fighter, is ordered to kill the new Communist district leader. But a budding love affair makes him realize he has grown weary of violence and bloodshed. Wajda imbues his war movie with baroque imagery and film noir style. Maciek is played by Zbigniew Cybulski, an iconic star of post-WWII Polish cinema who...

Italy, USSR | 1983 | Andrei Tarkovsky

Long unavailable on 35mm in the U.S. (we last showed it in 1987!), Andrei Tarkovsky’s penultimate film—and the first movie he made outside the USSR—is a melancholy, poetic tale of alienation, exile, and homesickness. A Russian poet and musicologist (Oleg Yankovsky) experiences a crisis of confidence and faith while visiting Tuscany to research the life of a little-known 18th-century Russian composer. But the village’s mysterious lunatic (Erland Josephson) claims to have a remedy for the...

France | 1954 | Jean Renoir

The founding of Paris’ Moulin Rouge cabaret and the training of its famous dancing girls are brought to exuberant life in Jean Renoir’s colorful extravaganza that conjures up the world of the French impressionists. Jean Gabin, Maria Félix, and Edith Piaf star.

United States | 1976; 1980 | Les Blank

Longtime independent filmmaker Les Blank, who died in April at age 77, was a cultural ethnographer who celebrated regional American food and roots music in a series of acclaimed documentaries. He directed over 40 films in a career that spanned five decades. Tonight, as a tribute, we present his two works that are on the Library of Congress' National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." Chulas Fronteras is a spirited snapshot of...

France | 1981 | Jacques Rivette

This never-before-released-in-America film by French New Wave master Jacques Rivette is a more sinister companion piece to his celebrated trip down the rabbit hole Céline and Julie Go Boating. Like that peripatetic 1974 puzzler, this film focuses on two women, an ex-con and a motorcyclist (Bulle Ogier and her real-life daughter Pascale), who cross paths one day in Paris and, inside a stolen briefcase, discover evidence of a nefarious conspiracy. Possessing a map that turns...

Italy, USSR | 1983 | Andrei Tarkovsky

Long unavailable on 35mm in the U.S. (we last showed it in 1987!), Andrei Tarkovsky’s penultimate film—and the first movie he made outside the USSR—is a melancholy, poetic tale of alienation, exile, and homesickness. A Russian poet and musicologist (Oleg Yankovsky) experiences a crisis of confidence and faith while visiting Tuscany to research the life of a little-known 18th-century Russian composer. But the village’s mysterious lunatic (Erland Josephson) claims to have a remedy for the...

France | 1954 | Jean Renoir

The founding of Paris’ Moulin Rouge cabaret and the training of its famous dancing girls are brought to exuberant life in Jean Renoir’s colorful extravaganza that conjures up the world of the French impressionists. Jean Gabin, Maria Félix, and Edith Piaf star.

France | 1981 | Jacques Rivette

This never-before-released-in-America film by French New Wave master Jacques Rivette is a more sinister companion piece to his celebrated trip down the rabbit hole Céline and Julie Go Boating. Like that peripatetic 1974 puzzler, this film focuses on two women, an ex-con and a motorcyclist (Bulle Ogier and her real-life daughter Pascale), who cross paths one day in Paris and, inside a stolen briefcase, discover evidence of a nefarious conspiracy. Possessing a map that turns...

France, Greece, Italy | 2004 | Theodoros Angelopoulos

Greece’s Theo Angelopoulos, one of the world’s greatest filmmakers, died unexpectedly in 2012 when he was struck by a motorcycle while shooting a new movie. This 2004 epic, the first part of a projected (and now unfinished) trilogy about 20th-century Greece, is one of his best. Spanning the years 1919-49, the movie focuses on Eleni, a Greek orphan girl taken in by another Greek family. Eleni eventually marries her new father, a widower, though she...

France, Greece, Italy | 2004 | Theodoros Angelopoulos

Greece’s Theo Angelopoulos, one of the world’s greatest filmmakers, died unexpectedly in 2012 when he was struck by a motorcycle while shooting a new movie. This 2004 epic, the first part of a projected (and now unfinished) trilogy about 20th-century Greece, is one of his best. Spanning the years 1919-49, the movie focuses on Eleni, a Greek orphan girl taken in by another Greek family. Eleni eventually marries her new father, a widower, though she...

France, Italy | 1956 | Jean Renoir

Ingrid Bergman, Jean Marais, and Mel Ferrer star in this colorful bauble set in 1880s Paris, about a radiant but impoverished Polish princess who must choose a husband from her many admirers. Cinematography by Claude Renoir.

United Kingdom | 1963 | Tony Richardson

Winner of four Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director (and nominated for six others), this exuberant, innovative, hugely enjoyable adaptation of Henry Fielding's classic novel stars Albert Finney as a handsome young bastard who has a series of randy misadventures in 18th-century England. The all-star supporting cast includes Susannah York, Hugh Griffith, Edith Evans, and many others. Screenplay by John Osborne.

Kazakhstan | 2012 | Darezhan Omirbayev

A college film student in present-day Almaty commits a senseless robbery and murder in this fleet, spare adaptation of Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment. This new movie by master Kazakh filmmaker Dareshan Omirbayev (Killer) is one of his best. “A stark, Bressonian tale…Omirbayev once again offers a quietly scathing portrait of his homeland, which, on the evidence here, is on the verge of losing its soul in the pursuit of Range Rovers, banal soap operas and...