Girl with a Pearl Earring

Ian McKellen is in delicious form as London's most vicious critic, who strikes a Faustian pact with a struggling actor (Gemma Arterton).

Enchanting tale of female empowerment in 19th century France, based on the true story of a famed ‘bearded lady’.

Using an advanced oil painting animation technique, The Peasants is a visually thrilling rendering of Władysław Reymont’s Nobel Prize-winning tale.

Thorold Dickinson's most dazzling success, based on Pushkin’s 1834 tale of black magic and gambling.

Kubrick charts the rise and fall of an 18th-century charlatan as an acerbic study of self-destruction amid social ritual.

Kon Ichikawa's wildly melodramatic tale of a kabuki female impersonator who exacts a long-delayed revenge.

Transplanting Joseph Conrad’s colonial-era novel Heart of Darkness to Vietnam, Coppola created a mesmerising fantasia on the spectacle of war.

Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone channel old-school Hollywood glamour in this bright and playful romantic musical from director Damien Chazelle (Whiplash).

Two contrasting and occasionally conflicted brothers find solace while fly fishing the rivers of their Montana home.

Danny Boyle’s crowdpleaser, based around the Indian version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, won the Oscar for best picture.

Blood! Blood! Hitchcock’s masterpiece was his most successful film; a sensation in its time that continues to terrify.

Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck (The Lives of Others) presents this epic, intergenerational tale of love, art and politics, loosely based on the life of world-renowned painter Gerhard Richter.

Oscar-winning tale of the relationship between King George VI (Colin Firth) and the Australian speech therapist who treated his stammer.

This technically brilliant, multi-award winner from Sam Mendes was inspired by his grandfather's memories of fighting in the First World War.

In this beautiful adaptation of Graham Swift’s novel, starring Josh O’Connor and Odessa Young, a writer has a creative awakening steeped in books, love and loss.

Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci shine as a long-term couple dealing with the onset of illness in this warm and tender drama.

Rupert Everett astounds as Oscar Wilde, depicting the fallen star in the final years of his life, in this heartfelt and captivating passion project.

Gary Oldman leads an all-star cast, including Benedict Cumberbatch and Tom Hardy, in this acclaimed adaptation of John Le Carré's esteemed spy novel.

An alien Scarlett Johansson prowls the streets of Glasgow in Jonathan Glazer’s astonishing, mind-bending mixture of existential sci-fi and inner-city realism.

This powerful documentary from a Palestinian-Israeli collective might be one of the most important films of this year.

Oscar-winner Cillian Murphy delivers a stunning performance as a coal merchant who discovers horrific secrets about his local convent.

Shujun Wei's slow-burn noir draws us inexorably into its mysterious psychological journey.

Ian McKellen is in delicious form as London's most vicious critic, who strikes a Faustian pact with a struggling actor (Gemma Arterton).

Justin Edgar's pioneering feature comedy about a neurotic filmmaker enlisted to make a film with a class of wheelchair-users.

What if unrequited love spanned the centuries? Alice Lowe's time-jumping fantasy rom-com is a colourful, darkly funny treat.