Subscribe to watch - 14-day free trial, then £6.99 a month
Fish Tank
Andrea Arnold's BAFTA winner and coming-of-age story starring newcomer Katie Jarvis as disaffected teen Mia and Michael Fassbender in one of his earliest film roles.
Director: Andrea Arnold
Overview
Andrea Arnold followed her superb debut feature Red Road with this similarly brilliant slice of social realism. Fifteen-year-old Mia is isolated and frustrated. She’s been excluded from school, fallen out with her friends and is unable to control her raging temper. She finds solace in hip-hop dancing, and the growing interest from her mother’s new boyfriend.
Director Arnold famously discovered lead actress Katie Jarvis after overhearing her loudly arguing at a train station. Jarvis’ engrossing performance is backed by a subtle and ambiguous turn from Michael Fassbender, in one of his earliest screen roles. Shot in a claustrophobic 4:3 aspect ratio, Fish Tank is an incisive and unforgettable drama about longing for escape, positing Mia as an ‘angry young woman’ to rival the Angry Young Men of an earlier era of British social realism. Winning the Jury Prize at Cannes Film Festival and the BAFTA for Best British Film, Andrea Arnold’s blistering portrait of a disaffected teenage girl yearning for an escape is a heart-breaking but essential watch.
Contains very strong language, sex and sex referencesRelated
Tchaikovsky's Wife Tchaikovsky's Wife
Biopic 2022 144 mins Director: Kirill Serebrennikov
Award-winning director Kirill Serebrennikov (Petrov's Flu) charts the tumultuous relationship between the 19th-century composer and his wife, in this poignant and powerful biopic.
Nezouh Nezouh
Drama 2024 104 mins Director: Soudade Kaadan
Enchanting feminist coming-of-age drama, from award winning Syrian director Soudade Kaadan.
The Turin Horse The Turin Horse
Drama 2011 155 mins Director: Béla Tarr
Béla Tarr’s devastating, starkly pared-down final feature, inspired by Nietzsche.
Werckmeister Harmonies Werckmeister Harmonies
Drama 2000 147 mins Director: Béla Tarr
A stuffed whale sparks social apocalypse in this haunting cinematic masterpiece from Béla Tarr and Ágnes Hranitzky.
The Man from London The Man from London
Drama 2007 139 mins Director: Béla Tarr
Tilda Swinton stars in this profoundly nocturnal Georges Simenon adaptation.
Pandora's Box Pandora's Box
Drama 1928 134 mins Silent Director: G.W. Pabst
Louise Brooks dazzles as the iconic showgirl who leaves a trail of destruction in her wake, in one of the great silent films of the Weimar era.
Pressure Pressure
Drama 1978 121 mins Director: Horace Ové
Hailed as Britain's first black feature film, Pressure is a hard-hitting, honest document of the plight of disenchanted black youths in 1970s London; now available in its new restoration.
Paris, Texas Paris, Texas
Drama 1984 145 mins Director: Wim Wenders
The late, great Harry Dean Stanton's finest role came as the near-mute Travis, on a journey across America to reunite his family, in Wim Wenders' moving tale of loss and redemption.
Cléo from 5 to 7 Cléo from 5 to 7
Drama 1962 91 mins Director: Agnès Varda
Agnes Varda’s classic character study follows a successful pop singer as she wanders around Paris while awaiting the results of serious medical tests.
Crash Crash
Drama 1996 100 mins Director: David Cronenberg
Technology and sexuality meet in head-on collision in David Cronenberg’s controversial adaptation of writer J.G. Ballard’s hugely transgressive 1973 novel, starring James Spader and Holly Hunter.
Citizen Kane Citizen Kane
Drama 1941 119 mins Director: Orson Welles
Given extraordinary freedom by Hollywood studio RKO for his debut film, boy wonder Orson Welles created this notoriously brilliant portrait of a media giant.
Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles
Drama 1975 202 mins Director: Chantal Akerman
Chantal Akerman's magnificent epic of experimental cinema offering a feminist perspective on recurrent events of everyday life.
Red Road Red Road
Thriller 2006 110 mins Director: Andrea Arnold
Andrea Arnold’s highly acclaimed film, winner of top prizes at Cannes and the BFI London Film Festival, is a haunting drama about a woman confronting past demons.
Watership Down Watership Down
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1978 92 mins Director: Martin Rosen
An apocalyptic vision pushes a group of rabbits to abandon their warren in search of a new home, in this landmark British animation.
Tchaikovsky's Wife Tchaikovsky's Wife
Biopic 2022 144 mins Director: Kirill Serebrennikov
Award-winning director Kirill Serebrennikov (Petrov's Flu) charts the tumultuous relationship between the 19th-century composer and his wife, in this poignant and powerful biopic.
Nezouh Nezouh
Drama 2024 104 mins Director: Soudade Kaadan
Enchanting feminist coming-of-age drama, from award winning Syrian director Soudade Kaadan.
The Turin Horse The Turin Horse
Drama 2011 155 mins Director: Béla Tarr
Béla Tarr’s devastating, starkly pared-down final feature, inspired by Nietzsche.
Werckmeister Harmonies Werckmeister Harmonies
Drama 2000 147 mins Director: Béla Tarr
A stuffed whale sparks social apocalypse in this haunting cinematic masterpiece from Béla Tarr and Ágnes Hranitzky.
The Man from London The Man from London
Drama 2007 139 mins Director: Béla Tarr
Tilda Swinton stars in this profoundly nocturnal Georges Simenon adaptation.