This film is part of Rentals
The Party
Following some unexpected revelations, a celebration quickly takes a turn for the worse in Sally Potter's razor-sharp comedy.
Director: Sally Potter
Overview
A brilliant ensemble cast get their teeth stuck into Britain’s political elite in Sally Potter’s biting and supremely entertaining satire. Janet (Kristin Scott Thomas) has just been appointed Shadow Minister for Health and has invited some friends around to celebrate. Her dazed husband (Timothy Spall) seems happy enough to see razor-tongued April (Patricia Clarkson), but struggles to check his intolerance of flagrant new-ager Gottfried (Bruno Ganz). Next to arrive are Martha (Cherry Jones), described by April as ‘a first-class lesbian and a second-rate thinker’, and her wife Jinny (Emily Mortimer), but things seriously derail when unhinged and chemically-enhanced banker Tom (Cillian Murphy) bursts in looking for his wife.
Dinner always appears to be on the cusp of being served but never quite arrives - as in Luis Buñuel’s The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, the guests remain hungry and volatile. The film, however, serves up a full course of character dissections, with Potter’s spit-fire dialogue and Aleksei Rodionov’s prowling camera revealing much more than the individual ambitions and petty grievances of the guests. Written in the lead-up to the 2015 British General Election, Potter’s potent, funny and deliciously nasty film relishes stripping bare characters who fail ‘to keep to their own party-line of what is morally right and politically left’.
Related
Support the Girls Support the Girls
Drama 2018 90 mins Director: Andrew Bujalski
Andrew Bujalski serves up a big-hearted comedy with his day-in-the-life look at Double Whammies – a Hooters-style bar and its tight-knit, all-female staff.
Black Mountain Poets Black Mountain Poets
Comedy 2016 85 mins Director: Jamie Adams
Alice Lowe and Dolly Wells play criminal sisters who steal the identity of two poets, only to be charmed by the world of competition poetry.
Flux Gourmet Flux Gourmet
Comedy 2022 112 mins Director: Peter Strickland
This darkly comic tale from Peter Strickland is a fantastic feast for the senses, starring Asa Butterfield and Gwendoline Christie.
I Never Cry I Never Cry
Comedy 2020 97 mins Director: Piotr Domalewski
Darkly comic Polish drama about a young woman who goes on a voyage of self-discovery in Ireland after her father unexpectedly passes away.
It Must Be Heaven It Must Be Heaven
Comedy 2019 102 mins Director: Elia Suleiman
Acclaimed Palestinian filmmaker Elia Suleiman returns with another deadpan take on life in exile that is typically assured and moving.
Queen of Glory Queen of Glory
Comedy 2021 79 mins Director: Nana Mensah
In Nana Mensah’s self-assured and charming comedy, a Ghanaian-American woman’s life is thrown into disarray when she inherits her mother’s Christian bookshop.
God's Own Country God's Own Country
Drama 2017 105 mins Director: Francis Lee
A troubled young sheep farmer falls for a hired hand in this stunning debut from Francis Lee.
The Florida Project The Florida Project
Drama 2017 112 mins Director: Sean Baker
Anora director Sean Baker's visionary portrait of life in America’s underbelly, featuring an Oscar-nominated turn from Willem Dafoe.
Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool
Biopic 2017 106 mins Director: Paul McGuigan
Annette Bening and Jamie Bell bring to life the true story of the love affair between Gloria Grahame and young, Liverpudlian actor Peter Turner.
Menashe Menashe
Drama 2017 83 mins Director: Joshua Z Weinstein
This story of a widower's struggle to reclaim his child is both a funny, moving drama and an insight into the world of New York's Yiddish-speaking Hasidic community.
Loveless Loveless
Drama 2017 127 mins Director: Andrey Zvyagintsev
Andrey Zvyagintsev delivers a caustic look at contemporary Russian society, a failed marriage and a child's disappearance.
The Happy Prince The Happy Prince
Biopic 2018 105 mins Director: Rupert Everett
Rupert Everett astounds as Oscar Wilde, depicting the fallen star in the final years of his life, in this heartfelt and captivating passion project.
Denial Denial
Drama 2017 110 mins Director: Mick Jackson
Powerful, aggressively relevant courtroom drama restaging the trial that questioned the events of the Holocaust. Rachel Weisz and Timothy Spall star.
Mr. Turner Mr. Turner
Biopic 2014 150 mins Director: Mike Leigh
Mike Leigh’s Cannes-winning account of the later years of J. M. W. Turner, brilliantly played by Timothy Spall.
The King's Speech The King's Speech
Historical drama 2011 113 mins Director: Tom Hooper
Oscar-winning tale of the relationship between King George VI (Colin Firth) and the Australian speech therapist who treated his stammer.
Chicken Run Chicken Run
Animation & Artists Moving Image 2000 84 mins Director: Peter Lord and Nick Park
Mel Gibson’s Rocky the rooster helps the chickens escape from fascistic farmers in Aardman Animations first foray into feature films.
Spencer Spencer
Drama 2021 117 mins Director: Pablo Larraín
Pablo Larraín's sublime ‘fable from a true story’ imagines a Christmas weekend at Sandringham in the early 1990s, as an unhappy Princess Diana contemplates saying ‘no’.
Mrs Lowry & Son Mrs Lowry & Son
Biopic 2018 92 mins Director: Adrian Noble
Timothy Spall brings to life beloved British artist L. S. Lowry, as he struggles with his relationship to his bed-ridden, bitter and overbearing mother (Vanessa Redgrave).
Only God Forgives Only God Forgives
Crime 2013 90 mins Director: Nicolas Winding Refn
Ryan Gosling takes on Bangkok’s criminal underworld in this kaleidoscopic revenge fantasy from cult director Nicolas Winding Refn.
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen Salmon Fishing in the Yemen
Comedy 2012 111 mins Director: Lasse Hallström
Two London office workers find love on a Yemeni Sheikh's ambitious fishing scheme. Ewan McGregor and Emily Blunt star.
The Invisible Woman The Invisible Woman
Biopic 2014 111 mins Director: Ralph Fiennes
Ralph Fiennes directs and stars in this adaptation of Claire Tomalin’s book about the long-standing affair between Charles Dickens and Nelly Ternan.
Richard III Richard III
Drama 1996 104 mins Director: Richard Loncraine
Ian McKellen and Richard Loncraine’s bold restaging transplants Shakespeare’s play to an imagined 1930s fascist Britain.
Easy Virtue Easy Virtue
Comedy 2008 97 mins Director: Stephan Elliott
Jessica Biel plays the brash American fiancée who disrupts an upper-class family in this delightful Downton Abbey-esque tale of high-society hijinks.
Orlando Orlando
Fantasy 1993 93 mins Director: Sally Potter
Tilda Swinton stars in Sally Potter's dazzling interpretation of Virginia Woolf's novel.
The Gold Diggers The Gold Diggers
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1984 89 mins Director: Sally Potter
The ground-breaking first feature from Sally Potter (Orlando, Ginger and Rosa) is a key film in early 1980s feminist cinema.
Ginger & Rosa Ginger & Rosa
Drama 2012 90 mins Director: Sally Potter
Teenage friendship is torn apart when Rosa finds love in the wrong place, in Sally Potter's acute, 60s-set drama.
The Cow Who Sang a Song Into the Future The Cow Who Sang a Song Into the Future
Fantasy 2022 99 mins Director: Francisca Alegría
Francisca Alegría brings together family trauma and ecology into a poetic journey of rebirth. A mysterious and poetic tale on our collapsing ecosystem and finding balance.
A Forgotten Man A Forgotten Man
Historical drama 2022 85 mins Director: Laurent Negre
At the end of World War Two, a Swiss diplomat (Michael Neueschwander) is burdened with guilt in this chillingly intense historical drama.
Verdict Verdict
Crime 2019 127 mins Director: Raymund Ribay Gutierrez
A wife presses charges against her violent husband, only to face fresh battles against bureaucracy, in this incensing courtroom thriller.
Rimini Rimini
Drama 2022 90 mins Director: Ulrich Seidl
Impeccably styled and unflinchingly grim, this darkly humorous tale of a pop star past his prime finds Ulrich Seidl at his audacious best.
The Miseducation of Cameron Post The Miseducation of Cameron Post
Drama 2018 92 mins Director: Desiree Akhavan
Chloë Grace Moretz is the girl who finds her tribe with fellow ‘sinners’ at a religious camp where they are told to pray the gay away.
Petrov's Flu Petrov's Flu
Fantasy 2021 146 mins Director: Kirill Serebrennikov
A comic book artist contracts flu during an epidemic and subsequently embarks on a strange journey through Russian society.