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The Art of Seduction
Be beguiled by cinema's smooth talkers and teasing temptresses.
From the travails of hopeful ingénues to the smarmy scheming of professional pick-up artistes, the game of seduction makes for a highly cinematic pursuit. Our collection focuses on those charismatic leads who steal both hearts and the screen itself, including some protagonists whose mesmeric power is not necessarily sexual.
Fear Eats the SoulFear Eats the Soul
Melodrama197493 minsDirector: Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Fassbinder’s international breakthrough, this unconventional love story combines lucid social analysis with devastating emotional power.
In FabricIn Fabric
Drama2018119 minsDirector: Peter Strickland
A beautiful blood-red dress unleashes a curse on its wearers in Peter Strickland's erotic and twisted horror.
Old BoysOld Boys
Comedy201995 minsDirector: Toby MacDonald
Charmingly idiosyncratic comedy reworking of Cyrano de Bergerac, with Alex Lawther as a boarder who helps the school hero woo a French teacher's daughter despite being besotted with her himself.
Yesterday, Today and TomorrowYesterday, Today and Tomorrow
Comedy1963118 minsDirector: Vittorio De Sica
Irrepressible Vittorio De Sica (Bicycle Thieves) directs this Oscar-winning film of three comic tales of love and sex in three cities.
The HandmaidenThe Handmaiden
Period drama2016146 minsDirector: Park Chan-wook
Park Chan-wook (Oldboy, Stoker) channels Sarah Waters’ novel Fingersmith, to create a sumptuous twisty psychological thriller full of erotic intrigue.
Les Dames du Bois de BoulogneLes Dames du Bois de Boulogne
Drama194587 minsDirector: Robert Bresson
Robert Bresson’s tale of sexual intrigue, rivalry and revenge among Parisian socialites, with glittering dialogue by Cocteau.
Vita & VirginiaVita & Virginia
Romance2018110 minsDirector: Chanya Button
Gemma Arterton and Elizabeth Debicki relive a literary love affair, fiery and forbidden, with a remarkable legacy.
The Bitter Tears of Petra von KantThe Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant
Drama1972124 minsDirector: Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Fassbinder's visual and verbal extravaganza about a successful but lonely fashion designer who falls in love with a beautiful younger woman.
TheoremTheorem
Drama196898 minsDirector: Pier Paolo Pasolini
Pasolini’s classic about a handsome, enigmatic stranger (Terence Stamp) who arrives at a bourgeois household and seduces an entire family.
Immoral TalesImmoral Tales
Anthology1974103 minsDirector: Walerian Borowczyk
Walerian Borowczyk presents four stories of sexual taboos throughout the ages, in his highly controversial classic of 1970s erotic cinema.
One Deadly SummerOne Deadly Summer
Crime1983134 minsDirector: Jean Becker
A summer of love turns into a dark tale of revenge. This compelling film by Jean Becker features a stunning Isabelle Adjani in one of her most extraordinary performances.
OnibabaOnibaba
Period drama1964102 minsDirector: Kaneto Shindo
Stylish, symbolic and erotically charged Japanese horror in which the fortunes of a murderous mother-and-daughter team are upended by a strangely masked samurai.
SuspiriaSuspiria
Horror1977101 minsDirector: Dario Argento
Dario Argento’s phantasmagoric gothic nightmare blends operatic violence, disorienting dream logic and hyper-real visuals to create a horror classic.
UnrelatedUnrelated
Drama200896 minsDirector: Joanna Hogg
On a Tuscan break a fortysomething woman finds herself drawn to the company of a group of partying teens, including a young Tom Hiddleston (in one of his earliest roles).
Hors SatanHors Satan
Drama2011105 minsDirector: Bruno Dumont
A mysterious figure strolls around a French coastal town offering a bizarre and violent path to salvation, in this controversial shocker from Bruno Dumont.
The SouvenirThe Souvenir
Drama2018120 minsDirector: Joanna Hogg
Sight and Sound's 2019 film of the year is the compelling, semi-autobiographical drama from acclaimed writer-director Joanna Hogg.
NighthawksNighthawks
Drama1978113 minsDirector: Ron Peck
A schoolteacher juggles everyday life with nights spent cruising for Mr Right in this fascinating landmark in British gay cinema