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Tilda Swinton selects
The extraordinary performer selects the films that inspire her from BFI Player Subscription.
Detailing eight essential works which Swinton expounds upon, plus a further selection of greats that are close to her heart.
Stranger by the Lake Stranger by the Lake
Drama 2013 100 mins Director: Alain Guiraudie
A young man witnesses a violent crime at a gay cruising ground and becomes obsessed with the killer in Alain Guiraudie’s acclaimed mystery-thriller.
"Exquisitely atmospheric summer cruising. Boys looking for boys and the idyll of abandon. A breathtakingly swoony study in wicked tension, the romance of danger and real erotic yearning. "
La Belle et la Bête La Belle et la Bête
Fantasy 1946 95 mins Director: Jean Cocteau
Jean Cocteau’s ravishingly restored 1946 film is a cinematic classic.
"Jean Cocteau’s resplendent fairy tale. Images you will never forget. The chandelier arms, the transcendent beauty of Jean Marais, the pearl of a drop of dew on a rose. Pure magic."
I Was Born, But... I Was Born, But...
Comedy 1932 87 mins Silent Director: Yasujirō Ozu
Ozu's silent masterpiece follows two brothers as they try to outwit the local bully.
"Yasujiro Ozu’s beautiful 1932 wee silent masterpiece about childhood, brotherhood and learning about how to negotiate fathers and learn the rules of the game. "
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives
Fantasy 2010 109 mins Director: Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Apichatpong's Cannes prizewinner, about an ailing man revisiting his past, is a measured, lyrical evocation of mysterious beauty and quiet humanity
"Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Palme d’Or winning dream of ghosts and monkey spirits in the Thai jungle. Slow cinema at its most immersive, lateral and resonant. It’s possible to believe you dreamed Apichatpong’s films after you see them.. they certainly take you somewhere you’ve never been before on this earth... don’t hurry back.."
Medea Medea
Drama 1970 111 mins Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini
Pier Paolo Pasolini directs opera singer Maria Callas in a vivid adaptation of Euripides' Greek tragedy.
"For Pasolini’s monumental/barbaric/visionary touch, for Cappadocia’s timelessly savage landscape, for Peiro Tosi’s jaw-dropping primeval costumes, for Maria Callas’ profile. A film inspired by Euripides, that feels like it was dug up from inside an ancient tomb, shot in 1968. Wild."
Journey to Italy Journey to Italy
Drama 1954 86 mins Director: Roberto Rossellini
Roberto Rossellini's acerbic but finally very moving masterpiece about marital crisis boasts great performances from Ingrid Bergman and George Sanders
"One of the most elliptical and mesmerising films I know. George Sanders and Ingrid Bergman caught in a landscape of alienation - from each other, from southern Italy: a study in inarticulacy, loneliness and longing, built on a radiant belief in miracles."
Tokyo Story Tokyo Story
Drama 1953 136 mins Director: Yasujirō Ozu
A fixture in critics' polls, Yasujirō Ozu's most enduring masterpiece is a beautifully nuanced exploration of filial duty, expectation and regret.
"Possibly Ozu’s most famous work. Magisterial. The final journey of elderly parents to each of their grown children in turn. The heartbreak of generational disconnection and the inescapable tenderness of familial bonds, the comfort of human ritual and the inevitable turn of the Great Wheel. Profoundly moving."
M M
Crime 1931 111 mins Director: Fritz Lang
Peter Lorre is unforgettable as the compulsive child murderer on the run from both police and criminals alike, in Fritz Lang’s seminal crime film.
"Fritz Lang’s first sound film. The German Expressionist cine-temple. Peter Lorre as a child-murderer, Berlin 1932. A chase. A capture. Maybe the original psychological thriller: it implicates us all.. Mercilessly tough and unforgettably wise. "
FURTHER SELECTIONS
Autumn Sonata Autumn Sonata
Drama 1978 92 mins Director: Ingmar Bergman
Ingmar Bergman’s sole film with his namesake Ingrid sees her as a famous concert pianist visiting her daughter, played by a third giant of Swedish film, Liv Ullmann.
Bicycle Thieves Bicycle Thieves
Drama 1948 89 mins Director: Vittorio De Sica
Vittorio De Sica’s story of a father and son searching for a stolen bicycle on the streets of Rome is a classic of post-war Italian cinema.
The Passion of Joan of Arc The Passion of Joan of Arc
Biopic 1928 80 mins Silent Director: Carl Th. Dreyer
An incontestable masterpiece of silent cinema, Carl Dreyer's moving biopic features one of the most powerful performances ever captured on film.
The Colour of Pomegranates The Colour of Pomegranates
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1968 80 mins Director: Sergei Paradjanov
The film that Martin Scorsese compared to ‘opening a door and walking into another dimension, where time has stopped and beauty has been unleashed’.
Tilda Swinton
Celebrating the extraordinary, convention-defying career of the chameleonic performer.
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