Overview
For perhaps his most daring experimentation with film structure, Tarkovsky intersperses scenes from three eras – a childhood in the countryside, the Great War, and post-war maturity – to create a prismatic reflection of his own life and those of his parents. Abandoning linear narrative in favour of dramatising discontinuous shards of memory, Tarkovsky pioneered a poetic and richly allusive form.
Ranked joint 31st in the 2022 Sight and Sound Great Films of All Time poll.
Related

Tigers Tigers
Biopic 2021 116 mins Director: Ronnie Sandahl
A teenage football prodigy spirals out of control when he is bought by one of the most prestigious clubs in the world. Sweden’s submission for the 2022 Academy Awards, based on a true story.

Rebel Dread Rebel Dread
Biopic 2021 83 mins Director: William E. Badgley
This is the story of the iconic Don Letts, the coolest cultural polymath – narrated by the man himself.

Big Boys Don't Cry Big Boys Don't Cry
Biopic 2020 90 mins Director: Steve Crowhurst
Based on the true story of Paul Connolly (played by Michael Socha, This is England), who is forced to confront his traumatic years at an abusive children’s home when detectives come knocking.

The Greenaway Alphabet The Greenaway Alphabet
Documentary 2017 60 mins Director: Saskia Boddeke
Saskia Boddeke, filmmaker and wife of Peter Greenaway, produces an exquisite, irreverent and intimate portrait of the great director working with his daughter to create an alphabet that catalogues moments of his life and career.

Being Frank: The Chris Sievey Story Being Frank: The Chris Sievey Story
Documentary 2018 101 mins Director: Steve Sullivan
Frank Sidebottom was a pillar of alternative comedy of the late 80s/early 90s, and this charming documentary remembers the man behind the papier-mâché head.

Vita & Virginia Vita & Virginia
Romance 2018 110 mins Director: Chanya Button
Gemma Arterton and Elizabeth Debicki relive a literary love affair, fiery and forbidden, with a remarkable legacy.

Black Orpheus Black Orpheus
Romance 1959 107 mins Director: Marcel Camus
Academy Award and Palme d'Or-winning adaption of the Orpheus myth, incorporating the music, costume and dance of Brazil’s Rio Festival.

Romance Romance
Drama 1999 98 mins Director: Catherine Breillat
Shockingly explicit, Catherine Breillat’s critically acclaimed Romance is one of the most controversial films of modern cinema.

La Ronde La Ronde
Drama 1950 89 mins Director: Max Ophuls
Ophuls’ exquisite, imaginative adaptation of Arthur Schnitzler’s play about a carousel of erotic encounters involving characters of different social status.

Sex Is Comedy Sex Is Comedy
Comedy 2002 95 mins Director: Catherine Breillat
A director struggles to film a difficult sex scene between two actors who happen to hate each other, in Catherine Breillat's witty exploration of intimacy coordination.

Anatomy of Hell Anatomy of Hell
Drama 2003 77 mins Director: Catherine Breillat
Catherine Breillat's rigorously intellectual exploration of sexuality, about a woman who employs a gay man to spend days watching her naked.

French Cancan French Cancan
Period drama 1955 104 mins Director: Jean Renoir
Based on the story of Moulin Rouge founder Charles Zidler, Jean Renoir’s tale of an impresario’s commitment to his art is a masterpiece of Technicolor brilliance.

Plan 75 Plan 75
Drama 2022 113 mins Director: Chie Hayakawa
Faced with a rapidly ageing population, a government in near-future Japan rolls out an unsettling agenda.

Edge of the World Edge of the World
Drama 1937 75 mins Director: Michael Powell
Michael Powell's daring, windswept story of the inhabitants of a remote island who find their way of life threatened by a rapidly industrialising world.

De Humani Corporis Fabrica De Humani Corporis Fabrica
Documentary 2022 118 mins Director: Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Verena Paravel
The psychedelic physicality of this mortal coil – journey into the systems that comprise the human body in this fascinating sensory experience.

Great Yarmouth: Provisional Figures Great Yarmouth: Provisional Figures
Drama 2023 113 mins Director: Marco Martins and Marco Martins
As Brexit looms on the horizon, hundreds of migrant workers arrive in the coastal town of Great Yarmouth looking for work, in Marco Martins’ damning depiction of immigrant life in a fracturing Britain.

The Night of the 12th The Night of the 12th
Drama 2022 114 mins Director: Dominik Moll
A newly promoted detective is assigned to a young woman’s chilling murder in this deeply arresting crime thriller based on true events.

Black God, White Devil Black God, White Devil
Drama 1964 119 mins Director: Glauber Rocha
Wanted for killing his boss, Manuel and his wife flee to a primordial violent region in Glauber Rocha's masterpiece and banner film of Brazil's Cinema Novo movement.