This film is currently unavailable

The Death of Louis XIV
The last days of the Sun King, evoked with sombre beauty by Albert Serra. The legendary Jean-Pierre Léaud brings ineffable presence to the title role.
Director: Albert Serra
Overview
Catalan director Albert Serra (Birdsong, Story of My Death) continues his contemplative series of studies of legendary figures, both real and fictional (Don Quixote, the Magi, Casanova) with this elegant, mesmerising evocation of the last days of the Sun King, surrounded by doctors and courtiers as he yields slowly to a fatal infection. Magnificently shot by Jonathan Ricquebourg, his candlelit cinematography echoing the chiaroscuro of 17th-century painter Georges de La Tour, the film portrays the arcane system of court protocol while powerfully evoking the distance between the physical body of a decrepit mortal and the mythical being of the monarch as God. Playing the king is a legend of French cinema – Jean-Pierre Léaud, once the golden youth of the Nouvelle Vague, now enacting his own mortality in a performance that is as revealing and poignant as it is minimalist. A film of stately beauty and philosophical depth.
Related

Caligula: The Ultimate Cut Caligula: The Ultimate Cut
Period drama 2023 178 mins Director: Tinto Brass
Malcolm McDowell and Helen Mirren star in one of the most controversial films in cinema history, presented here in an entirely new cut compiled from the original rushes.

Baltimore Baltimore
Historical drama 2023 98 mins Director: Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor
Imogen Poots grounds Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor's meditative portrayal of terrorist, disinherited heiress and expectant mother Rose Dugdale.

Battleship Potemkin Battleship Potemkin
Historical drama 1925 69 mins Silent Director: Sergei M. Eisenstein
A fixture in the critical canon almost since its premiere, Eisenstein’s film about a 1905 naval mutiny was revolutionary in both form and content.

Fitzcarraldo Fitzcarraldo
Historical drama 1981 157 mins Director: Werner Herzog
Fitzcarraldo tells the story of Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald, a fortune hunter who dreams of bringing opera to the Peruvian jungle.

Aguirre, Wrath of God Aguirre, Wrath of God
Historical drama 1972 94 mins Director: Werner Herzog
This early masterpiece from Werner Herzog stars Klaus Kinski as a power-crazed explorer in sixteenth-century South America who leads a band of conquistadors through the Amazon in search of El Dorado.

Sebastiane Sebastiane
Historical drama 1976 85 mins Director: Derek Jarman and Paul Humfress
A distinctly bold and sensual reclaiming of gay history, Jarman here tells the sexually intense story of the 4th-century martyr.

Lady Macbeth Lady Macbeth
Period drama 2017 89 mins Director: William Oldroyd
Florence Pugh shines in this exceptional British debut of a young wife's need for freedom, whatever the cost.

The Handmaiden The Handmaiden
Period drama 2016 146 mins Director: Park Chan-wook
Park Chan-wook (Oldboy, Stoker) channels Sarah Waters’ novel Fingersmith, to create a sumptuous twisty psychological thriller full of erotic intrigue.

Red Beard Red Beard
Drama 1965 180 mins Director: Akira Kurosawa
Kurosawa’s episodic, poignant story of a 19th-century doctor (Toshiro Mifune) working in a clinic for the poor and his tumultuous friendship with a young intern.

Aguirre, Wrath of God Aguirre, Wrath of God
Historical drama 1972 94 mins Director: Werner Herzog
This early masterpiece from Werner Herzog stars Klaus Kinski as a power-crazed explorer in sixteenth-century South America who leads a band of conquistadors through the Amazon in search of El Dorado.

Tchaikovsky's Wife Tchaikovsky's Wife
Drama 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.

Vermiglio Vermiglio
Drama 2024 120 mins Director: Maura Delpero
Unfolding against the stunning backdrop of a remote Italian mountain village, Maura Delpero’s film is a hauntingly beautiful period tale of family life gradually torn apart.
The 400 Blows The 400 Blows
Drama 1959 100 mins Director: François Truffaut
François Truffaut’s French New Wave landmark is one of the greatest movies about adolescence.

Bed and Board Bed and Board
Drama 1970 97 mins Director: François Truffaut
In this typically ambivalent comedy from Truffaut, Antoine Doinel (Jean-Pierre Léaud) becomes a father... But is he mature enough for parenthood?

Stolen Kisses Stolen Kisses
Comedy 1968 91 mins Director: François Truffaut
Naively idealistic and largely inept both in his dealings with women and in any job, Antoine clumsily courts Christine while working for a private detective agency.

Anne and Muriel [aka Two English Girls] Anne and Muriel [aka Two English Girls]
Drama 1971 130 mins Director: François Truffaut
Truffaut adopts a detached, delicate tone in treating the troubled ménage-à-trois that develops between a young French writer (Léaud) and two English sisters in the early 1900s.

Love on the Run Love on the Run
Drama 1978 94 mins Director: François Truffaut
Separated from Christine and uncertain about his latest relationship, Antoine (Jean-Pierre Léaud) has finally written a novel inspired by his own experiences in this final chapter of François Truffaut’s series.

Pacifiction Pacifiction
Drama 2022 165 mins Director: Albert Serra
Albert Serra’s hypnotic Palme d'Or-nominated drama about the greed and hypocrisy of colonial power in Tahiti.

Liberté Liberté
Drama 2019 138 mins Director: Albert Serra
Albert Serra’s opulent exploration of the limits of the erotic imagination is realised in this radical and subversive cinematic experience.

Last Exit to Brooklyn Last Exit to Brooklyn
Crime 1989 104 mins Director: Uli Edel
Jennifer Jason Leigh stars in the controversial drama about the underbelly of 1950s Brooklyn, from the pen of Hubert Selby Jr (Requiem for a Dream).

Four Mothers Four Mothers
Drama 2023 89 mins Director: Darren Thornton
Hilarious, uplifting tale of an Irish son juggling four very different mothers over one chaotic weekend in Dublin.

Of Horses and Men Of Horses and Men
Drama 2013 81 mins Director: Benedikt Erlingsson
Human romance and a passion for horses intertwine in this wildly beautiful, darkly funny equine tale from Iceland.

2073 2073
Documentary 2024 83 mins Director: Asif Kapadia
Oscar-winning director Asif Kapadia's unsettling drama-documentary delivers a powerful commentary on the state of the world today… and tomorrow.

Blind Blind
Drama 2013 96 mins Director: Eskil Vogt
A woman’s blindness sharpens her capacity for imagination and fantasy in the Eskil Vogt’s inventive debut.

The People vs. Larry Flynt The People vs. Larry Flynt
Biopic 1996 130 mins Director: Milos Forman
Milos Forman’s provocative biopic starring Woody Harrelson as a notorious pornographer turned unlikely hero and champion of free speech.