Subscribe to watch - 14-day free trial, then £4.99 a month
The Immortal One
The debut feature from famed novelist and screenwriter Alain Robbe-Grillet is a daring examination of fantasy and memory set in Turkey.
Drama 1962 101 mins
Director: Alain Robbe-Grillet
Overview
The debut feature from famed the revered novelist and screenwriter Alain Robbe-Grillet is a daring examination of fantasy and memory. A French professor holidaying in Istanbul meets a beautiful and alluring woman. She seems to be in trouble and suggests she’s involved in a conspiracy to kidnap prostitutes. But when she disappears and nobody seems able to confirm her existence, the professor doesn’t know whether to doubt the people around him or his own memory.
The Immortal One finds Robbe-Grillet playing the same games around mistrustful memories and narrative dislocation as in his script for the French New Wave classic, Last Year in Marienbad. But unlike the director of that film, Alain Resnais, Robbe-Grillet is comfortable employing conventional genre tropes from mystery and detective fiction, resulting in a film that feels much more accessible than Resnais’ famed head-scratcher, while retaining its enigmatic allure. After the success of Marienbad, Robbe-Grillet was keen to direct his own film but struggled to find funding. Eventually a Belgian producer agreed to invest in a project, as long as it exploited trapped funds from an earlier Turkish production, which had to be spent in the country. Robbe-Grillet complied and used Turkey’s air of exoticism to enhance his dreamlike fantasy, centring the plot on his French protagonist’s inability to converse with the locals.
Contains moderate sex references and nudityRelated
Drama
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.
Beautiful Something Beautiful Something
Drama 2015 93 mins Director: Joseph Graham
In one desperate night, four disparate gay men cruise Philadelphia in pursuit of ever-elusive human connection.
You and the Night You and the Night
Drama 2013 89 mins Director: Yann Gonzalez
Eric Cantona and Beatrice Dalle star in an outrageous erotic fever dream about a couple who invite four diverse guests to their midnight orgy.
Once Once
Musical 2007 87 mins Director: John Carney
The unique, charming musical about the whirlwind romance between an Irish street musician and a Czech immigrant; winner of an Oscar® and a major prize at Sundance Film Festival.
The Singing Detective The Singing Detective
Comedy 2003 105 mins Director: Keith Gordon
Robert Downey Jr. is at his caustic best in this acerbic adaptation of Dennis Potter's classic serial about a writer tormented by dark visions from his own novels.
The Golden Dream The Golden Dream
Drama 2013 108 mins Director: Diego Quemada
Diego Quemada-Diez’s astounding debut feature follows four Guatemalan teenagers as they attempt to escape from the slums of Guatemala City to the bright lights of Los Angeles.
Fantastique
Successive Slidings of Pleasure Successive Slidings of Pleasure
Drama 1974 106 mins Director: Alain Robbe-Grillet
Alain Robbe-Grillet’s serpentine erotic mystery presented as a surreal investigation into a woman with feared sexual powers.
Celine and Julie Go Boating Celine and Julie Go Boating
Drama 1974 194 mins Director: Jacques Rivette
Jacques Rivette’s biggest commercial hit is an exhilarating combination of theatricality, paranoia and ‘la vie parisienne’, around an entrancing examination of making and watching films.
The Living Dead Girl The Living Dead Girl
Horror 1983 90 mins Director: Jean Rollin
When toxic waste spill disturbs her grave, a deceased girl comes alive to walk the earth again in Jean Rollin's macabre tale of zombie carnage.
The Grapes of Death The Grapes of Death
Horror 1978 91 mins Director: Jean Rollin
A woman visiting Roublès deep in France’s winemaking country discovers that the pesticide being sprayed on vineyards is turning people into killer zombies.
Shiver of the Vampires Shiver of the Vampires
Horror 1970 95 mins Director: Jean Rollin
Newlyweds visit their cousins at a remote rural chateau, finding them under the spell of two vampire girls.
The Nude Vampire The Nude Vampire
Horror 1969 85 mins Director: Jean Rollin
Jean Rollin’s second vampire film is a mesmerisingly surreal art-horror, short on logic but steeped in gorgeously sensual imagery.
Directed by Alain Robbe-Grillet
Trans-Europ-Express Trans-Europ-Express
Thriller 1966 95 mins Director: Alain Robbe-Grillet
This stylish, cult 1966 erotic thriller stars French New Wave icons Jean-Louis Trintigant and Marie-France Pisier.
Eden and After Eden and After
Drama 1969 98 mins Director: Alain Robbe-Grillet
Alain Robbe-Grillet’s sensual fantasy follows a group of students who enter a bizarre sado-masochistic realm after taking a mysterious drug.
Successive Slidings of Pleasure Successive Slidings of Pleasure
Drama 1974 106 mins Director: Alain Robbe-Grillet
Alain Robbe-Grillet’s serpentine erotic mystery presented as a surreal investigation into a woman with feared sexual powers.
The Man Who Lies The Man Who Lies
Drama 1968 93 mins Director: Alain Robbe-Grillet
Jean-Louis Trintignant is the mysterious stranger who arrives in a French village claiming to be an old comrade of a local resistance hero, in Alain Robbe-Grillet’s piercing fable of war-time myth and memory.
New
Tom of Finland Tom of Finland
Biopic 2017 116 mins Director: Dome Karukoski
The story of a gay icon is brought to life in Dome Karukoski’s handsome biopic of Touko Laaksonen, the artist whose homoerotic drawings gave visual expression to a growing gay culture.
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.
Beautiful Something Beautiful Something
Drama 2015 93 mins Director: Joseph Graham
In one desperate night, four disparate gay men cruise Philadelphia in pursuit of ever-elusive human connection.
Chemsex Chemsex
Documentary 2015 80 mins Director: William Fairman
A hard-hitting and often graphic documentary about the 'chemsex' sub-scene in London’s gay community.
Reaching for the Moon Reaching for the Moon
Biopic 2013 114 mins Director: Bruno Barreto
Beautifully told true story of the love affair between American poet Elizabeth Bishop and Brazilian architect Lola de Macedo Soares.
You and the Night You and the Night
Drama 2013 89 mins Director: Yann Gonzalez
Eric Cantona and Beatrice Dalle star in an outrageous erotic fever dream about a couple who invite four diverse guests to their midnight orgy.