An icon of European art films in the swinging ‘60s, Charlotte Rampling has lost none of her hypnotic power onscreen which she displays in this insightful family saga from first-time New Zealand director Matthew J. Saville. Rampling tears into her role of a veteran war photographer famous for her courage and hard drinking. Now wheel-chair bound and afraid to be alone, she moves to New Zealand to be with her son and winds up the ward of her troubled grandson, a task assigned to him as punishment for being expelled from school. You’ll be touched watching these two slowly resolve their intense dislike.

New Zealand 2021 (94 minutes)

Directed by Anthony Simmons, this drama stars the young Judi Dench who won the 1965 BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer. The film employs some stylish noir camera work and kitchen sink realism to track the stories of two couples in crisis. Set against a mysterious backdrop involving a drowned woman found in the Thames, Dench plays a distraught young wife abandoned by her drunken husband while she cares for their child. Haunting score by John Barry and atmospheric riverside shots of London play a starring role. A fine performance from a young Judi just embarking on a great career.

UK 1965 (94 minutes)

British director Georgia Oakley has set her critically praised and quietly searing first feature in the homophobic era of Margaret Thatcher where a Tory peer is heard to proclaim the utter superiority of heterosexual families. Rosy McEwen (of the TV series The Alienist) hits just the right notes suppressing her insecurity and fear as a closeted lesbian teaching at a state school. When a gawky teen arrives in her class the teacher senses her sexuality and must decide whether to defend her and invite schoolroom suspicion.

UK 2023 (97 minutes)

Sponsor: Rachel Herbert and Dana Oppenheim