Drama

Emotional, intense, and deeply human — these films explore the complexities of life, relationships, and the human condition.

La vita ricomincia / Life Begins Anew (1945) Mario Mattoli, Alida Valli, Fosco Giachetti, Eduardo De Filippo

La vita ricomincia (1945)
When former POW, Paolo, returns from India to his middle-class home in Rome at the end of the war, he is relieved to find his wife, Patrizia, and young son alive, managing to get by thanks to Patrizia’s business in lampshades. They also enjoy the moral support of the jovial, elderly Neapolitan widower, who is their new neighbour, Il professore. However disaster strikes when Patrizia commits a murder – her response to a mysterious man’s attempt to blackmail her to have sex with him. Paolo discovers that during his absence, in the face of their son’s desperate need for a life-saving operation, Patrizia prostituted herself once to the murdered man to raise the funds, a sequence revealed through a flashback sequence…
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Bes vakit / Times and Winds (2006) Reha Erdem, Ozen Ozkan, Ali Bey Kayali, Elit Iscan

Bes vakit (2006)
A small, poor village leaning over high rocky mountains, facing the immense sea, flanked by olive yards. Villagers are simple and diligent people who struggle to cope with a harsh nature. They earn their living, on a daily survival basis, out of the earth and of a few animals they feed. Just like the animals and trees around them, they have the knowledge of their temporary existence, hence a sober resignation prevails. They live according to the rhythm of the earth, air and water, day and night and seasons. The daily time is divided into five parts by the sound of the call to prayer. Every day, all human events are lived through within these five time slices. In child raising, grownups go on with the practice they have experienced by their parents. They expose their love awkwardly and consider beating a favorable method. Fathers always prefer one of their sons. Mothers command their daughters ruthlessly. Ömer, Yakup and Yildiz, three children of about 12,13 years old, just between …
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The Great Lie (1941) Edmund Goulding, Bette Davis, George Brent, Mary Astor

The Great Lie (1941)
Sandra and Pete elope but their marriage is invalid since she’s not yet divorced. Sandra is, however, pregnant by Pete. Pete marries his former fiancée Maggie, then flies to South America where his plane crashes. Maggie pays Sandra to let her adopt Pete’s baby. Pete returns “from the dead”. Sandra and Maggie contend for Pete and the baby.
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L’assedio / Besieged (1998) Thandie Newton, David Thewlis, Claudio Santamaria, Bernardo Bertolucci

Besieged (1998)
When an African dictator jails her husband, Shandurai goes into exile in Italy, studying medicine and keeping house for Mr. Kinsky, an eccentric English pianist and composer. She lives in one room of his Roman palazzo. He besieges her with flowers, gifts, and music, declaring passionately that he loves her, would go to Africa with her, would do anything for her. “What do you know of Africa?,” she asks, then, in anguish, shouts, “Get my husband out of jail!” The rest of the film plays out the implications of this scene and leaves Shandurai with a choice.
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Une femme à sa fenêtre (1976) Granier-Deferre, Romy Schneider, Philippe Noiret, Victor Lanoux

Une femme a sa fenetre (1976)
On August 4, 1936, General Metaxas declared martial law in Greece. A union leader using the name Boutros is sought in Athens by Primoukis, a ruthless police leader. Boutros narrowly escapes and, early the next morning, jumps through the window of Marchese Margot Santorini, the wealthy Austrian-born wife of Rico, a penniless Italian diplomat and playboy. Margot is bored and without purpose: aiding Boutros’s escape invigorates her, and soon she is in love. The film briefly jumps to 1945 when Rico and Raoul (who assisted her out of love) meet in France to talk about her fate, and then jumps 30 years to Margot’s daughter’s visit to Greece to find out about her father.
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