Big screen classics
The timeless films we urge you to see.
Tickets for these screenings are only £8
June
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La Règle du jeu
Jean Renoir’s study of the French bourgeoisie at play during an eventful hunting weekend.
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Unfaithfully Yours
A haughty musical conductor suspects his wife of infidelity in Preston Sturges’ comedy romance.
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Unfaithfully Yours + intro by film critic Kate Stables
A haughty musical conductor suspects his wife of infidelity in Preston Sturges’ comedy romance.
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A Streetcar Named Desire
Passions and tempers run high in the New Orleans heat when Blanche DuBois comes to town.
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A Streetcar Named Desire + intro by Sight & Sound’s Isabel Stevens
Passions and tempers run high in the New Orleans heat when Blanche DuBois comes to town.
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Madame de...
Max Ophul’s poignant tale of adultery, passion and power.
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Jules et Jim
Can a love triangle ever straighten out? Don’t miss Truffaut’s hymn to life and love.
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The Leopard
A stunningly shot portrait of an ageing aristocrat (Lancaster), whose elegant way of life is threatened.
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Bonnie and Clyde
Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty star as the explosive gangster couple that captured everyone’s attention.
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Bonnie and Clyde + intro by Observer film critic Simran Hans
Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty star as the explosive gangster couple that captured everyone’s attention.
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McCabe & Mrs. Miller
Robert Altman’s richly textured film focuses on a couple striking out in the American frontier.
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The Last Picture Show
A fantastic cast portray stifled teen life in 50’s small-town America.
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Taxi Driver
It’s Travis Bickle vs New York in Scorsese’s cinematic masterpiece.
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Taxi Driver + intro by Anna Smith, film critic, podcast host and Chair of London Film Critics’ Circle
It’s Travis Bickle vs New York in Scorsese’s cinematic masterpiece.
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The Elephant Man
I am not an elephant! I am not an animal! I am a human being! I am a man!
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Blow Out
Brian De Palma’s thriller hones in on a sound man who accidentally records evidence of a murder.
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Film Criticism According to Pauline Kael
This enlightening talk will explore the writings and influence of this renowned critic.
July
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The Piano Teacher
A repressed music professor embarks on an affair that may be her undoing.
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The Piano Teacher + intro by Geoff Andrew, Programmer-at-large
A repressed music professor embarks on an affair that may be her undoing.
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The Piano
A young mother, mysteriously mute, becomes entangled with two men in rural 19th-century New Zealand.
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Bluebeard
Catherine Breillat’s imaginative and haunting take on the gory fairy tale.
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Bluebeard + intro by academic Dr Catherine Wheatley, King’s College London
Catherine Breillat’s imaginative and haunting take on the gory fairy tale.
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Gun Crazy
A couple with a shared love of guns resort to robbing banks in this inventive gangster film.
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Kind Hearts and Coronets
Alec Guinness plays multiple roles in this black comedy classic.
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Point Blank
Lee Marvin is out for revenge on his partners in crime in this modernist thriller.
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Vertigo
Hitchcock takes psychological suspense to new heights in this classic starring James Stewart and Kim Novak.
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Laura
Not so much a whodunit as a whodunwhat, this intriguing mystery will have you fall in love with Laura too.
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Peeping Tom
Michael Powell’s impeccable film about a shy, mild-mannered cameraman-turned-killer is a must-see.
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Peeping Tom + intro by Nathalie Morris, BFI National Archive Curator
Michael Powell’s impeccable film about a shy, mild-mannered cameraman-turned-killer is a must-see.
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The Conversation
Gene Hackman plays a surveillance expert who might have picked up on a potential murder.
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The Conversation + intro by Geoff Andrew, Programmer-at-large
Gene Hackman plays a surveillance expert who might have picked up on a potential murder.
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Les Enfants terribles
Jean-Pierre Melville’s sensitive portrayal of two siblings with an intensely jealous relationship.
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The Big Lebowski
Bowling, mistaken identity, surrealism and slacker humour: this Coens classic has it all.
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The Big Lebowski + intro by Geoff Andrew, Programmer-at-large
Bowling, mistaken identity, surrealism and slacker humour: this Coens classic has it all.
August
Eyes Without a Face
Franju’s classic combines horror and cruelty as a guilt-ridden doctor seeks flesh for his daughter’s ruined face.
Gloria
Gena Rowlands excels in Cassavetes’ gem about a tough-talking moll lumbered with a kid wanted by the Mob.
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Gloria + intro by Geoff Andrew, Programmer-at-large
Gena Rowlands excels in Cassavetes’ gem about a tough-talking moll lumbered with a kid wanted by the Mob.
All About My Mother
Almodóvar’s exhilaratingly inventive portrait of a woman seeking solace and meaning after the death of her son.
East of Eden
James Dean’s powerful presence ignites Kazan’s acclaimed adaptation of Steinbeck’s novel.
Unrelated
The bold, brilliant debut from the director of The Souvenir features an early performance from Tom Hiddleston.
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Unrelated + intro by Dr Davina Quinlivan, Kingston University London
The bold, brilliant debut from the director of The Souvenir features an early performance from Tom Hiddleston.
Mildred Pierce
Joan Crawford’s on peak form in Curtiz’s classic noir-melodrama about a hard-working mother at odds with her daughter.
Repulsion
Catherine Deneuve is eerily brilliant in Polanski’s psychological thriller about a shy young Belgian living in London.
Day of Wrath
Carl Dreyer’s masterpiece about superstition, sexual longing and barbaric cruelty in a Denmark devoted to ridding itself of witchcraft.
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Day of Wrath + intro by Dr Claire Thomson, UCL
Carl Dreyer’s masterpiece about superstition, sexual longing and barbaric cruelty in a Denmark devoted to ridding itself of witchcraft.
Camille
Garbo is radiant as Marguerite Gautier in this elegant adaptation of Dumas’ much-loved story.
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Camille + intro by artist and film scholar Cathy Lomax
Garbo is radiant as Marguerite Gautier in this elegant adaptation of Dumas’ much-loved story.
L’Age d’or
Buñuel’s controversial surrealist classic about sexual desire oppressed by ‘civilised’ society.
White Dog
Samuel Fuller’s powerful exploration of racism as conditioning centres on an animal trainer trying to ‘cure’ an attack dog.
Le Jour se lève
Jean Gabin stars as a lovelorn foundry-worker undone by deceit, disappointment and jealousy.
Calendar
BFI Riverfront Restaurant & Bar will be closed for a private event on Friday 28 June until 6pm.
25 & under
If you're aged 16 to 25, you can get £3 cinema tickets at BFI Southbank to any film, any time.
BFI Southbank Guide
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August 2019 Guide
August 2019 Guide calendar
July 2019 Guide
July 2019 Guide calendar