Keswick Film Festival

Synopsis

In this beautiful film chosen by the Alhambra's Carol Rennie to fit in the Chinese Film Festival weekend, we return to one of the first films ever shown by the club in 2001. Winner of more than 40 awards when it was released, including best actor and cinematography at Cannes, and rave reviews such as "probably the most breathtakingly gorgeous film of the year, dizzy with a nose-against-the-glass romantic spirit that has been missing from the cinema forever" – Elvis Mitchell, New York Times - whether you saw it then or not, this is a great chance to see a classic film.

When two new neighbours realise their partners are having an affair "they're drawn closer together by the sense of mutual humiliation and their own innocent courtship begins. But companionship and understanding, not sex, are the central issues of this sensually hypnotic wade through the emotions of a repressed culture. Sumptuously shot in tight corners, cramped corridors and tiny alleyways for maximum intimacy, the unspoken longing of the star-crossed lovers is both palpable and poignant" - Alan Jones, Radio Times.

The emphasis here is on the 'mood' rather than the 'love'; the feelings that are stirred by these would-be lovers held back by propriety fill the film; it is the words not spoken, the passions not played out that are all important.