Violette (15)

Directed by Martin Provost 

4/5

EMMANUELLE DEVOS is superb as Violette Leduc, the proto-feminist novelist who scandalised the French Establishment with Ravages (1955) and The Bastard (1964).

Unlike some who survived the second world war through their work, Violette had to scavenge and suffer many hardships before she was encouraged to portray her passion through prose.

To say the least, her life was wracked with pain from her bastard beginnings on, though she did receive intellectual and financial support from  Simone de Beauvoir, played here with ice-cold detachment by Sandrine Kiberlain.

Like so many women artists considered of unsound mind, she had to deal with breakdowns and shock treatments as well as combatting the prejudice against her lesbian lust and love.

Like most introverts, she obviously had an uphill struggle with the like of Camus, Genet and Sartre to compete against. Her escape was searching for solitude,  as this film eloquently shows.

Jeff Sawtell

Tony Benn: Will and Testament (12A)

Directed by Skip Kite

5/5

LIGHTING his pipe, Tony Benn talks with eloquence and passion about his youth, marriage and political vocation. 

Through a riveting interview mixed with his personal photographic and film archives, he recalls a vast range of the major social and political events that influenced his life.

They were many and varied, ranging from the introduction of nuclear power to Britain to his move to the left and from his ministerial career to battling the Tory government during the miners’ strike.

Benn covers too his personal fight to renounce his peerage and his experiences of being a hate figure for the right-wing media. He was still involved in political campaigns until his death last March aged 88.

Made with imagination and care, this multilayered documentary is an intimate portrait of a politician and a man who has always stuck to his strongly held convictions. He was of course one of this country’s most honest, courageous and charismatic political leaders. 

That’s why this is a spellbinding and revelatory watch, to ponder long after it ends. Unmissable. 

Rita di Santo

Life After Beth (15)

Directed by Jeff Baena 

4/5

AFTER Beth tragically dies from snakebite, her boyfriend, Zach discovers that she has been “resurrected.” 

Physically and mentally she becomes increasingly dangerous, especially as her amorous appetite gives way to a different kind of hunger.  

When more of the dead come back to life, a quiet community is shaken. The zombies, almost indistinguishable from the living, wish to reunite with their families and want their proprerties back.  

Unpredictable and witty, the film addresses social issues as it recalls the Bush era when everything went a bit crazy. 

A great zombie film of the kind fans of the genre hunger for.

Rita Di Santo

Gone Girl (18)

Directed by David Fincher

4/5

WITH expectations riding high — Gone Girl is one of the most widely read books of the moment —  David Fincher delivers a deliciously dark and twisted film adaptation, with a dash of unexpected humour.

It is ultra-faithful to Gillian Flynn’s bestselling novel, helped by the fact she also wrote the screenplay, and captures the machinations of marriage while posing the inevitable question of how well you truly know your spouse.

Ben Affleck stars as Nick who finds himself the prime suspect in the suspected murder of his missing wife Amy (Rosamund Pike). 

Outwardly they appear the perfect married couple. The truth is that they are two halves of a toxic marriage.

Affleck plays the ordinary and affable guy to perfection while Pike gives the  performance of her career as the beautiful Amy, the darling of the media.

Marriage, the media and modern technology are all explored in this tense and gripping psychological thriller which shouldn’t disappoint the book’s millions of fans.  

Maria Duarte 

Dracula Untold (15)

Directed by Gary Shore

2/5

TO PUT a new spin on an old story it is back to basics and the inspiration of Bram Stoker’s legendary Dracula for this prequel.

It’s set in 1462 Transylvania, where Luke Evans plays Vlad the Impaler who makes a Faustian deal with a demon (Charles Dance) to stop Sultan Mehmed II (Dominic Cooper) taking 1,000 boys and Vlad’s own son for his army.

This is a film about family, honour and duty and a heroic Vlad turning to the dark side to protect his loved ones and his people rather than being seduced by evil and sexy vampires.

It is an intriguing and entertaining interpretation but it sadly lacks the bite you’d expect, given its protagonist.

Maria Duarte