Friday, March 31, 2023

Murderous Maids (Les blessures assassines), 2000

Based on the true story of two chambermaids (the Papin sisters) of 1930s France who murdered their employer and her daughter.
On February 2nd 1933, in the town of Le Mans, in the West of France, two sisters, Christine Papin, 27, and her younger sister Léa Papin, 21, brutally killed their employer Mrs. Ancelin and her daughter Geneviève. Why did they commit this horrifying murder? As a result of an unhappy childhood? Because they could no longer stand being commanded and exploited by arrogant bourgeois employers? Because their incestuous relationship had been exposed? The film tries to answer these questions and make us understand why and how the two sisters turned from meek sheep to bloody monsters.

    Director
        Jean-Pierre Denis
   
    Stars
        Sylvie Testud, Julie-Marie Parmentier, Isabelle Renauld

Subtitles in English.
YouTube link: https://youtu.be/e3_mp4Y4liw

Thursday, March 30, 2023

Nuts In May (Mike Leigh, 1976)

A middle-class couple go camping in Dorset, but peace and quiet elude them.

Directed by: Mike Leigh

Stars: Roger Sloman, Alison Steadman, Anthony O’Donnell

This is one of the episodes of the British TV Series "Play for Today", which ran from 1970 to 1984.
This is one directed by the great Mike Leigh. More to come.

Subtitles: English.

YouTube link: https://youtu.be/LY_w0ebboVw

Copyright owner is blocking pnly in United Kingdom

Good Evening, Mr Wallenberg (God afton, herr Wallenberg, 1990)

In 1943 Hungary, Swedish businessman Raoul Wallenberg (Stellan Skarsgård), traveling on the train, is shocked to see Jews being killed and transported. In 1944, Wallenberg is reluctantly recruited to save the remaining Jews. In Budapest, he is the only hope for some twenty survivors in an apartment building against Nazi fanatic Ferenc Moser. The Russians are closing in. Though lies, bribes and audacity, he struggles to save the remaining 65,000 in the ghetto who suffers from one atrocity after another.

Director & Writer:  Kjell Grede
    
Stars: Stellan Skarsgård, Katharina Thalbach, Károly Eperjes

Subtitles: English
YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/ePWvaVEZ8RM
No copyright issue.

Wednesday, March 29, 2023

Haven, with Natasha Richardson (2001)

TV movie based on the true story of a woman named Ruth Gruber who travels to Europe to help escort 1000 Jewish War victims to the United States. She comes to love and feel sorry for them all, and fights for their rights to live in America.
This movie is based on the book of the same name, by Ruth Gruber, of a woman who worked for the Secretary of the Interior.

Director : John Gray
Stars: Natasha Richardson, Colm Feore, Henry Czerny, Anne Bancroft, Martin Landau, Hal Holbrook, Bruce Greenwood

Subtitles only in English

Copyright-protected content. The owner allows the content to be used on YouTube.

YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/Va4arsEVois

Tuesday, March 28, 2023

Lilya 4 Ever (Lukas Moodysson, 2002)

While waiting for her mothers reply to take her to the USA, Lilya idles the time away smoking, drinking and having fun with her, too, outcast friend Volodya. In time, the chance of a new life becomes non-existent; her life is going nowhere. Meeting a young man, she then finds a plane ticket in her hand and a new life in Sweden: a job, an apartment and prospects. All is not what it seems.

Director & Writer :  Lukas Moodysson
    
Stars:    Oksana Akinshina, Artyom Bogucharskiy, Pavel Ponomaryov

Based primarily on the real life of a Lithuanian girl Danguole Rasalaite, who ended up in Sweden after her mother took off and went to America. The film follows the events of Danguole's life pretty closely, with the main exception of the boy Volodja who is entirely fictional.

Oksana Akinshina and director Lukas Moodysson had to communicate through an interpreter because Oksana spoke neither English nor Swedish at the time.

The town in which Lilja lives is in real life called Paldiski and is located in Estonia, not far from the capital Tallinn. The submarine base has now been destroyed. Some scenes are indeed shot in Paldiski, but many in Tallinn, in the districts of Kopli and Lasnamäe.

The money shown in the movie is the currency of Estonia (100 crown bills).

The assistant director, Alexandra Dahlström, can be seen on a balcony when Lilja is writing "Lilja 4-ever" on the bench.

Subtitles in English & Portuguese

No copyright restriction according to YouTube.

Link: https://youtu.be/EHYxFbscwlY

Sunday, March 19, 2023

Happiness (Todd Solondz, 1998)

A woman breaks up with her boyfriend; he thinks it's because he's fat. A man is unable to tell her next-door neighbor that he finds her sexually attractive. An old couple wants to split up, but they don't want to get a divorce. A therapist masturbates to teen magazines. An 11-year-old kid is insecure about the fact that he hasn't masturbated yet. Office workers try to recall the face of a coworker who recently died. A woman is sure that she has everything she could ever want. The lives of these individuals intertwine as they go about their lives in their own unique ways, engaging in acts which society as a whole might find disturbing in a desperate search for human connection. 


Director & Writer Todd Solondz


Stars:Jane Adams, Jon Lovitz, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Dylan Baker, Ben Gazzara, Lara Flynn  Boyle, Jared Harris. Cameo by Todd Solondz as the Doorman.

 
Philip Seymour Hoffman based his character (Allen) off of Ralph Reed; the founder of the Christian Coalition, and a Republican politician. During a run in with Ralph, he told Philip that his favorite movie was Happiness. Little did Ralph know, he was Allen.

This film received a sequel in 2009, "Life During Wartime", in which every returning character was played by a different actor.

Jack Black was considered for the role of Allen.

Philip Seymour Hoffman and Ben Gazzara are both in this film, but do not share any screen time. The same year (1998), they were both in The Big Lebowski, where they also shared no screen time.

Included among the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", edited by Steven Schneider.

Jon Lovitz was also considered for the part of Allen.

At the time of this film's release Lara Flynn Boyle and Camryn Manheim were co-stars on the TV series O Desafio (1997).

Despite the fact that this was filmed in the standard spherical format, "Filmed in Panavision" is listed in the end credits.

On IMDb Jon Lovitz's first listed film that he's known for is Happiness, despite the fact his character only spends five minutes of screen time, in a movie that goes for 134 minutes.

The character of Helen (played by Lara Flynn Boyle) gets a call from a person called "Salman" in London, it's possible this is a reference to the writer Salman Rushdie. She also mentions sleeping with "Haruki", which could be a reference to the Japanese author Haruki Murakami.

There were several scenes in the script that didn't make the final cut, but there were scenes in the movie that weren't in the script.

Subs: English & Portuguese

Link: https://youtu.be/_cL8gmaLiQk

Copyright owner is blocking in these territories
Austria, Germany, Switzerland

The Horseman On The Roof (Le Hussard sur le toit) - 1995

Set in a beautiful summer in the mid-19th century, it follows Olivier Martinez's Italian in exile as he is chased across France by Austrian agents intent on killing as many Italian rebels as they can only for his pursuers to be outrun by a cholera epidemic that picks off friends and foes. Along the way his path crosses with various victims and survivors - a doctor who teaches him a neat disinfecting trick of setting your hands on fire, a cute governess, Jean Yanne's duplicitous peddler, Gerard Depardieu's paranoid mayor, and most importantly Juliette Binoche, who is determined to find her husband. Naturally they become travelling companions as they try to get through roadblocks and avoid being put into quarantine by the soldiers cordoning off the roads.

Director Jean-Paul Rappeneau

Stars  Olivier Martinez, Juliette Binoche, Pierre Arditi, Gérard Depardieu.

Movie won 5 César Awards.

Subtitles: English, Portuguese, Spanish.

LINK: https://youtu.be/iy7teTa9CD8

Movie blocked only in Andorra, Belgium, France, French Guiana, French Polynesia, French Southern Territories, Guadeloupe, Italy, Luxembourg, Martinique, Mayotte, Monaco, New Caledonia, Réunion, St. Barthélemy, St. Martin, St. Pierre & Miquelon, Switzerland, Wallis & Futuna.

Saturday, March 18, 2023

The Box (2007)

A thriller from Thailand.


Jane, after giving away a wooden box that was left to her by her mother, has recurring nightmares of her long lost mother coming to her asking for the box. Jane tracks it down to a big house located in the suburbs. There she meets an old man who at first seems to be nice, but turns out to be a psychotic murderer, who killed his wife and hid her corpse in the box. In a bizarre twist, the victim turns out to be Jane's estranged mother. Jane ends up being the old man's prisoner, he treats her like a living doll and plans to make her his new bride.

   Directed by  Chalart Sriwanna
   Stars:Chadaporn Rattanakorn, Nirut Sirichanya

Subtitles in English.

Link: https://youtu.be/sP3qfb-SCx0

Monsieur Beaucaire, with Bob Hope (1945)

This film was done when Hope was at or near the peak of both his film popularity and his comic abilities. Based on a Booth Tarkington novella, which had served Rudolph Valentino with mixed results in 1924 (he acted well, but the part labeled him as gay with certain male critics), the story is how Hope is the barber at Versailles to King Louis XV (Reginald Owen), gets into serious hot water with the King and Queen (Constance Collier) and is forced to flee the palace disguised as the Duc de Chandre (Patrick Knowles). Owen has sent Knowles to Spain to get rid of him (he's a rival for Madame de Pompadour - Hillary Brooke), and to have him marry the daughter of the King of Spain (Marjorie Reynolds, who is daughter to Howard Freeman).

Directed by George Marshall


Screenplay:   Melvin Frank (screenplay) Norman Panama(screenplay) Booth Tarkington (based on the novel by)
 

Stars:Bob Hope, Joan Caulfield, Patric Knowles. Cecil Kellaway.

Subs: English & Spanish.

Link: https://youtu.be/GJtTSA3Dhj4

Wednesday, March 15, 2023

LADY CHATTERLY - 1993 MINISERIES EM 4 PARTS - NEW LINKS

OS NOVOS LINKS ESTÃO ATUALIZADOS NA POSTAGEM DE 2022, QUE PODE SER ENCONTRADA NESTE BLOG.

MESMO ASSIM, ESTOU POSTANDO AQUI OS NOVOS LINKS. LEGENDAS EM PORTUGUÊS

PARECE QUE TEM MUITA GENTE INTERESSADA NESSA MINISSÉRIE, QUE ESTÁ EM ÓTIMA RESOLUÇÃO.

PARTE 1: https://youtu.be/7vu0swShb8A

PARTE 2: https://youtu.be/znYKlo_B228

PARTE 3: https://youtu.be/mSFUiUlUP-w

PARTE 4:  https://youtu.be/6hASAgHp4HQ


Tuesday, March 14, 2023

Terre Rosse (Dennis Dellai, 2008)

1944, a man and a woman meet in a train station during the Nazi occupation. It is the beginning of a touching love affair, the impossible love between a young teacher involved in the Resistance and the brilliant official of a fascist ministry, within the framework of the partisan struggle that takes place on the "red lands" of the Alto Vicentino . War will bring down their certainties and profoundly mark the fate of both.

        Director
        Dennis Dellai
        Stars
        Anna Bellato, Davide Fiore, Leonardo Pompa

Language: Italian
Subtitles: English
1 hour and 58 minutes.
720p

LINK: https://youtu.be/kZP3xxQeReU
Copyright-protected content. The owner allows the content to be used on YouTube.

Monday, March 13, 2023

The Reverse (Rewers) - 2009

A Polish movie from the director Borys Lankosz.


A story about women, set in the present and in 1950s Warsaw. The main character is Sabina, a quiet, shy woman who has just turned thirty. Clearly, she lacks a man in her life. Her mother knows all about it and tries at all costs to find her daughter a good candidate for a husband. The whole situation is controlled by the grandmother, an eccentric lady with a sharp tongue from whom no secret can be concealed. Successive admirers arrive at the pre-war tenement where the women live, but Sabina is interested in none of them. One day, appearing out of nowhere, comes the charming, intelligent, and terribly good-looking Bronislaw. His presence will spark off a series of unexpected events revealing the darker side of the women's nature.

    Director        Borys Lankosz
    
    Stars:         Agata Buzek, Krystyna Janda, Anna Polony

1080p
1 hour and 39 minutes
Languages Polish and English.
Subs: English & Portuguese
Black and White and Color.


Poland's official submission to 82nd Academy Award's Foreign Language in 2010.
Won several awards in Poland and Russia.


No copyright issues.
Link: https://youtu.be/ARe2Ng4dN8s

Saturday, March 11, 2023

Pitfall, with Dick Powell (1948)

John Forbes is a family man who's jaded with his life, routine and job as an insurance adjuster. Life gets a little more exciting for him when he calls upon femme fatale Mona Stevens whose boyfriend has embezzled from a store insured by Forbes' company and showered her with gifts. Forbes finds Mona through MacDonald, a private detective, who freelances for the insurance company. Forbes goes to collect the ill-gotten gifts with the boyfriend in jail and Forbes falls hard for Mona and begins an affair. The problem is that MacDonald has had his eyes on Mona first and is obsessed with her. MacDonald decides to use the soon-to-be-released boyfriend to deal with Forbes and clear the field for himself.


Directed by André De Toth

Stars: Dick Powell, Lizabeth Scott, Jane Wyatt, Raymond Burr.


The comic book in Dick Powell's hand is Flash #77 (1946).

John's (Dick Powell) personal car is a 1947 Ford Super Deluxe convertible coupe. This was the top-of-the-line model. 

The background scenes of Santa Monica, during the speedboat ride, show the famous Art Deco styled Clock Tower building. It was one of the city's most visible landmarks back then and still stands in 2022. 


Subtitles in English & Portuguese. 

No copyright issues.

Link: https://youtu.be/LlcB2_lrpmI

Friday, March 10, 2023

Naked, by Mike Leigh (1993)

I have been posting Mike Leigh´s movies on my YouTube channels for a long time. My audience like his films very much. This one I have not posted before. 

My channel is not public anymore because the tyrant YouTube adores to remove my channels. This is the 4th or 5th channel. I only use YT for storing the videos and my blog www.revistacinetv.com.br is the site you need to visit to pick up the movie. If you have a few bucks left, don´t forget your friend here.

This movie is blocked only in Blocked only in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia,  Ukraine, Uzbekistan. So, thank you, Mr. Mike Leigh, to let your masterpieces be open to public.


Naked is the story of frustratingly awful people behaving in frustratingly awful ways. David Thewlis plays the main character who goes on long annoying rants about everything in the world, and yet for some reason he finds people willing to sit through his babbling. This is the type of irritating good-for-nothing guy who would probably be more likely to find himself living on the street and begging for loose change on a subway platform in real life.

Director & Writer Mike Leigh

Stars: David Thewlis, Lesley Sharp, Katrin Cartlidge. And Toby Jones, as the man at the tea bar.


To prepare for the role of Johnny, David Thewlis read Voltaire's Candide, the teachings of Buddha and James Gleick's Chaos, and the holy books the Bible and the Qur'an.

The script was largely created by improvisation during 11 weeks of rehearsal before shooting. The script was only 25 pages long.

Mike Leigh first had the idea for the story while a student in Manchester in the early 1960s: "We had a very enlightened teacher who endlessly reminded us that the next total eclipse would be in August 1999. In 1992 the millennium was impending, so I brought that idea to the film."


Subtitles: English and Portuguese

LINK: https://youtu.be/rLQuZx5X3Vs

Thursday, March 9, 2023

The Human Factor, by Otto Preminger (1979)

I am big fan of Otto Preminger and his films. A great director. This is one with less success and one of his last movies. He died seven years later. Who does not remember him as Mr. Freeze in Batman & Robin TV Series?

Maurice Castle (Nicol Williamson) is a bland mid-level bureaucrat in British intelligence. The only notable fact about him is his African wife Sarah (Iman). His superiors suspect a leak in the firm and decide to quietly eliminate the mole to avoid any publicity. Castle's office mate Arthur Davis (Derek Jacobi) becomes the main target of investigation.

With Tom Stoppard's adaptation and Preminger's direction, seem to have produced a stylish and grown-up filmed interpretation of Greene's sardonic yet moving condemnation of the cruelty of the Cold-War, during which both the Left and the Right have forgotten 'The Human Factor.'

Both the West and the Soviets are portrayed as they execute a risibly elephantine yet humanly appalling dance of death over the crushed lives of ordinary, decent people.

Stars: Richard Attenborough, Nicol Williamson, Derek Jacobi,  John Gielgud, Robert Morley, Ann Todd and Iman as Sarah.

Subtitles: Portuguese & English.

No copyright issues.

LINK: https://youtu.be/VmQMW4HypTo

Wednesday, March 8, 2023

The 4th Man, by Paul Verhoeven (1983)

The morbid Catholic writer Gerard Reve who is bisexual, alcoholic and has frequent visions of death is invited to give a lecture in the literature club of Vlissingen. While in the railway station in Amsterdam, he feels attracted to a handsome man who embarks on another train. Gerard is introduced to the treasurer of the club and beautician Christine Halsslag, a wealthy widow who owns the Spider beauty shop, and they engage in a one night stand. On the next morning, Gerard sees the picture of Christine's boyfriend Herman and recognizes him as the man he saw in the train station. He urges her to bring Herman to her house to spend a couple of days together, but with the secret intention of seducing the man.

Director Paul Verhoeven

Stars: Jeroen Krabbé, Renée Soutendijk, Thom Hoffman.


Included among the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", edited by Steven Schneider.

Paul Verhoeven: [religious imagery] Gerard's visions include seeing the object of his lust being portrayed as a crucified Jesus, the loincloth replaced by a pair of speedos. The lady in the blue robe represents the Holy Mary, and in the train scene, she is holding an apple skin over her little boy's head as if it were a halo. The opening credits also feature the symbolic image of a spider crawling over a crucifix.

Audio in Dutch. Subtitles in English & Portuguese

LINK:  https://youtu.be/Ei_6t8JxHq4

Copyright: No issues

Francisca, by Manoel de Oliveira (1981)


The life of a young man, son of an English officer who lets himself become a prisoner of love resulting in fatalism and disgrace.


Director

Manoel de Oliveira

Writers

Agustina Bessa-Luís (novel "Fanny Owen"), Manoel de Oliveira(adaptation)

Stars

Teresa Menezes, Diogo Dória, Mário Barroso


Subtitles in English. Audio in Portuguese of Portugal.

Movie reminds me of books written by Eça de Queiróz.

Portugal's submission to "Best Foreign Language Film" for the 55th Academy Awards.

LINK: https://youtu.be/S_e2k5cF-0o

Copyright-protected content. The owner allows the content to be used on YouTube.

Flame Citron (Flammen & Citronen), 2008

During Nazi occupation, red-headed Bent Faurschou-Hviid ("Flame") and Jørgen Haagen Schmith ("Citron"), assassins in the Danish resistance, take orders from Winther, who's in direct contact with Allied leaders. One shoots, the other drives. Until 1944, they kill only Danes; then Winther gives orders to kill Germans. When a target tells Bent that Winther's using them to settle private scores, doubt sets in, complicated by Bent's relationship with the mysterious Kitty Selmer, who may be a double agent. Also, someone in their circle is a traitor.


Directed by Ole Christian Madsen

Stars: Thure Lindhardt, Mads Mikkelsen, Stine Stengade.


With a budget over $10 million, this is one of the most expensive movies made in Denmark.

The movie takes its title from the nicknames of the two main characters. Flame refers to the color of Bent Faurschou-Hviid's red hair, after an attempt to dye it blond. Citron (Danish for "lemon") got the name because, while working at the Citroën factories in Copenhagen, he sabotaged German cars and trucks.

Almost every time we see a cigarette being lit on-screen, it is lit by The Flame.

Based on actual events that occurred in Denmark during World War II.

Citronen (Mads Mikkelsen) and Frode "Ravnen" Jacobsen (Lars Mikkelsen) are real-life brothers and have along side Flammen (Thure Lindhardt) been in two episodes of the danish TV show Rejseholdet (The Unit). Though Mads Mikkelsen was part of the main cast, the two others, were only guest stars. Like this movie, that show was mostly based on real-life events in Denmark.


No copyright issues.

Subs in English.

LINK: https://youtu.be/eRIYj9UrzuI

Sunday, March 5, 2023

Doing Time (Porridge), by Dick Clement (1979)

Porridge is a spin off film from the successful TV series of the same name that aired on British BBC1 between 1974 and 1977. It's directed by Dick Clement who also co-writes with Ian La Frenais. It stars Ronnie Barker, Richard Beckinsale, Fulton Mackay, Brian Wilde and Peter Vaughn.

Porridge concerns the lives of a group of prison inmates. The brilliant Ronnie Barker plays Fletch, cheeky, good-natured, optimistic, quick-witted and able to handle all the little foibles of the other prisoners and guards to his advantage. Think of an Ivan Denisovich without the Siberian background. The trouble begins when Mr Grout, an aristocratic crime boss at the top of the prison hierarchy, 'requests' Fletch to suggest to the guards a celebrity football match, where a team of famous faces will play a team of prisoners.

Director

Dick Clement

Writers

Dick Clement, Ian La Frenais

Stars

Ronnie Barker, Richard Beckinsale, Fulton Mackay, Peter Vaughn, Brian Wilde.

Subtitles only in English

Link: https://youtu.be/Mxwpfl_MnAc

Copyright-protected content. The owner allows the content to be used on YouTube.

Yol (The Road), by Yilmaz Güney (1982)

Five men are given a weeks leave from prison to visit their families.

Yusuf (Tuncay Akça) wants after a long time, to find a woman, but at the first military roadblock, he is taken into custody having lost his papers. His journey is over as it will take several days to verify who he is.

Seyit (Tarik Akan) looking forward to his wife and son. But arriving home he learns that his wife was unfaithful to him and she was subsequently banished from the family. She is held in a dungeon and tradition demands that he kills her.

Mehmet (Halil Ergün) is facing the vendetta, since by his fault his wife's brother died. Her family is furious that he wants to take his wife and children to flee with them.

Ömer (Necmettin Çobanoglu) arrives in his native Kurdish village and sees the military engaged in a policy to kill everyone who does not obey.

Meviat (Hikmet Çelik) takes the place of his deceased brother in the family, but it quickly becomes clear to him that the supposed freedom hardly differs by religious and tradition-bound pressure of a prison.

Directors Serif Gören and Yilmaz Güney

Writer Yilmaz Güney

Stars

Tarik Akan, Serif Sezer, Halil Ergün, Tuncay Akça, Hikmet Çelik


Movie won 3 awards in Cannes.

Subs: English, Portuguese and Spanish

Link: https://youtu.be/koBO-qrO8VE

Saturday, March 4, 2023

The Betsy, with Laurence Olivier & Robert Duvall (1978)

The patriarch of a family-owned corporation hires a young race car driver to help him design a fuel efficient car in secrecy. They face resistance from the president of the company (the patriarch's grandson), who wishes to eliminate the motor car division because of bad blood between himself and his grandfather. During flashbacks, a parallel set of problems is revealed in the family's past, problems that persist into the present, and the race car driver gets deeper into the web of deception and corporate intrigue.

Director

Daniel Petrie

Based on novel by Harold Robbins

Stars

Laurence Olivier, Robert Duvall, Katharine Ross, Tommy Lee Jones, Jane Alexander, Paul Rudd, Lesley Ann-Down.

Music by John Barry


Harold Robbins considered this movie to be the "best movie adaptation of any of his works.

This movie is listed among The 100 Most Enjoyably Bad Movies Ever Made in Golden Raspberry Award founder John Wilson's book THE OFFICIAL RAZZIE® MOVIE GUIDE. Interestingly, even though it was a critical bomb, it met the approval of Harold Robbins, and although it was not a blockbuster, it was a moderate financial success. The film is currently rated a 5.4 for IMDb.


Subs in English & Portuguese

YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/Ld-cBKJoC7E

Copyright-protected content. The owner allows the content to be used on YouTube.

Thursday, March 2, 2023

The Virgin Queen , Miniseries - Complete 4 Parts - 2006

The Virgin Queen explores the full sweep of Elizabeth's life: from her days of fear as a potential victim of her sister's terror; through her great love affair with Robert Dudley; into her years of triumph over the Armada; and finally her old age and her last, enigmatic relationship with her young protégé, the Earl of Essex.

Stars

Anne-Marie Duff, Sienna Guillory, Ian Hart. Tom Hardy, Kevin McKid, Joanne Whalley as Queen Mary.

This miniseries was directed by Coky Giedroyc, a veteran of television productions in Britain, including another royal-themed miniseries, 'William and Mary', in 2003. Giedroyc brings an interesting modern twist to the series - rather than filming things in majestic, sweeping camera pans with classical music as a background, and rather than having the dialogue (and acting) be in a stilted, falsely formal style, Giedroyc incorporates modern music with medieval and Celtic flavouring to it (both of which have experienced a renaissance of sorts in the past decade), and the situations are decidedly modern without being out of place in their own times.

This presents the life of Elizabeth from her young adulthood under Queen Mary, as a supposed participant in intrigues against the Catholic Queen, through to her death after serving decades on the throne of England as the Virgin Queen, the queen who never married. In fact, the miniseries plays a tantalising game with Elizabeth's virginity, showing her desires (as well as those around her) without ever giving up the game of 'was she or wasn't she?' Anne-Marie Duff plays the part of Elizabeth.

Duff is joined by Tom Hardy, who plays the role of Robert Dudley, the favourite of Queen Elizabeth. Dudley is also an extraordinarily complex role, as he played several sides in the political struggles during Elizabeth's early reign, and was part of a family well experienced in regal intrigue - Robert Dudley's family had tried to manage the reign of Elizabeth's brother Edward, engineer the accession of Lady Jane Grey (placing Guildford Dudley on the throne with her), and is sometimes referred to as 'the uncrowned kings of England'. In fact, perhaps the most stunning single scene in this miniseries is after Elizabeth has elevated Robert Dudley to the earldom of Leicester, and during her illness, he sits upon the throne as the protector of the realm. 

Subs: English, Spanish and Portuguese.

Part 1 - Link: https://youtu.be/PnSyEy8Q_KE

Part 2 - Link: https://youtu.be/cOApJdFlE2M

Part 3 - Link: https://youtu.be/H3oWP8nMlH4

Part 4 - Link: https://youtu.be/SUEBWJNNbAU

Movie may be blocked in Ireland and UK.


The Mattei Affair - Il Caso Mattei (Francesco Rosi, 1972)

Portrait of Italian tycoon, Enrico Mattei, who headed a state-combined industrial concern for natural resources from the early post-war year...