A selection of the best new films from around Europe.
Lourdes and The Ape
The Ape (Apan)
(Year: 2009; Director: Jesper Ganslandt; Writer: Jesper Ganslandt; Stars: Olle Sarri, Françoise Joyce, Sean Pietrulewicz, Niclas Gillis)
A disturbed man's descent into hell.
Applause (Applaus)
(Country: Denmark; Year: 2009; Director: Martin Pieter Zandvliet; Writer: Anders Frithiof August, Martin Pieter Zandvliet; Stars: Paprika Steen, Michael Falch, Sara-Marie Maltha)
An recovering addict attempts to reclaim her former life.
Around A Small Mountain (36 vues du Pic Saint-Loup)
(Country: France, Italy; Year: 2009; Director: Jacques Rivette; Writer: Pascal Bonitzer, Christine Laurent, Jacques Rivette; Stars: Jane Birkin, Sergio Castellitto, André Marcon, Jacques Bonnaffé, Julie-Marie Parmentier, Hélène de Vallombreuse, Tintin Orsoni, Vimala Pons, Mikaël Gaspar, Stéphane Laisné, Dominique D'Angelo, Hélène De Bissy, Pierre Barayre, Marie-Paule André, Julie-Anne Roth)
The last days of a travelling circus.
Bluebeard (La Barbe bleue)
(Country: France; Year: 2009; Director: Catherine Breillat; Writer: Charles Perrault, Catherine Breillat; Stars: Daphné Baiwir, Lola Creton, Dominique Thomas)
Re-imagining of the fairytale 'monster' merging the myth with the facts of the real life of Gilles de Rais, a comrade-in-arms of Joan of Arc and infamous child murderer.
Dogtooth (Kynodontas)
(Country: Greece; Year: 2009; Director: Yorgos Lanthimos; Writer: Efthymis Filippou, Yorgos Lanthimos; Stars: Christos Stergioglou, Michelle Valley, Aggeliki Papoulia, Mary Tsoni, Hristos Passalis, Anna Kalaitzidou)
Three siblings cut off from society spend their lives trapped in their family’s home.
The Girl On The Train and Vincere
Double Take
(Country: Belgium, Germany, Netherlands; Year: 2009; Director: Johan Grimonprez; Stars: Ron Burrage, Mark Perry),
Trailer
As Cold War tensions rise and the world teeters on the brink of destruction, Alfred Hitchcock meets his double.
Eccentricities Of A Blonde-Haired Girl (Singularidades de uma Rapariga Loura)
(Country: Portugal, Spain, France; Year: 2009; Director: Manoel de Oliveira; Writer: Eça de Queirós, Manoel de Oliveira; Stars: Júlia Buisel, Luís Miguel Cintra, Glória de Matos, Diogo Dória, Miguel Guilherme, Paulo Matos, Rogério Samora, Carlos Santos, Leonor Silveira, Ricardo Trêpa, Filipe Vargas, Rogério Vieira, Catarina Wallenstein)
Shaggy dog tale of love and folly.
The Girl On The Train (La fille du RER)
(Country: France; Year: 2009; Director: André Téchiné; Writer: Odile Barski, Jean-Marie Besset, André Téchiné; Stars: Émilie Dequenne, Michel Blanc, Catherine Deneuve, Mathieu Demy, Ronit Elkabetz, Nicolas Duvauchelle, Jérémie Quaegebeur, Djibril Pavadé, Alain Cauchi, Amer Alwan, Mélaine Leconte, Raphaëline Goupilleau, Arnaud Valois, Bruno Mary, Jessica Borio)
Ensemble drama examining the politics, lifestyle and rise of anti-Semitism in contemporary France.
Giulia Doesn't Date At Night (Giulia non esce la sera)
(Country: Italy; Year: 2009; Director: Giuseppe Piccioni; Writer: Giuseppe Piccioni, Federica Pontremoli; Stars: Sonia Bergamasco, Jacopo Maria Bicocchi, Fabio Camilli, Domiziana Cardinali, Piera Degli Esposti, Valeria Golino, Antonia Liskova, Natalia Magni, Valerio Mastandrea, Chiara Nicola, Paolo Sassanelli, Sara Tosti, Lidia Vitale, Sasa Vulicevic)
A disillusioned writer falls into a relationship with a swimming teacher with a dark past.
Hidden Diary (Meres Et Filles, La Cuisine)
(Country: France; Year: 2009; Director: Julie Lospes-Curval; Writer: Sophie Hiet; Stars: Catherine Deneuve, Marina Hands, Marie-Josée Croze, Michel Duchaussoy, Jean-Philippe Écoffey, Gérard Watkins)
A pregnant woman, resented by her mother, discovers her grandmother's secret diary and begins to understand why.
Storm and Terribly Happy
Hilde
(Country: Germany; Year: 2009; Director: Kai Wessel; Writer: Hildegard Knef, Maria von Heland; Stars: Heike Makatsch, Dan Stevens, Johanna Gastdorf, Hanns Zischler, Monica Bleibtreu, Sylvester Groth, Michael Gwisdek, Hary Prinz, Matthew Dylan Roberts, Jeroen Willems)
Biopic of German leading lady Hildegard Knef.
I'm Glad That My Mother Is Alive (Je Suis Heureux Que Ma Mère Soit Vivante)
(Country: France; Year: 2009; Director: Claude Miller, Nathan Miller; Stars: Vincent Rottier, Sophie Cattani)
A boy obsessed by the young maother who abandoned him finds it difficult to accept the adoptive parents who love him.
The Little One (La Pivellina)
(Country: Italy, Austria; Year: 2009; Director: Tizza Covi, Rainer Frimmel; Stars: Patrizia Gerardi, Tairo Caroli, Asia Crippa)
A circus performer finds a lost little girl and takes her home, where everybody is so charmed by her that they can't bear to give her up.
Lourdes
(Country: Austria; Year: 2009; Director: Jessica Hausner; Writer: Jessica Hausner; Stars: Gilette Barbier, Walter Benn, Aurelia Burckhardt, Martin Habacher, Hubert Kramar, Gerhard Liebmann, Elina Löwensohn, Petra Morzé, Martin Thomas Pesl, Linde Prelog, Léa Seydoux, Sylvie Testud, Bruno Todeschini, Orsolya Tóth, Thomas Uhlir)
The story of a wheelchair-using woman's pilgrimage in search of a miracle.
Love And Rage (Vanvittig Forelsket)
(Country: Denmark; Year: 2009; Director: Morten Giese; Stars: Cyron Bjorn Melville, Sara Hjort Ditlevsen, Charlotte Fich)
A brilliant young pianist, shaken by his father's suicide, falls in love with a beautiful woman but is consumed by jealousy and paranoia.
Dogtooth and Hidden Diary
Rabbit Without Ears 2 (Zweiohrkueken)
(Country: Germany; Year: 2009; Director: Til Schweiger; Stars: Til Schweiger, Nora Tschimer, Matthias Schweighoefer)
This comedy sequel sees a cocky reporter trying to make things work with the girlfriend he lives with, but distracted by other women and jealous of her handsome friend.
Savage
(Country: Ireland; Year: 2009; Director: Brendan Muldowney; Stars: Darren Healey, Nora Jane Noone)
A Dublin man recovering from a horrific assault gradually finds himself drawn onto the path of vengeance.
Storm (Sturm)
(Country: Germany, Denmark, Netherlands; Year: 2009; Director: Hans-Christian Schmid; Writer: Bernd Lange, Hans-Christian Schmid; Stars: Kerry Fox, Anamaria Marinca, Stephen Dillane, Rolf Lassgård, Alexander Fehling, Tarik Filipovic, Kresimir Mikic, Steven Scharf, Joel Eisenblätter, Wine Dierickx, Reinout Bussemaker, Bent Mejding, Alexis Zegerman, Arturo Venegas, Drazen Kuhn)
Legal drama about a prosecutor of war crimes given a 'cast iron case' but who finds her chief witness unreliable.
Terribly Happy (Frygtelig lykkelig)
(Country: Denmark; Year: 2008; Director: Henrik Ruben Genz; Writer: Henrik Ruben Genz, Dunja Gry Jensen, Erling Jepsen; Stars: Jakob Cedergren, Lene Maria Christensen, Kim Bodnia, Lars Brygmann, Anders Hove, Henrik Lykkegaard)
When a town cop is reassigned to a provincial beat, he finds that rather than inflicting order on the locals, they have a disturbing affect on him.
Vincere
(Country: Italy, France; Year: 2009; Director: Marco Bellocchio; Writer: Marco Bellocchio, Daniela Ceselli; Stars: Giovanna Mezzogiorno, Filippo Timi, Corrado Invernizzi, Fausto Russo Alesi, Michela Cescon, Pier Giorgio Bellocchio, Paolo Pierobon, Bruno Cariello, Francesca Picozza, Simona Nobili, Giovanna Mori, Silvia Ferretti, Corinne Castelli, Patrizia Bettini, Fabrizio Costella)
The story of Musslolini's secret love child.
Whisky And Vodka (Whisky Mit Vodka)
(Country: Germany; Year: 2009; Director: Andreas Dresen; Stars: Henry Hubchen, Corinna Harfouch)
A drunken yet charismatic actor struggles to set things right when he's replaced by an understudy who also happens to be a fan.
Without You I'm Nothing (Bergfest)
(Country: Germany; Year: 2009; Director: Florian Eichinger; Stars: Anna Bruggemann, Peter Kurth, Martin Schleiss)
An estranged father and son meet unexpectedly, girlfriends in tow, when forced to take refuge in an isolated mountain shack in violent weather.