Contempt

Las Meninas

January 2008 •Ukrainian

This film is about what the routine of everyday life can do to the human mind and psyche. It also reflects on the importance of the choices we make and how limited these choices are in the first place. The plot evolves around a family of four. They live in the suburbs, in a strange villa that appears, through a complex game of mirrors, to be more like a piece of installation art than a real house. The main character, who hardly appears on screen, is the son, a man in his thirties. Suffering from asthma and eczema since childhood, he uses his condition to manipulate his parents and his sister. Thus the existence of the terrorized family turns into an endless ritual of attempting to satisfy his whims, and always on the alert for yet another one of his “health crises”. Las Meninas resembles the scattered pieces of a puzzle. It is up to the viewer to assemble them in order to form his very own picture – something that makes the film itself personal and unique.

Rudin

August 1987 •Czech

The Rules of the Game

July 1939 •French

A weekend at a marquis’ country château lays bare some ugly truths about a group of haut bourgeois acquaintances.

Closely Watched Trains

November 1966 •Czech

At a village railway station in occupied Czechoslovakia, a bumbling dispatcher’s apprentice longs to liberate himself from his virginity. Oblivious to the war and the resistance that surrounds him, this young man embarks on a journey of sexual awakening and self-discovery, encountering a universe of frustration, eroticism, and adventure within his sleepy backwater depot.

Cruel Intentions

March 1999 •English

Slaking a thirst for dangerous games, Kathryn challenges her stepbrother, Sebastian, to deflower their headmaster's daughter before the summer ends. If he succeeds, the prize is the chance to bed Kathryn. But if he loses, Kathryn will claim his most prized possession.

Lolita

June 1962 •English

Humbert Humbert is a middle-aged British novelist who is both appalled by and attracted to the vulgarity of American culture. When he comes to stay at the boarding house run by Charlotte Haze, he soon becomes obsessed with Lolita, the woman's teenaged daughter.

Rosemary's Baby

June 1968 •English

A young couple, Rosemary and Guy, moves into an infamous New York apartment building, known by frightening legends and mysterious events, with the purpose of starting a family.

Animal Farm

October 1999 •English

Animals on a farm lead a revolution against the farmers to put their destiny in their own hands. However this revolution eats their own children and they cannot avoid corruption.

The Bridge on the River Kwai

October 1957 •English

The classic story of English POWs in Burma forced to build a bridge to aid the war effort of their Japanese captors. British and American intelligence officers conspire to blow up the structure, but Col. Nicholson, the commander who supervised the bridge's construction, has acquired a sense of pride in his creation and tries to foil their plans.

2046

October 2004 •Chinese

Women enter and exit a science fiction author's life over the course of a few years after the author loses the woman he considers his one true love.

Dangerous Liaisons

December 1988 •English

In 18th century France, Marquise de Merteuil asks her ex-lover Vicomte de Valmont to seduce the future wife of another ex-lover of hers in return for one last night with her. Yet things don’t go as planned.

Sliver

May 1993 •English

A woman moves into an apartment in Manhattan and learns that the previous tenant's life ended mysteriously after they fell from the balcony.

Planet of the Apes

February 1968 •English

Astronaut Taylor crash lands on a distant planet ruled by apes who use a primitive race of humans for experimentation and sport. Soon Taylor finds himself among the hunted, his life in the hands of a benevolent chimpanzee scientist.

Súkromná vojna

May 1978 •Slovak

Slovak psychological drama from the end of World War II. The plot of the film takes place in a short period of time just before the outbreak of the uprising. It is the story of a man who wages his "private" war against the man who is responsible for the serious injury of his brother. The upcoming Slovak National Uprising becomes the backdrop for a model-built story that touches on stubborn personal revenge in a situation of war conflict, when human life loses all value. The actions of the main character thus sound like increasingly absurd actions, his motives and the impact of his actions are relativized, the very legitimacy of such a belief appears shaky.

Sara Akash

January 1969 •Hindi

Samar wants to be successful in life but his parents force him to get married. His wife is shy and reserved and Samar does not like this. The other members in the family often ill-treat her.

Life

August 1984 •Chinese

Adapted from the novel with the same title. This is a tragedy that occurs in modern China. By a vivid description of the frustrated life story of Gao Jialin, a high school graduate who is first dismissed from teaching post and then enrolled as a journalist in the city and finally dismissed from the post and become a farmer again, this movie presents the young man as a serious issue of how to deal with their life.

Carol

November 2015 •English

In 1950s New York, a department-store clerk who dreams of a better life falls for an older, married woman.

The Fugitive

August 2019 •Indonesian

Six months after PETA's failure to fight Nippon, Hardo returns to his village in Blora. His presence is smelled by Nippon, tracked and pursued. In a chase one day and night before the proclamation of independence, a drama of struggle is revealed. The betrayal of Hardo's fiance's father is juxtaposed with the betrayal of his best friend Karmin; the resistance of Dipo and Kartiman juxtaposed with Hardo's resistance; the cruelty of the war and the ego of the invaders, a shidokan of Nippon juxtaposed with the deterioration of war victims of Hardo and Ningsih's father.

The Hustler

September 1961 •English

Fast Eddie Felson is a small-time pool hustler with a lot of talent but a self-destructive attitude. His bravado causes him to challenge the legendary Minnesota Fats to a high-stakes match.

The Man Who Fell to Earth

March 1976 •English

Thomas Jerome Newton is an alien who has come to Earth in search of water to save his home planet. Aided by lawyer Oliver Farnsworth, Thomas uses his knowledge of advanced technology to create profitable inventions. While developing a method to transport water, Thomas meets Mary-Lou, a quiet hotel clerk, and begins to fall in love with her. Just as he is ready to leave Earth, Thomas is intercepted by the U.S. government, and his entire plan is threatened.