Written by psychologists and us- ing a time travel metaphor to ex- plore the damaged psyche and trapped life of a troubled young Once again during lent St. John & St. Stephen’s will be exploring the woman, this film sets out to ex- power and challenge that great filming making can provide. Sometimes plore whether looking back and provocative, always contemporary and hopefully thought provoking the trying to understand key moments selection has been deliberately chosen to tie-in with the Sunday morning in your life can help to change series of sermons. All the films shown will have been released during the your life in the future. A quality cast and committed screenplay last twelve months and are predicted to win acclaim at the various film create an intense atmosphere festivals. As has become the tradition with our own film season there mixing thriller aspects with will be a hidden theme within the series which becomes apparent as the drama . One to watch and think viewer engages with our chosen set of five. Please come and join us on about afterwards. Thursday night at 8.

Paul Thomas Anderson writes and directs this Academy Award- In the films of Jacques Audiard, the disadvan- nominated drama about a US taged tend to triumph over adversity, like the Navy veteran suffering from hearing-impaired secretary in Read My Lips or the illiterate inmate in . , post-traumatic stress disorder which draws from Craig Davidson's short-story who seeks salvation in the com- collection, presents a pair of individuals with a pany of a charismatic cult unique set of challenges. leader. stars as Freddie Quell, a troubled drifter Ali (Schoenaerts) dreams of becoming a profes- who arrives home to post-WWII sional boxer. When he is suddenly put in charge America shaken, disillusioned of his five year old son, he moves in with his sis- and fearful of the future. A rag- ter for support. Whilst working as a nightclub ing alcoholic, Quell cannot begin bouncer, he meets the beautiful and confident to make sense of his deeply- killer whale trainer, Stephanie (Cotillard). He rooted inner torment, let alone gives her his number, not expecting that she will ever call. After being the victim of a tragic acci- surmount it. When he meets dent, Stephanie surprisingly turns to Ali for sup- Lancaster Dodd (Philip Seymour port. These lost souls discover new meaning in Hoffman), the 'master' of a cult life together when Ali enters the dangerous called The Cause, an intense world of underground boxing. and ambiguous relationship de- velops between the two men. Winner of the Best Film Award at the London But do Dodd's teachings hold Film Festival in 2012, nominated for two BAFTA the power to turn Quell's life? and Golden Globe Awards. around?

Focusing on the lives of an elderly couple and the strain their relation- ship undergoes after one of them suffers a mild stroke, AMOUR is one of the most powerfully moving, emotionally devastating pieces of cinema ever made. From one of, if not the greatest director working today . Winner of the 2012 Palme d'Or at the .

Sally Potter's latest film is an evocative and beautifully shot portrait of post-war Britain, as seen through the eyes of Elle Fanning's impression- able young teenager. She plays Ginger, who finds herself increasingly Based on real events, the dramatic thriller Argo chronicles the life-or- estranged from her mother (Christina Hendricks) and drawn further into death covert operation to rescue six Americans, which unfolded behind the world of her pacifist and anti-nuclear activist father (Alessandro the scenes of the Iran hostage crisis, focusing on the little-known role Nivola). However, her friendship with the fiery Rosa (Alice Englert) is se- that the CIA and Hollywood played--information that was not declassified verely tested by his unconventional lifestyle and their relationship threat- until many years after the event. On November 4, 1979, as the Iranian revolution reaches its boiling point, militants storm the U.S. Embassy in ens to explode like the Tehran, taking 52 Americans hostage. But, in the midst of the chaos, six bomb that threatens them Americans manage to slip away and find refuge in the home of Canadian all... The result is a pas- Ambassador Ken Taylor. Knowing it is only a matter of time before the sionate, moving and intelli- six are found out and likely killed, the Canadian and American govern- gent examination of politi- ments ask the CIA to intervene. The CIA turns to their top "exfiltration" cal and personal responsi- specialist, Tony Mendez, to come up with a plan to get the six Americans bility, portrayed in exqui- safely out of the country. A plan so incredible, it could only happen in the movies. site detail by some of the greatest acting and direct- ing talents.