The Crucible of Life

The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant(de)

Petra von Kant is a successful fashion designer -- arrogant, caustic, and self-satisfied. She mistreats Marlene (her secretary, maid, and co-designer). Enter Karin, a 23-year-old beauty who wants to be a model. Petra falls in love with Karin and invites her to move in.

The Girl on the Bridge(fr)

It's night on a Paris bridge. A girl leans over Seine River with tears in her eyes and a violent yearning to drown her sorrows. Out of nowhere someone takes an interest in her. He is Gabor, a knife thrower who needs a human target for his show. The girl, Adele, has never been lucky and nowhere else to go. So she follows him. They travel along the northern bank of the Mediterranean to perform.

Strictly Ballroom(en)

Brave new steps put Scott's career in jeopardy. With a new partner and determination, can he still succeed?

Radetzkymarsch(de)

The story of the Trotta family during the rise and fall of the Austrian-Hungary empire. Based upon the novel by Joseph Roth.

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof(en)

An alcoholic ex-football player drinks his days away, having failed to come to terms with his sexuality and his real feelings for his football buddy who died after an ambiguous accident. His wife is crucified by her desperation to make him desire her: but he resists the affections of his wife. His reunion with his father—who is dying of cancer—jogs a host of memories and revelations for both father and son.

Besos perdidos(es)

A man thinks he is not the father of his presumed daughter.

Steel Magnolias(en)

A young beautician, newly arrived in a small Louisiana town, finds work at the local salon, where a small group of women share a close bond of friendship and welcome her into the fold.

Quills(en)

In early 19th-century France, the Marquis de Sade is confined to an asylum where his forbidden writings continue to circulate beyond its walls. As the authorities tighten control, a clash unfolds between the Marquis’ unyielding imagination, the reformist ideals of the Abbé in charge, and the repressive measures of a doctor sent to silence him. Desire, power, and censorship collide in a battle over freedom of expression.

All Quiet on the Western Front(en)

At the start of World War I, Paul Baumer is a young German patriot, eager to fight. Indoctrinated with propaganda at school, he and his friends eagerly sign up for the army soon after graduation. But when the horrors of war soon become too much to bear, and as his friends die or become gravely wounded, Paul questions the sanity of fighting over a few hundreds yards of war-torn countryside.

Beautiful Thing(en)

During a long, hot summer on the Thamesmead Estate in Southeast London, three teenagers edge towards adulthood.

Gazdina roba(cs)

Anu ja Mikko(fi)

The film tells the story of an orphaned Anu and carpenter Mikko trying to make a living in a small Karelian village in the early 1930s.

Sillankorvan emäntä(fi)

The proud widow of Sillankorva falls in love with her young neighbor, Jaakko Hallan, whom she offers to take in as her son. However, much to the bitter disappointment of the mistress of the house, the man falls in love with her daughter Johanna.

Correspondance privée sur un lieu public(fr)

I started from the assumption that the discourse about the hospital could be the objective pretext for communication between two people, the link that allows them to continue writing to each other, the intermediary between two desires.

Paid in Full(en)

Joe Brooks is taken advantage of by his employer, Captain Williams, who is a jealous former suitor of Joe's wife, Emma. Williams puts Joe in charge of the company's payroll money and has detectives set a trap for him.

Mother at War(da)

1918. World War I rages in Europe while Erna Jensen tends to her ordinary life at home in Bramstrup, with her simple-minded son, Kalle. One day the village constable comes to enlist Kalle for military service for the German Empire – of which Southern Jutland is a part. If Erna is to save Kalle from certain death, she must follow him through thick and thin. Upon a chance meeting with a deserting solder she trades identities. Now disguised as Private Julius Rasmussen, Erna heads for the front. In her encounters with the other soldiers and in the presence of the war, unknown sides of Erna are awoken. This is the story of a woman who won’t let a war prevent her from fighting for what she loves.

Marraines de France(fr)

In times of World War I, a group of boisterous young ladies occurs to them that they could help the boys of the front writing letters to them and, thus, becoming their godmothers of war. Madeleine writes to the soldier Jacques Bertin, but, out of prudence, instead of giving her true identity, she impersonates her late grandmother. When the soldier comes on leave and wants to see her, the mistake will bring humorous consequences.

A Page of Glory(fr)

Denise lives with her grandparents on a farm and secretly meets Robert. When she tells her grandparents that she wants to marry Robert, they refuse outright, so the two lovers will have no choice but to elope and marry in the nearby town. On the eve of having a child, war breaks out and Robert is mobilized.

Blackmail(en)

London, 1929. Frank Webber, a very busy Scotland Yard detective, seems to be more interested in his work than in Alice White, his girlfriend. Feeling herself ignored, Alice agrees to go out with an elegant and well-mannered artist who invites her to visit his fancy apartment.

Stalag 17(en)

After two American prisoners are killed by guards in the act of escaping from a German POW camp in World War II, barracks black marketeer J.J. Sefton is suspected of being an informer.