This film is currently unavailable
Before the Revolution
Bernardo Bertolucci's beautifully operatic film celebrates the passion and ideology of the 1960s, winner of the Cannes Critics' Week prize in 1964.
Director: Bernardo Bertolucci
Overview
For his second feature Bernardo Bertolucci emerged from the neorealist climate that shaped his debut The Grim Reaper to a more stylised and politicised cinema, owing much to the influence of his newfound mentor Jean-Luc Godard.
Young, middle-class and idealistic, Fabrizio struggles to reconcile a commitment to revolutionary ideals with his bourgeois background and the lure of conformity. And an impulsive affair with his free-spirited aunt only adds to his uncertainties. A fascinating record of the flowering of 1960s radicalism, Bertolucci captures the passion and ideology, and also the compromises of this fervent period. With virtuoso camerawork and a classy score by Ennio Morricone, Bertolucci's beautifully operatic film was winner of the Cannes Critics' Week prize in 1964.
Contains infrequent moderate sex and language
Related
Pharaoh Pharaoh
Historical drama 1965 146 mins Director: Jerzy Kawalerowicz
Dazzling epic, in which the young Pharaoh Ramses XIII clashes with Egypt's clergy over influence on the affairs of the state and its coffers.
Je t'aime, je t'aime Je t'aime, je t'aime
Drama 1968 95 mins Director: Alain Resnais
A mysterious time-travel experiment becomes a warped voyage through memory, in this mesmerising sci-fi from acclaimed director Alain Resnais.
La Reine Margot La Reine Margot
Historical drama 1994 158 mins Director: Patrice Chéreau
Sumptuous historical drama starring Isabelle Adjani and Daniel Auteuil; a thunderous yarn full of dastardly plots, familial hatred and perverse desire
Scrubbers Scrubbers
Drama 1982 93 mins Director: Mai Zetterling
1980s borstal drama – billed as the female Scum – featuring Amanda York and Kathy Burke as inmates in a ruthless women’s prison.
Mona Lisa Mona Lisa
Gangster 1986 100 mins Director: Neil Jordan
An ungainly cockney chauffeur navigates the seedy streets of London, gradually falling for the elegant and mysterious prostitute who is his passenger.
The Outrun The Outrun
Drama 2024 118 mins Director: Nora Fingscheidt
Saoirse Ronan gives a bracing performance as a young recovering alcoholic returning home to Orkney in this moving adaptation of Amy Liptrot’s memoir.
Welcome to Leith Welcome to Leith
Documentary 2015 86 mins Director: Michael Beach Nichols and Christopher K. Walker
What would you do if a Nazi moved next door? This chilling documentary follows the white supremacist takeover of a tiny Dakotan town.
Land and Freedom Land and Freedom
War 1995 105 mins Director: Ken Loach
Ken Loach’s passionate war drama follows an idealistic young Liverpudlian (Ian Hart) who fights for the international brigade during the Spanish Civil War.
The Stuart Hall Project The Stuart Hall Project
Documentary 2013 99 mins Director: John Akomfrah
Composed of film, music and photographs from the archives, a fascinating portrait of the life and times of the founder of cultural studies and the New Left Experience.
Comrades Comrades
Historical drama 1987 182 mins Director: Bill Douglas
Bill Douglas' epic story of the Tolpuddle Martyrs, six Dorset labourers deported to Australia in the 1830s for forming a trade union.
Dispossession: The Great Social Housing Swindle Dispossession: The Great Social Housing Swindle
Documentary 2017 82 mins Director: Paul Sng
Maxine Peake narrates this forthright polemic on the consequences of the 1980s Right-to-Buy scheme on the nation's affordable housing.
Nature of the Beast Nature of the Beast
Biopic 2017 96 mins Director: Daniel Draper
A suitably forthright profile of the evergreen socialist, trade unionist and Labour politician Dennis Skinner - also known as the Beast of Bolsover.
The Sheltering Sky The Sheltering Sky
Drama 1990 138 mins Director: Bernardo Bertolucci
Bernardo Bertolucci’s stunning and sensual adaptation of Paul Bowles’ heartbreaking classic novel, starring John Malkovich and Debra Winger.
The Dreamers The Dreamers
Drama 2004 115 mins Director: Bernardo Bertolucci
Paris in 1968 forms the backdrop for this romantic drama about an American student who bonds with a brother and sister over their love of cinema.
Pharaoh Pharaoh
Historical drama 1965 146 mins Director: Jerzy Kawalerowicz
Dazzling epic, in which the young Pharaoh Ramses XIII clashes with Egypt's clergy over influence on the affairs of the state and its coffers.
Je t'aime, je t'aime Je t'aime, je t'aime
Drama 1968 95 mins Director: Alain Resnais
A mysterious time-travel experiment becomes a warped voyage through memory, in this mesmerising sci-fi from acclaimed director Alain Resnais.
Desire: The Carl Craig Story Desire: The Carl Craig Story
Documentary 2024 91 mins Director: Jean-Cosme Delaloye
An intimate portrait of legendary techno producer, DJ and record label creator Carl Craig and an ode to his beloved city, Detroit.
La Reine Margot La Reine Margot
Historical drama 1994 158 mins Director: Patrice Chéreau
Sumptuous historical drama starring Isabelle Adjani and Daniel Auteuil; a thunderous yarn full of dastardly plots, familial hatred and perverse desire
Scrubbers Scrubbers
Drama 1982 93 mins Director: Mai Zetterling
1980s borstal drama – billed as the female Scum – featuring Amanda York and Kathy Burke as inmates in a ruthless women’s prison.
Mona Lisa Mona Lisa
Gangster 1986 100 mins Director: Neil Jordan
An ungainly cockney chauffeur navigates the seedy streets of London, gradually falling for the elegant and mysterious prostitute who is his passenger.