Tagged period drama

Danish director Tea Lindeburg’s film, As In Heaven, is a lush and devastating chamber piece, unpicking the dense fabric of motherhood, innocence and superstition. Based on the 1912 Danish novel A Night of...

This film was previously reviewed in February 2021 as part of our Sundance Film Festival coverage. “You don’t think there’s a cage that can work to our benefit?” ponders Abigail (Katherine...

This film was previously reviewed in October 2020 as part of our London Film Festival coverage. Following his sublime directorial debut, God’s Own Country, Francis Lee once again delves into feelings of...

Any other year, it would have been difficult to reconcile the minutiae of archaeological excavation against the backdrop of one of the century’s greatest military upheavals, but if the long 2020 has taught...

James Gunn has become an essential player in the ongoing Marvel Cinematic Universe – so much so that even an idiotic campaign by right-wing internet trolls couldn’t keep him away. But as we eagerly await...

It’s hard to imagine a juicier historical story to film. Two rare female leaders in 16th century Britain, locked in fights for their crowns, their heritage and their lives – all while trying to steal each...

Roughly a third of the way through Colette, currently in UK cinemas, Keira Knightley’s titular author muses that ‘the hand that holds the pen writes history.’ This line – featured prominently in the...

A conventional thriller in an unconventional setting, Black 47 lays the bleakness on pretty thick to establish the woeful world in which we find ourselves. War, famine, greed, wrath – the seven sins, the...

A conventional thriller in an unconventional setting, Black 47 lays the bleakness on pretty thick to establish the woeful world in which we find ourselves. War, famine, greed, wrath – the seven sins, the...

Chile is not all lovely wine, productive copper mines, and functional yet attractive attacking football - in recent years its diverse, powerful and cultured arthouse cinema industry has enjoyed a strong and...

This adaptation carries the same uneven tones as the play of 1888, attempting as it does to prove that human nature can rocket between moods and motivations at a moment’s notice. Farrell’s butler John is...

A hundred years on from the outbreak of war in 1914, the mark it left on its descendants is still felt deeply across Europe. The loss of one million men, with thousands of them still buried somewhere in the...

‘Landscape gardener charms all she meets with fresh approaches to shrubbery’ is a synopsis that will set few pulses racing. Rickman’s first directorial effort since 1997, however, is a solid piece of...

As another chapter in the evolving period genre, Effie Gray combines the best of Merchant Ivory with the claustrophobia of a modern domestic thriller. Though the film is separated from Gone Girl by time,...

Proof that the costume drama can go beyond chocolate-box sweet and address issues greater than its genre, Belle is a sumptuous love letter to the classic period film that nevertheless asks you to stop and...