Schalcken the Painter

Black comedy about 15th-century Paris lawyer Richard Courtois (Firth) who decides to apply his trade in the country, only to find things stranger than he can imagine. His first case turns out to be defending a pig that's accused of murdering a child. The pig is owned by the beautiful gypsy Samira (Annabi), who, the idealistic lawyer finds himself falling in love (or lust) with. A Gothic tale with religion, superstition, power struggles, and ignorance as a backdrop.

This highly acclaimed film version of Béla Bartók's searing psychological opera, performed by Robert Lloyd and Elizabeth Laurence, won the 1989 Prix Italia Music Prize. Bartók's short opera, one of the composer's most impressive early works, tells the macabre legend of Duke Bluebeard, who brings his young wife Judith to live in his remote castle. The dramatic intensity increases as sinister secrets are gradually unveiled, bringing the opera to its haunting conclusion.

John Izzard meets with J. R. R. Tolkien at his home, walking with him through the Oxford locations that he loves while hearing the author's own views about his wildly successful fantasy novels.

When Cariani the painter falls in love with the beautiful girl who receives mysterious visitors in the rooms below, he is drawn into a web of danger and deceit.

A two-and-a-half hour documentary retrospective on the career of Orson Welles.