May already! The year’s surely flying by at a breakneck pace. What better way to avoid the unpleasantness of existential angst and worries about how your life is slipping away from you than in the confines of a dark and comfy cinema? The Edinburgh Filmhouse has you covered with its May schedule:
Claire Denis / France, Belgium / 2018 / 95 mins
Divorced, disillusioned but still determined, Isabelle (Juliette Binoche) ping pongs from one flawed relationship to another, trying to make sense of the whole damn thing. Dark humour, idealistic notions and indecision dominate this investigation about whether love and fulfilment are really the bedfellows we’ve all been led to believe.
@ Filmhouse from Fri 4 to Thu 10 May
Andrew Haigh / UK / 2017 / 121 mins
As perennial drifters Ray (Travis Fimmel) and his 15-year-old offshoot Charley (Charlie Plummer) roll into Portland, Oregon, the younger of the pair craves some stability in his transient life. He may just have found it working down at the local horse racing track, where he forms a cross-species bond with veteran charger Lean on Pete.
@ Filmhouse from Fri 4 to Thu 17 May
Michel Hazanavicius / France / 2016 / 102 mins
The trials and turmoils of Jean-Luc Godard’s private life go under the microscope, as the cult director struggles with the dubious reception of his later work and an increasingly turbulent relationship with those close to him. Despite such a synopsis, it’s a light treatment of the subject, with plenty of room for wry insight and affectionate comedy.
@ Filmhouse from Fri 11 to Thu 24 May
Valeska Grisebach / Germany, Bulgaria, Austria / 2017 / 121 mins
German construction workers clash with disgruntled locals while out on a job in the middle of the Bulgarian countryside… but all the fresh air and sprouting daisies in the land won’t dampen these fires. A brooding, simmering examination of masculinity, identity and mankind’s penchant for being downright mean to one another.
@ Filmhouse from Tue 15 to Thu 17 May
Léonor Serraille / France / 2017 / 97 mins
At 31 years old and just out of an unsuccessful relationship, the “young woman” of the title decamps to Paris with a fluffy white cat and a whole load of emotional baggage in tow. Quirky and feisty, this tale of starting afresh and staying true to yourself bagged the Camera d’Or at Cannes in 2017.
@ Filmhouse from Fri 18 to Thu 31 May
Todd Haynes / USA / 2017 / 116 mins
Two intertwining stories set 50 years apart see a pair of very different hearing-impaired youngsters undergo similar experiences as they run away from home and set off for the big bright lights of New York. One is fleeing the trauma of his mother’s passing while the other seeks to evade an abusive father. Will they find what they’re looking for in the Big Apple?
@ Filmhouse from Fru 18 to Thu 24 May
Kathleen Hepburn / Canada / 2017 / 112 mins
Set against the rugged backdrop of rural British Columbia, this gritty drama is every bit as rough-going as its setting. While Parkinson’s sufferer Judy (Shirley Henderson) comes to terms with the death of her primary care-giver after two decades with the condition, her teenage son struggles with his own sexuality and identity in an ultra-masculine world.
@ Filmhouse on Sat 19 & Sun 20 May
Dominic Cooke / UK / 2017 / 105 mins
Based on the Booker Prize-winning novella of the same name, this period drama sees Edward (Billy Howle) and Florence (Saoirse Ronan) do their best to consummate their marriage on the first night of their honeymoon – with tragicomic and far-reaching consequences.