Roger Allam

1916. As war rages on the Western Front, the Choral Society in Ramsden, Yorkshire, has lost most of its men to the army. The Choral's ambitious committee, determined to press ahead, decides to recruit local young males to swell their ranks. They must also engage a new chorus master, and despite their suspicions that he has something to hide, their best bet seems to be Dr. Henry Guthrie (Ralph Fiennes), driven, uncompromising, and recently returned from a career in Germany. As conscription papers start to arrive, the whole community discovers that the best response to the chaos that is laying waste to their lives is to make music together.

The real story of 16 Carmelites nuns during the French Revolution, who after being arrested and condemned to death, went up to the guillotine singing and offering their lives 'so that Peace be restored to the Church and the State'. You may be familiar with the story of the Carmelite martyrs of Compiègne, thanks to Bernanos' "Dialogues des carmélites" or Poulenc's adaptation for opera? But did you know that the central character, Blanche de la Force, never existed? Marked by a childhood memory, documentary director François Lespes ("Valaam, l'archipel des moines", "Jérôme Lejeune : aux plus petits d'entre les miens", 'J'entrerai au Ciel en dansant') wanted to tell the true story of these 16 women, who after being arrested and condemned to death, went up to the guillotine singing and offering their lives 'so that Peace be restored to the Church and the State', 10 days before the fall of Robespierre and the end of the Grande Terreur regime. In our time of great tensions between men and nations, Pope Francis canonized the Carmelites of Compiègne in December 2024, offering their extraordinary testimony to the entire Church and the world: What have they to tell us today?

A man forms an unexpected bond with a transient woman living in her van that's parked in his driveway. This movie tells the true story of Alan Bennett's (Alex Jennings') strained friendship with Miss Mary Shepherd (Dame Maggie Smith), an eccentric homeless woman who Bennett befriended in the 1970s before allowing her temporarily to park her Bedford van in the driveway of his Camden house. She stayed there for fifteen years. As the story develops, Bennett learns that Miss Shepherd is really Margaret Fairchild (died 1989), a former gifted pupil of pianist Alfred Cortot. She had played Chopin in a promenade concert, tried to become a nun, was committed to an institution by her brother, escaped, had an accident when her van was hit by a motorcyclist for which she believed herself to blame, and thereafter lived in fear of arrest. Based upon the true story of London playwright and actor Alan Bennett's (Alex Jennings') unusual multi-year relationship with an eccentric elderly, homeless woman he knew as Miss Mary Shepherd (Dame Maggie Smith) in the 1970s before allowing her to park her van in the driveway of his home. She stayed there for fifteen years. Miss Shepherd was, in fact, Margaret Fairchild, former pupil of pianist Alfred Cortot. She played Chopin in a concert, and after she tried to become a nun, was institutionalized by her brother. Living in fear of being caught and sent back, she had an accident when her van was hit by a motorcyclist for which she believed herself to blame, and thereafter was also fearful of arrest. —Huggo This movie tells the story of Alan Bennett's (Alex Jennings') strained friendship with Miss Mary Shepherd (Dame Maggie Smith), an eccentric homeless woman who Bennett befriended in the 1970s before allowing her temporarily to park her Bedford van in the driveway of his Camden house. She stayed there for fifteen years. As the story develops, Bennett learns that Miss Shepherd is really Margaret Fairchild, a former gifted pupil of pianist Alfred Cortot. A memoir from acclaimed English playwright and author Alan Bennett is the basis for this film, centred on Miss Shepherd (Maggie Smith), a woman of uncertain origins who 'temporarily' parks her van in Bennett's London driveway and proceeds to live there for 15 years. What begins as a begrudging favour becomes a relationship that will change both their lives.

A shadowy freedom fighter known only as V uses guerrilla tactics to fight against his terrorist, totalitarian society. Upon rescuing a girl from the secret police, he also finds his best chance at having an ally.