Debra Winger

In this scalpel-sharp, deliciously grown-up comedy, a husband and wife, each embroiled in a secret, extramarital affair, are sent reeling when they suddenly fall for the least likely person imaginable – one another. Nominated for Best Screenplay at the **Film Independent Spirit Awards**. Official Selection at the **Tribeca Film Festival**. "*Just about every step of the way, the dialogue crackles and the performances are electric.*" - Richard Roeper,...

23 POLITICS: Another aspect of everyday life. From silent cinema to the 21 st Century, movies from the visually astonishing The Enchanted Desna to Divorce Iranian Style to Bigelow’s Strange Days have gained their energy and attack from their politics. 24 GEAR CHANGE: We like to be taken by surprise in films. This short chapter, narrated by Sharmila Tagore, looks at such surprises. 25 COMEDY: Is comedy universal? Who have been the great comedy filmmakers...

32 REVEAL: Paired with chapter 31, is this one, it’s opposite. How does Lynne Ramsay do a reveal in Morven Caller? How does the great actor-director Kinuyo Tanaka? Or Sarah Polley? Or Italy’s Alice Rohrwacher? 33 MEMORY: As cinema is a kind of time machine, it’s no surprise that it’s great at memory. In this chapter we look at rare movie gems about memory directed by filmmakers including Petra Costa, Greece’s Maria Plytya, Poland’s Dorota...

29 TENSION: Thrillers, but much more. We look at gripping scenes in films as diverse as Joel DeMott’s documentary Demon Lover Diary, Kathryn Bigelow’s Blue Steel, Carol Morley’s Dreams of A Life, Mimi Leder’s Peacemaker, and Marleen Gorris’ remarkable A Question of Silence. 30 STASIS: Cinema is an action art, isn’t it? Or is it? Directors Angela Schanelec, Anouk Leopold, Kira Muratova, Chantal Akerman, Sharon Lockhart, and Pakistan’s...

35 LIFE INSIDE: Novels are great at describing thoughts, but how do films do so? In this chapter, we see how great directors from France, Ukraine, the UK, America, New Zealand and Algeria used time in their movies. 36 THE MEANING OF LIFE: In the last chapters of our story, we look at the biggest things in life. Here we see how great filmmakers across the world, and from many decades, try to getto the essence of life. 37 LOVE: Movies soar with love,...

03 BELIEVIBILITY: Easy to spot, but not so easy to understand. Believability is about simple human stories, truth about life, real emotions, responding to the world. Howdo directors create a reality without it feeling fake? True stories can help, but what’s the trick? Here are some answers, with a masterclass in believability from Lois Weber’s The Blot to Maren Ade’s Toni Erdmann. 04 INTRODUCING CHARACTER: Going to a house, overhearing people,...

15 POV: Is cinema the art of point of view? Jocelyn Moorhouse, Ida Lupino, Norway’s Edith Carlmar, Sofia Coppola, Italy’s Liliana Cavani, Kelly Reichart, the great Larisa Shepitko, Jennifer Kent and other great directors demonstrate the art of POV in films. 16 CLOSE UP: If close ups give movies their intensity, films from Belgium, Hungary, Australia, Finland, China, America, France, Germany and Ukraine, shot over ten decades, show how best to...

38 DEATH: The biggest subject in life, the most universal subject –no wonder that Japan’s Kinuyo Tanaka, Canada’s Caroline Leaf, Spain’s Ana Mariscal, Holland’s Paula Van der Oest and other great filmmakers in this chapter embrace it. 39 ENDINGS: We begin to end our epic road movie withfilms from Sonja Heiss, Larisa Shepitko, Ida Lupino, Lizzie Borden, Claire Denis and Maya Deren. 40 SONG AND DANCE: End with a song, they say, so our story...