Emma Lewis Movies

A young man learns that love hurts (or at least it does if you're doing it right) in this saucy comedy from England. Henry Harding (Tom Bell) is a member of British Parliament and a self-styled moral crusader who is deeply disturbed by reports that Tanya Cheex (Guinevere Turner), a dominatrix from the U.S., has opened a night club for S&M enthusiasts in England. Harding is determined to put Cheex out of business, but first he needs to collect evidence of her activities, so Harding persuades Peter Emery (Christian Anholt) -- a young man with political ambitions, Christian principles, and his virginity intact -- to attend the club incognito and videotape the proceedings. To Peter's great surprise, he discovers that he rather likes a bit of spanking and leather fetishism, and he soon becomes quite infatuated with Tanya, making him all the less inclined to help shut down her club. Preaching to the Perverted presented Guinevere Turner in her first starring role after her breakthrough in the acclaimed independent feature Go Fish. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Filmed with the usual meticulous attention to period and detail of films from Ismail Merchant and James Ivory, The Remains of the Day is based on a novel by Kazuo Ishiguro. Anthony Hopkins plays Stevens, the "perfect" butler to a prosperous British household of the 1930s. He is so unswervingly devoted to serving his master, a well-meaning but callow British lord (James Fox), that he shuts himself off from all emotions and familial relationships. New housekeeper Miss Kenton (Emma Thompson) tries to warm him up and awaken his humanity. But when duty calls, Stevens won't even attend his own dying father's last moments on earth. The butler also refuses to acknowledge the fact that his master is showing signs of pro-Nazi sentiments. Disillusioned by Hitler's duplicity, the master dies an embittered man, and only then does Stevens come to realize how his own silence has helped bring about this sad situation. Years later, regretting his lost opportunities in life, he tries once more to make contact with Miss Kenton, the only person who'd ever cared enough to seek out the human being inside the butler's cold veneer. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Maruschka Detmers stars as Hannah Senesh, a real-life Hungarian Jew who became a martyr to the cause of freedom during WW II. Though safely ensconced in Palestine at the outbreak of the war, Hannah volunteers to venture behind enemy lines in Europe on a life-or-death mission. Unfortunately, she is captured, undergoing unspeakable tortures before the Germans are finished with her. The script, based on Hannah's diaries (as edited by Yoel Palgi), surprisingly downplays heroics in favor of sensationalism; the prison scenes could just as well have been lifted from a Linda Blair "babes behind bars" picture. Even so, Detmers is excellent in the title role, while Ellen Burstyn is likewise superb as Hannah's mother. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi