Hugh Bonneville Movies

Directed by David Mackenzie, Asylum follows a 1950s family living in a home on the grounds of an asylum after Max (Hugh Bonneville), the patriarch, is assigned to serve as deputy director of a remote psychiatric hospital. Neither his wife, Stella (Natasha Richardson), nor his young son, Charlie (Augustus Jeremiah Lewis), are particularly happy about the arrangements, though Stella finds herself slowly becoming attracted to Edgar Stark (Marton Csokas), a charismatic inmate. Despite the obvious repercussions of an extramarital affair and the sage advice of Dr. Cleave (Ian McKellen), a colleague of her husband, Stella's slow-burning attraction becomes an all out obsession; before long, Stella is barely aware that she is risking her family, her sanity, and even her very life for Edgar. Asylum is based on a novel by Patrick McGrath. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide

When the tiny burgh of Keighley lands the rights to host the annual British hairdressing championships, practically every city in the United Kingdom is represented in the competition -- except Keighley itself. It seems the event is team-oriented, and the only suitable local contestants had a huge falling out a decade ago. For Brian (Josh Hartnett), the son of two hairdressers, that falling out had personal consequences: His mother Shelley (Natasha Richardson) left his father Phil (Alan Rickman) to take up with Phil's hair model Sandra (Rachel Griffiths). Since then, former styling champ Phil has settled for training Brian to help run his lowly barber shop, while Shelley and Sandra have opened a salon of their own. But when Shelley learns that she has terminal cancer, she reaches out to her family in hopes that a reunion for the hairdressing contest might help them all find some sense of closure. To complicate matters, Phil's old arch-nemesis, Ray (Bill Nighy), is now a two-time champ looking for a three-peat, and he's brought along his beautiful American daughter Christina (Rachael Leigh Cook) to work on his team. Blow Dry also marks the screen debut of supermodel Heidi Klum. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

Four years after ending her successful, star-making run on the series Dharma and Greg, Jenna Elfman returned to television with the heavily hyped situation comedy Courting Alex. Elfman starred as Alex Rose, a high-powered attorney working at a firm run by her father (Dabney Coleman). While Alex is a formidable opponent in the courtroom, her dedication to her career hasn't left her much time for a love life. Things begin to change when Alex meets Scott Larson (Josh Randall), but as it happens Scott is also a lawyer, and the would-be couple often find themselves representing rival point of view. Courting Alex also featured Jillian Bach as Alex's diminutive assistant Molly and Hugh Bonneville as her high-spirited neighbor Julian. Courting Alex's premiere on January 23, 2006 was extensively promoted by its network, CBS, but the show fared poorly in the ratings, and of the twelve episodes produced, only eight were ever aired. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Boris Pasternak's Nobel Prize-winning novel of love and betrayal amidst the Soviet Revolution is given a new interpretation for the small screen in this made-for-television adaptation. Yury Zhivago (Hans Matheson) is a young man who is sent to live with his aunt and uncle, Anna and Alexander Gromeko, (Celia Imrie and Bill Paterson) after his father takes his own life as a result of the machinations of his corrupt business partner, Victor Komarovsky (Sam Neill). As Zhivago grows to manhood and studies to be a physician, he falls in love with his cousin Tonya (Alexandra Maria Lara), but one day he sees a beautiful woman and immediately becomes deeply infatuated. Zhivago learns that the woman in question is Lara Guishar (Keira Knightley), whose mother is the lover of Komarovsky. Eventually, Zhivago marries Tonya, and Lara weds Pasha Antipov (Kris Marshall), a passionate Bolshevik. As World War I breaks out, Zhivago once again crosses paths with Lara, who has become a combat nurse and is searching for her missing husband. After Zhivago is severely wounded, Lara nurses him back to heath, and along the way the two fall deeply in love. However, after the end of the war, the reality of Zhivago's marriage to Tonya puts a halt to their romance, and the explosive impact of the Soviet Revolution changes the shape and character of the land they knew, especially when Lara discovers that her husband is not dead, but has become a powerful and calculating leader of the new regime. Doctor Zhivago had its American debut on the acclaimed PBS anthology series Masterpiece Theatre. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Set over the course of five 24-hour periods, the television miniseries Five Days follows the case of a young mother (Christine Tremarco) who vanishes under mysterious circumstances while driving her children to visit their grandfather (Edward Woodward). When the children set out in search of their missing mother, they too seem to disappear without a trace. As a high-profile police investigation begins to make headlines across the country, it appears that everyone involved with the case, including the woman's grieving husband (David Oyelowo), has something to hide. Soon it begins to appear that even Detective Barclay (Hugh Bonneville) and Sergeant Foster (Janet McTeer), the two authority figures in charge of the investigation, are operating on some secret agenda. As the missing mother's parents (Penelope Wilton and Patrick Malahide) step up the pressure to solve the case before too much time passes, a stranger named Sarah (Sarah Smart) gradually works her way into the investigation while gradually ingraining herself with the frustrated family. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

English hang-ups about romance get satirically filtered through the perspective of French movies in this witty, cinematically-literate comedy helmed by British director Jackie Oudney and scripted by Aschlin Ditta. The creators set up two narratives: in a framing device, Eric Cantona stars as the elitist, pretentious French writer-director Thierry Grimandi, who could use a lesson in humility; he operates according to the mantra, "I consider myself lucky firstly because I am French, secondly because I make movies, thirdly because I understand love." As Grimandi periodically crops up to pontificate on film and relationships, a second narrative emerges. Hugh Bonneville stars as Jed Winter, a smug, unhappy British journalist enduring a super-dysfunctional relationship with long-term girlfriend Cheryl (Victoria Hamilton). She just rejected his marriage proposal out of dissatisfaction for the lack of romantic chemistry in their relationship; they tentatively remain together, but that all seems poised to change when Jed begins to develop feelings for his friend Marcus's girl, Sophie (Anne-Marie Duff) - and it just so happens that Marcus falls for someone else, leaving the situation wide open for Jed to waltz in and sweep Sophie off her feet. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

The British miniseries Heat of the Sun was set in 1933. After several instances of insubordination, Scotland Yard supervisor Albert Tyburn (Trevor Eve) was discplined by being shipped off to the Nairobi, Kenya. While grappling with the resentment of his fellow expatriates, Tyburn endeavored to investigate the kidnappings and murders of several young people from a local mission. The detective's arrival coincided not only with a major annual ceremony, but also with an influx of suspicious-looking Germans, headed by one Max van der Vuurst (Joss Ackland). Telecast in three two-hour installments from January 28 to February 11, 1998, Heat of the Sun was a presentation of Carlton Television. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on a pair of memoirs by her husband John Bayley, this biographical portrait of writer Iris Murdoch stars both Judi Dench and Kate Winslet as the philosophical author at different stages of her life. When the young Iris (Winslet) meets fellow student Bayley (Hugh Bonneville) at Oxford, he's a naïve virgin easily flummoxed by her libertine spirit, arch personality, and obvious artistic talent. Decades later, little has changed as the couple (now played by Dench and Jim Broadbent) keeps house, with John doting on his more famous wife. When Iris begins experiencing forgetfulness and dementia, however, the ever-doltish but devoted John struggles with hopelessness and frustration to become her caretaker, as his wife's mind deteriorates from the ravages of Alzheimer's disease. Iris earned a slew of Supporting Actor awards for Broadbent, including recognition from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, Los Angeles Film Critics Association, and National Board of Review. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Previously filmed by such cinematic geniuses as Jean Renoir and Vincente Minnelli, Gustave Flaubert's once-scandalous 1857 novel Madame Bovary was transformed into a two-part British miniseries in 2000. Set in the rural Normandy of the 1830s and 1840s, this is the story of Emma Rouault (Frances O'Connor), the pampered, well-educated daughter of a wealthy gentleman. Much to her own surprise, Emma accepts the marriage proposal of Charles Bovary (Hugh Bonneville), the provincial doctor who ministers to M. Rouault during a moment of medical crisis. Once she has become Madame Bovary, Emma quickly grows bored with her bourgeois existence, retreating into erotic fantasies stoked by her addiction to romantic novels. Inevitably, Emma strays from her marital vows, first with a handsome young clerk named Leon (Hugh Dancy), then with dashing country squire Rodolphe (Greg Wise). In order to sustain the lavish lifestyle which she feels is her basic right, Emma squanders all of her husband's money -- which plays right into the hands of usurious draper Lheureux (Keith Barron), who has his own wicked plans for the foolishly extravagant Mme. Bovary. In the United States, Madame Bovary was telecast on February 6 and 13, 2000, as part of the PBS Masterpiece Theatre anthology. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Freely adapted from a novel by Jane Austen, this period drama is set in the early 1800s, as a girl named Fanny (Hannah Taylor Gordon) is being raised by loving but desperately poor parents. Wanting a better life for Fanny, they send her away to live with her aunts, high-minded Mrs. Norris (Sheila Gish) and drug-addicted Lady Bertram (Lindsay Duncan), who share an estate called Mansfield Park. Fanny joins the family at Mansfield Park, which includes Lady Bertram's husband Sir Thomas (Harold Pinter), who made his money in slaves and West Indian plantations; Sir Thomas's son Tom (James Purefoy), an alcoholic; Tom's intelligent younger brother Edmund (Jonny Lee Miller); and his two sisters, Julia (Justine Waddell) and Maria (Victoria Hamilton). Fanny soon makes friends with Edmund, though she's shown little respect by the rest of the family. In time, Fanny grows to adulthood (now played by Frances O'Connor) and gains skill and poise as a horsewoman while developing her skills as an author. When the stylish but secretive siblings Henry and Mary Crawford (Alassandro Nivola and Embeth Davidtz) arrive at Mansfield Park, romantic sparks begin to fly; the two sisters fight over Henry, while Mary is soon engaged to wed Edmund -- to the disappointment of Fanny, who has fallen in love with him. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

An outwardly confident but unmarried woman on the verge of her fortieth birthday reflects on her past suitors and the choices she once made while attempting to help her marriage minded niece choose between a number of potential suitors in this tale inspired by the life and letters of Jane Austen. Jane Austen (Olivia Williams) is about to turn forty, but she still hasn't found her ideal man. When Jane is approached by her niece Fanny (Imogen Poots) and asked to help select the perfect husband for the young girl, the ageing spinster begins to wonder why it is that she never found a man to share her own life with. Perhaps if Jane had accepted the proposal of a wealthy landowner she could have saved her family from financial ruin, and what of the handsome young physician who once warmed to Jane after tending to her ailing family members? In this speculative tale, director Jeremy Lovering and screenwriter Gwyneth Hughes ponder the potential reasons why the real Jane Austen never found her own Mr. Darcy. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Can a beautiful and internationally famous American actress find happiness with a frumpy British bookstore clerk? She can -- at least for a while, it seems -- in Notting Hill. William Thacker (played by Hugh Grant) is a bookseller at a shop in the Notting Hill district in West London, who shares a house with an eccentric Welsh friend, Spike (Rhys Ifans). One day, William is minding the store when in strolls Anna Scott (Julia Roberts), a lovely and well-known actress from the United States who is in London working on a film. She buys a book from William, and she is polite and charming in the way a famous actress would be with a star-struck sales clerk. Their relationship would logically end there, if William didn't run out a few minutes later to buy some juice. While dashing back to the shop, he bumps into Anna on the street, spilling juice all over her blouse. Since he lives nearby, William politely offers to let her stop by his house to clean up; since William seems harmless enough, Anna agrees. When Anna has to stop back to pick up a bag she left at William's house, they kiss -- just in time for Spike to show up. A romance slowly blooms as his friends and family (not to mention the world at large) wonder out loud what he's doing dating a movie star. Notting Hill reunites Hugh Grant with producer Duncan Kenworthy and screenwriter Richard Curtis, who previously worked together on the international hit Four Weddings And A Funeral. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide