Anton Lesser Movies

The Greeks laid siege to the city of Troy after Paris (David Firth) of Troy abducted the beautiful Helen (Ann Pennington) from Sparta. In the city, Troilus (Anton Lesser), brother of Paris, is courting the lovely Cressida (Suzanne Burden), who is playing hard to get so that his interest will be heightened. Outside the walls of Troy, the Greek forces are growing weary of the war. Leader Agamemnon (Vernon Dobtcheff) even finds his prize warrior Achilles (Kenneth Haigh) to be sullen about the proceedings, and is concocting a plan to promote Ajax (Anthony Pedley ) as the Greeks' greatest hero, thereby goading Achilles back into action. To this end, Ajax is chosen when the Trojans suggest a wrestling match with Hector (John Shrapnel), another brother of Paris and Troilus. Meanwhile, Troilus and Cressida consolidate their feelings for one another and spend the night together. The next day, however, Cressida's traitorous father arranges for her to be given to the Greeks in exchange for a captured Trojan. Troilus vows vengeance on Diomedes (Paul Moriarty), the Greek who seduces Cressida, and goes on a rampage in the Greek camp. The fighting spreads, with Hector killing Patroclus (Simon Cutter), beloved of Achilles, and Hector viciously slain in turn by Achilles. The film ends with the war far from over, and Troilus bemoaning the meaninglessness of love and life. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide

An embittered, lonely old widow reluctantly tends her late husband's garden and discovers that more than flowers can bloom there when she encounters her East Indian neighbor, a woman with an ailing husband. This touching drama chronicles their friendship. The story opens as the widow returns from India where she and her recently deceased spouse spent many years working on a tea plantation in Assam. Soon after settling into her British home, she begins planting the garden her husband had always wanted to have in India. As the woman bore no children, there is no one to comfort her until she meets her neighbor and begins their tumultuous friendship. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Part of the Thames Shakespeare Collection, this production of Twelfth Night was adapted for television by renowned actor and director Kenneth Branagh in 1988. Performed by the Renaissance Theatre Company, this classic comic tale of romance and confused identities features performances by acclaimed actors Caroline Langrishe and Richard Briers. ~ Dana Rowader, All Movie Guide

The life of the reluctant Old Testament prophet is told in this made-for-television biblical drama. When the Pharaoh Ramses calls for the death of all Hebrew children, a mother puts her son Moses in a basket and sends him down the Nile to save his life. The baby is found by a princess and raised as the heir to the family throne. Called upon by God, the hesitant Moses (Ben Kingsley) accepts the challenge to lead his enslaved people out of Egypt for what becomes a 40-year journey into the promised land. This extravagant production was nominated for the "Outstanding Mini-Series" Emmy. ~ Bernadette McCallion, All Movie Guide

The English-language debut of French director Arnaud Desplechin, Esther Kahn charts the ascension of a lower-class Jewish girl from a turn-of-the-century London ghetto to one of the stage's leading actresses. Esther (Summer Phoenix) feels set apart from her large, raucous family, who are all employed in the garment business. Her life is changed when she attends a Yiddish theatre performance, and she is suddenly determined to become an actress. After joining a small theatre company, she becomes the protégé of Nathan (Ian Holm), a stage veteran who instructs her in her chosen craft. Esther gradually works her way up in the ranks -- taking a lover, brainy French theatre critic Philippe (Fabrice Desplechin), along the way -- until she is cast in the title role of Hedda Gabler, which she performs to great acclaim. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide

Based on the best-selling novel by Sebastian Faulks, this drama, set in Europe during World War II, stars Cate Blanchett as Charlotte, a Scottish woman living in London. Charlotte falls in love with Peter (Rupert Penry-Jones), a handsome RAF pilot, and the two are soon caught up in a torrid affair. Before long, Peter is sent off on a mission over France, and Charlotte receives word that Peter has been reported missing in action. Fluent in French and desperate to find the man she loves, Charlotte volunteers for work with British intelligence and is soon smuggled into France where she is to work with French resistance forces, posing as a woman from Paris. As Charlotte goes about her duties and tries to find Peter, she finds herself drawn to Julien (Billy Crudup), a Communist working with resistance forces. Charlotte is assigned to pose as a domestic at the home of Julien's father, Levade (Michael Gambon), where he's hiding two Jewish boys whose parents have been captured by Nazi troops. In order to maintain her cover and protect Julien, Levade, and the boys, Charlotte finds herself drawn into a relationship with Renech (Anton Lesser), a busybody schoolteacher who is collaborationg with the occupation troops. Directed by Gillian Armstrong, Charlotte Gray also features James Fleet, Ron Cook, and Helen McCrory. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Accomplished British screenwriter Christopher Hampton directs the political drama Imagining Argentina, based on the novel by Lawrence Thornton. Set during the unsettling disappearances in Buenos Aires during the dictatorship of the 1970s, the film involves theater director Carlos Rueda (Antonio Banderas) and his wife Cecilia (Emma Thompson). Shortly after Cecilia writes an editorial commentary questioning the mysterious abductions, she is herself abducted and taken into police custody. Soon Carlos develops the supernatural ability to see into the future and he imagines his wife meeting an awful fate during an escape attempt. To make matters worse, their teenage daughter Teresa (Leticia Dolera) is also kidnapped. Imagining Argentina was nominated for the Golden Lion at the 2003 Venice Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

A woman who has come to a strange land is torn between the life she knows and the new life around her in this epic-scale historical drama. In 1854, New Zealand's indigenous Maori tribes were engaged in an ongoing battle to drive away European settlers eager to establish colonies in the nation's wilderness, which the Maori saw as a threat to their way of life. However, some outsiders had made a home in New Zealand with the cooperation of the Maori, and an Irish settlement had been established, with Francis (Stephen Rea), the colony's doctor, bringing his daughter Sarah (Samantha Morton) with him to this new land. Sarah becomes acquainted with the son of one of the Maori leaders, and in time their friendship grows into something deeper. When Sarah discovers she's pregnant with the chief's son's child, the father has been called off to fight against the Europeans, and by the time her son is born, his father is dead. Sarah raises her child, whom she simply calls "Boy," but when Boy reaches the age of six, he's abducted by his father's family, who believes he should grow up among the Maori. Fearing further reprisals, Francis returns to Ireland, but Sarah stays behind to care for the sick and look for her son. Years later, while in search of Boy, Sarah encounters Wiremu (Cliff Curtis), a Maori warrior whose father Te Kai Po (Temuera Morrison) is ill. When Wiremu learns that Sarah is well versed in medicine, he makes an offer -- if she will treat Te Kai Po and return him to health, he will find Boy. Sarah is able to cure Te Kai Po's ailment, and Wiremu returns the now-teenaged Boy (David Rawiri Pene) to his mother. Boy is not eager to leave behind the Maori people who have become his family, and he and Sarah stay with Te Kai Po's tribe for a while, but in time she is drawn back to the Irish colony, where she finds herself torn between Doyle (Kiefer Sutherland), the soldier who loves her and wishes to protect her, and Wiremu, who she has grown to love. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The true story of the woman who created some of the most beloved characters in children's literature comes to the screen in this drama leavened with elements of comedy and romance. Beatrix Potter (Renée Zellweger) is a imaginative but gently eccentric woman living in the socially and intellectually confining circumstances of Victorian England. Potter's wealthy parents are eager for her to marry a successful man and settle down, but she has ideas of her own, and has been writing and illustrating a series of stories for children centered around a character she calls Peter Rabbit. Potter's efforts to find a publisher for her stories prove difficult, but in time she finds a firm who agrees to give her book a chance, and Norman Warne (Ewan McGregor) is put in charge of the project. While Warne is new to the publishing game, he believes Potter has great talent and potential, and throws himself into the work with enthusiasm. A strong personal bond grows between Potter and Warne, and in time he asks her to marry him; however, Beatrix's parents do not approve of Norman, and she is forced to choose between her mother and father and the man she loves. Norman's sister Mille (Emily Watson) urges Beatrix to follow her heart, and she accepts Norman's proposal, but fate has other plans. Miss Potter was directed by Chris Noonan, who created an international sensation with his first feature film, Babe. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide