Richard Eyre Movies

London's Royal Opera House mounted this June 26, 2009 production of Giuseppe Verdi's 1853 La Traviata, about the heartbreaking life of courtesan Violetta Valéry. Renée Fleming stars as Violetta, while Thomas Hampson plays Germont and Joseph Calleja is Alfredo. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

A mischievous girl accuses her older sister's lover of a crime he did not commit, only to find that her words have irrevocably and permanently changed the lives of all involved in a film that re-teams the filmmakers behind Pride & Prejudice to adapt the best-selling 2002 novel by author Ian McEwan. The year is 1935, and as the summer heat takes hold, 13-year-old fledgling writer Briony Tallis watches her older sister, Cecilia (Keira Knightley), get undressed and go frolicking in the garden fountain on her family's country estate. The housekeeper's son, Robbie (James McAvoy), a childhood friend and recent Cambridge graduate, also witnesses the innocent act. When Robbie and Cecilia subsequently cross a particularly sensitive boundary and the scheming Briony accuses Robbie of an unspeakable transgression for which the boy is wholly innocent, the repercussions of her unfounded claim threaten to affect all three for decades to come. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

The true story of two performers whose careers were changed forever by a shift in gender roles on the British stage comes to the screen in this adaptation of the play Compleat Female Stage Beauty by Jeffrey Hatcher. In London, in the latter half of the 17th century, Ned Kynaston (Billy Crudup) is a noted star of the legitimate theater with an unusual specialty -- at a time when it was considered unseemly for women to work as thespians, Kynaston specialized in female roles, and was described by one writer as the most beautiful woman on the London stage. With the help of his faithful dresser, Maria Hughes (Claire Danes), Kynaston can turn himself into a striking actress in front of the footlights, and is starring opposite Thomas Betterton (Tom Wilkinson) in a production of Shakespeare's Othello when, while still in costume after a performance, he is propositioned by theatrical impresario Sir Charles Sedley (Richard Griffiths). The sexually open-minded Sedley isn't discouraged to learn Kynaston is a man, but he is bitterly angered by the actor's flip rejection of his advances. Sedley takes revenge against Kynaston by hiring a gang of criminals to beat him up. With Betterton's production of Othello closed while the leading "lady" recuperates, Hughes sees an opportunity and stages an underground version of the play, casting herself as Desdemona. While she lacks Kynaston's dramatic skills, the daring of her appearance on-stage creates a sensation, and King Charles II (Rupert Everett), a noted theater buff, is so taken with Hughes that he declares women should play women from now on. But as Hughes' star rises, Kynaston's quickly falls, and he becomes a bitter, forgotten man. When the novelty of Hughes' gender wears off and her failings as an thespian become obvious, she turns to her former friend Kynaston, hoping he can teach her to be as good an actress as he was. Stage Beauty's supporting cast includes Ben Chaplin, Edward Fox, and Hugh Bonneville. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Richard Loncraine takes Shakespeare's classic tale of treachery, Richard III, and transplants it to the 1930s. Ian McKellen is Richard who, as the film opens, begins plotting against his brother Edward, who has just ascended to the throne after a bloody civil war. Richard begins by seducing and wedding Lady Anne (Kristin Scott Thomas), whom he made a widow during the war. With the help of some loyal henchmen, Richard succeeds in murdering his older brother Clarence (Nigel Hawthorne), which so upsets Edward that he dies. Eventually, the crown falls to the young Prince of Wales (Marc Williamson). Richard is assigned to be the young king's protector, but instead, he has the boy and his brother jailed in the Tower of London. Richard seizes control over the country, but his ruthless quest for power eventually makes him powerful enemies, led by Henry Richman (Dominic West), who attempt to stop him. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

Produced for the PBS anthology series Great Performances, this adaptation of Tennessee Williams' Suddenly Last Summer constrasts sharply with the previous 1959 Hollywood version. Shorn of the movie's operatic screenplay and the star power of Katharine Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift, PBS simply offers us the original one-act play, faithfully rendered. In 1937 New Orleans, millionaire matriarch Violet Venable (Maggie Smith) invites a psychiatrist (Rob Lowe, who is exceptional) into her mansion. Violet's son Sebastian died in Spain the previous year under very questionable circumstances. Now she is anxious to have the psychiatrist lobotomize her institutionalized niece Catherine (Natasha Richardson), who witnessed Sebastian's demise. Violet insists that this radical procedure would be in the best interests of the girl; but the psychiatrist suspects that the old woman merely wants to ensure Catherine's silence concerning "l'affaire Sebastian". Suddenly Last Summer first aired January 6, 1993. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

As this interesting drama wends its way through a state bureaucracy filled with a broad spectrum of characters all trying to protect their turf, it alludes to the writer Franz Kafka's views on governmental mazes and the nature of an unwanted physical transformation. Young Franz (Robert Hines) breaks out in a rash and goes to the insurance company to get the means to find out what is happening (he works with textile dyes and suspects a connection there). Instead of being helpful, the bureaucrats dismiss him until a certain Mr. Kafka (Daniel Day-Lewis) advances his own theories as to Franz's problem. Much later down the road, yet another possibility is ironically provided. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Singleton (Ian Holm) is a determined British farmer with a gaggle of holiday geese ready for market. It should be a simple task for Singleton to get his honking cargo to town, but it isn't. For starters, his drivers have gone on strike, so Singleton must take the geese himself. The hundred-mile trek to market is fraught with peril and hilarity, and by the time Singleton is halfway there, he's become a national hero. A fond hark back to the Ealing Studios comedies of yore, Singleton's Pluck is a captivating paean to the unquenchability of the human spirit, expertly realized by Ian Holm. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Two strangers with almost no common ground are stuck travelling across Europe together in this British comedy. Sally (Lindsay Duncan) is an ardent feminist from London who, with the help of two of her closest friends, builds her own car. Sally and her comrades are to attend a conference on women's rights in Germany, and they intend to drive the new vehicle there as a symbolic gesture. However, when the time for the symposium rolls around, her friends are unable to attend, and Sally doesn't care to drive that far on her own. Searching for a travelling companion, at the last minute she settles on Harry (Stephen Rea), whom she's told is a leftist gay man. However, Harry is not the person Sally thought he was; he turns out to be a bullheaded and thoroughly heterosexual football supporter who regards the women's movement as little more than a joke. Will these two make it all the way to Germany without killing each other? ~ Mark Deming, Rovi