Old money and new money. Getting inside the circles of the super-rich is equally strange as immigrating into a new country with a different language and culture. You want to fit in. You want to be respected. But will having enough guarantee you the love of a woman spoilt by her upbringing? Or will you find yourself inside a messy affair and an even messier marriage? The 20s with their abundance of women, alcohol, and parties and one Francis Scott Fitzgerald enabling a reunion of lost lovers. One of the greatest love stories of our times and a spectacle to watch. You choose, Robert Redford and Mia Farrow from 1974 or Leonardo DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan from 2013. Two different takes on one love. Enjoy.
Remember Groundhog Day? Thirty years on you can have the same concept adjusted to modern circumstances. And what reliving the same day over and over, and over again means for the 2020s? Is it the same as Bill Murray's never-ending nightmare which led to self-reflection or in time have we changed and our experiences, social contacts, and relationships are relevant only for us? This time, we can see both sides of the spectrum, the perspective of a man, and an equally lost woman. Is there a way out of this time trap? A tragic and funny portrait of us, people, who lost something important, and are numb by the routine and offerings of adulthood. Palm Springs.
One day, you're young and innocent, and all those married forty-year-olds stare at you weighing their thoughts whether to leave their wife and children for you and pursue their desires. And after a wink, the situation is reversed. You are the one who is abandoned for someone younger, prettier, more successful, or (and this is a slap in the face) completely different. You've been there through ups and downs, poverty, insecurities, and crisis, to realize that men run away from the difficult and problematic into the arms of easy and uncomplicated. And much without your control, you are typecast to be the leftover first wife who clings on the last frail remains of beauty and self-confidence. But you can get up on your feet and prevail! And taste the sweet flavor of revenge. Three women against their ex-husbands and an inspiration for many spouses, who treated unfairly, want to get back on their track. The First Wives Club.
The majority of women want to have children. You can argue that they don't have to, that there is a choice, and a lot of them are not cracked up to be mothers (not even one feminist wants to be closed in the kitchen). But there are millions of those who love their children, they do want them, anticipate them, and fear any complications that may occur. And without those women, the world wouldn't be the world, and we, human beings, wouldn't even be here. Sometimes, however, things don't go according to plan, and no one gets pregnant, taking these issues into account. How to deal with an unbelievable loss? How does it influence your relationship and family? How difficult is it to get back on track and go on with your life after an unexplainable trauma, and is it possible to forgive? A woman and her tragedy that so many of us can relate. Pieces of a Woman.
Every mother-daughter relationship is hard. The former has devoted so much to raise the latter that the thought of that little one entering the adult world, getting married (to someone not good enough) and having children of her own is unbearable. However toxic it might seem, it's a bond that can never be replaced. Such closeness to any other woman in your life is almost impossible as it covers so many years and keeps so many memories. Even the best friend can turn into the most annoying friend but in times of hardship, she's there to support. A very moving story about one single mother and her daughter over the years of relationships, children, separation and never-ending phone calls. Still true, Terms of Endearment.
You know how it is with those relationships. Sometimes you encounter a gem that will give your life a purpose, a whole new meaning, a dream for growing old together... At times, you fall into the deepest shit. You might have your whole life figured out, a perfect family, a great career, but one moment of weakness, one thoughtless moment of boredom can ruin it for you altogether. What if one sex-filled weekend turned into a nightmare of stalking and threats? What if a woman, who for you was just a blissful adventure, turned out to have entirely different plans for the future of both of you? Why not always an abandoned woman is a victim and how easily everybody is bound to make a mistake? Still relevant, Fatal Attraction.
We all are aware of it now. More relationships break up than last until the time when our wrinkled bodies and grey hair announce the arrival of old age. But once you have been in a relationship for some time it's not that easy to separate, even though you definitely grew apart. And if there are children that connect both of you it seems to be a never-ending battle with coordination, logistics, compromises, and lawyers. How does it look like to get a divorce? Why is it one of the most traumatizing experiences of modern life? How humiliated can you be and how unscrupulous you can get to achieve your goals? And finally, weren't divorces created to get us out of the hell of marriage and is there a chance for a happy ending? Marriage Story.
We have crushes on various people. Some traits, either of the character or appearance we find attractive and others don't fit in our scenario for a happy relationship. But is being overly too romantic good for this hard materialistic world and doesn't it lead to way too many broken hearts? On the other hand, can you consciously resign from love on the grounds of money and family acceptance? Can you rationally weigh the pros and cons of your feeling and give up your own happiness for someone else's benefit? Two completely different women and two equally strong love affairs, Jane Austen's heritage: Sense and Sensibility.
In the man-dominated world, we appreciate the story of the success of those who spread their wings and won a sense of independence. Among the few company owners who boast to be of beautiful sex, there was one woman who changed the fashion and perception of women for years. But is creating a fashion empire devoid of pain and heartbreak? What hides behind the cover of success and is this success a hard path to follow? Is it better to be in a loveless marriage with all privileges or feel loved without any recognition at all? What stands behind every woman's decision and is there a chance for no regrets? A woman's road to financial independence and success. Audrey Tautou in Coco Before Chanel.
The greatest decisions in our lives are made when we lose all sense of security. When the monsters that we are so deeply afraid of come into fruition from gossips overheard and other people's calamities, and happen to us, we lose balance and hope. We can give up, swimming in the pool of misery. But occasionally, having nothing else to keep us is in the cage of blissful idleness, we are ready to spread our wings and start anew.
Is being fired from a seemingly profitable job that made you run for years the end of the world? Is discovering that your long-lasting marriage is an ultimate fail and a lie the worst tragedy that could happen to a mature woman with a grown-up kid? Should we devote our lives to people and institutions who don't seem to devote themselves to us? Is it ever too late for love, friendship, passion, and education? When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. It can be the greatest drink of your life, indeed. Larry Crowne and Life of the Party, two perspectives on how to back to square one.
It's one thing when all your life you have been a supporter of LGBT rights, having pinned rainbows on the parts of your outfits, surviving countless parent conversations advocating for the right to love or sobbing watching Ellen DeGeneres' biography. But when your life is a perfect standard conservative scenario, your focus is entirely on heterosexual procreation and all of a sudden you fall in love with a woman, you might be surprised. To make matters worse, it's a rollercoaster for your sense of security, when you fall for someone who looks like a potential surrogate mother of your child. A fight with stereotypes, a love story by a woman, for women, and about women. Life is unpredictable and sometimes it gives you oranges. Nina.
There are some love stories that shaped your life irreversibly. They caused heartache, the change of plans, they caused pain. You know this feeling, you fell in love with the wrong person, the wife of another man, the object of adoration of someone rich and powerful. In such cases, it's difficult to expect a happy ending. But once crashed with the burden of events, can you come to terms with the past? Can you forget the biggest loves of your life: a woman, a film, a vision, beauty, and happiness? Can you deal with the fact that your everything is also everything for someone else? Los abrazos rotos.
In no relationship, you have the naive guarantee that it will last forever. You may wish that one-time fascination will lead to long-lasting happiness, but it is rarely so, taking into account the rate of divorces. You might swallow the bitter pill of realization that your devotion to your husband doesn't make sense and your efforts to make him satisfied are simply futile. He's the one who cheats on you, you know it, you feel less attractive and not desired at all. Will finding an attractive young woman and hatching a plan of his seduction save your marriage, be its biggest downfall, or wake up the long-forgotten eroticism? Or maybe you will fall into your own carefully planned trap? Chloe.
Seeing our forever lost ambitions and dreams often causes great pain. If your talent has been wasted along the rational decisions of making ends meet and being the breadwinner of the family, you will be frustrated. Maybe also your relationship decisions were dictated by the rational calculation, fear of being alone or never running into anyone who will meet the expectations of a whirlwind romance. But what if there was a chance for something exciting? A forgotten actress with an abusive husband and a juvenile delinquent of a son, and an artist lover. Will the unexpected visit of a step-daughter ruin the desperate cling to old desires? Wonder Wheel.
There's something true in the fact that men come, disturb the peace and leave, and women are the ones to clean the mess. From every side of the spectrum, despite the origin, financial status, and race. If you are a woman, at any time you can be abandoned to keep the world on your shoulders and swipe the dust after the disorder of pain. Two women during a difficult political time, one a servant, the other an employer and mother of four. Two personal dramas, old as time, for all of us, understood and empathically cried over. Why women are the stronger sex? Why for some truths you don't need explanation, color or words? Universal, true, and a tribute to a woman. ROMA.
Love is a dangerous game and being too confident in any game can make you lose from your own weapon. While engaging in fleeting romances and appeasing sexual appetite have rather hedonistic values with no guarantee of longevity, playing with feelings can prove to break more than one heart. In the society, which in the past fed on gossip just as now it feeds on gossip columns in internet blogs and flashing covers of blockbuster magazines, is there a chance for true love? Can the most demoralized learn their lessons and is there any good in the most degenerated minds, who seem to have seen it all, done it all and have no boundaries to cross? A beautiful classic based on de Laclos' 18th-century novel, and a modern version of the same story. Can a villain win the purest of hearts? Enjoy.
We, humans, are prone to aggression. Hatred like a ticking bomb with every second overflows the taught cultural behavior and we are willing to go on the streets and fight for what we believe in. And approach those who dare to have a different opinion. Technology accumulated this trait and turned it into social media hatred, allowing us to express our opinions anonymously and collectively like and share with others. We agreed to create a bubble of venom. At the same time, we want our private to be private, our sins to be known only to us, and we would like to judge not being judged ourselves. But imagine a small town, in which just like throughout your social network, everybody knows one another well. Imagine all the private conversations leaked, all the gossip spread, all the affairs revealed and people allowed to take action and conduct a personal vendetta for their lost reputation. Something of a cult, rebel, female-power thing, Assassination Nation. Enjoy.
We all secretly dream that our marriages will last forever, that our golden anniversary will be celebrated among family members and friends, our children will look up to us, our grandchildren will put us on the pedestal and treat us as an example. Ideals are hard to follow and a lot wake up somewhere in the middle of a relationship, bored, loveless, exhausted and fed up with the state of affairs. And this is the time when even the most innocent and conservative might fall passionately in love. Why the consequences for a love affair are still tragic for women and men go unpunished for the same exact sin? Don't we all have the right for a happy ending between high expectations and the cruel intentions of our beloved? Why society is your biggest enemy in terms of judgment and hypocrisy?
About 150 years ago Leo Tolstoy wrote Anna Karenina, adapted frequently for film and theatre. I present you with two recent film adaptations, one with Sophie Marceau (1997) the other with Keira Knightley (2012). Will the future one be as universal as these two or will there be a positive change for women and times will make the concept outdated?
For some, having a loving husband and children is a dream come true. It's the epitome of happiness and a life goal of the majority of women. For centuries they have been encouraged into it and other options (spinsterhood, convent, or being a burden to ageing parents) seemed to be less attractive. Why then, some find this fulfillment to be a nightmare and a reason for unhappiness? Why some of us suffer in marriage and despair in the fact that they have to raise the kids? Why hasn't society embraced the fact what one woman finds enjoyable, the other perceives loathsome? What if a woman is deeply unhappy in her family and (like many men) decides to escape? The Escape.
War is unpredictable. Within a second it can destroy everything you have worked for for the whole life, it can delete from existence everyone you loved, leaving you broken-hearted. It has no mercy and taste for happy endings. But war involves millions. It forces people to take sides, make choices, and follow fear, love, or the instinct of survival. At the same time, it teaches us lessons. It puts into perspective our problems, dilemmas, and little material things that we fight for: gold, land, power, admiration. Can the heart of one wild pilot be overwhelmed with love for one married woman? Can a hurt nurse find peace after witnessing so many traumas and losses? And finally what is the factor that connects them all? The quintessence of the fragility of life and love despite consequences and sides to take. The English Patient.