Marie Antoinette

2006

Sofia Coppola directs a stylized portrait of Marie Antoinette (Kirsten Dunst), the naive Austrian princess who married Louis XVI (Jason Schwartzman) to become queen of France at age 19. The film explores the effects of a luxurious yet terribly confining lifestyle on the young queen. Her resulting youthful indiscretion and frivolity ultimately led to her undoing. A Cannes Golden Palm nominee, this biopic also took Oscar honors for costume design.

3.1 Average Rating

Death Defying Acts

2007

When legendary escape artist Harry Houdini (Guy Pearce) offers a handsome reward to anyone who can contact his dead mother beyond the grave, a sultry Scottish psychic and con artist (Catherine Zeta-Jones) takes up the challenge. But when the two fall in love, the boundaries between truth and deception become blurred. Directed by Gillian Armstrong, this entertaining period costume drama co-stars Saoirse Ronan and Timothy Spall.

3.1 Average Rating

15 Park Avenue

2005

Anjali (Shabana Azmi), a successful type-A, has spent her life protecting her schizophrenic sister, Mithi (Konkona Sen Sharma), by any means necessary -- even going so far as to discourage Jojo (Rahul Bose) from marrying her. So when the siblings bump into Jojo and his new wife while on holiday, Anjali expects the encounter to be awkward. She needn't worry, though, because Mithi is already happily married to someone else, in her mind.

3.1 Average Rating

Madeinusa

2006

As her Peruvian village prepares to celebrate the Holy Day festival of Sin -- a raucous fiesta just days before Easter Sunday -- Madeinusa (Magaly Solier) finds an unlikely suitor in a traveling laborer (Carlos J. de la Torre) who's been arrested by her mayor father (Juan Ubaldo Huamàn). Meanwhile, amid the bubbling chaos, young Madeinusa struggles to find a sense of identity under a cloud of abuse in this Spanish-language drama.

3.1 Average Rating

The Unloved

2009

Abused by her father, Lucy is removed by social services and placed in a group children's home. While intended to help Lucy, the move inflicts a new brand of torture on the young girl: bullies, capricious rules and loneliness.

3.1 Average Rating

Of Love and Shadows

1994

Irene (Jennifer Connelly), a magazine editor who's lived a sheltered existence under the shadow of the Pinochet dictatorship in 1973 Chile, gradually awakens to the political tumult when handsome photographer Francisco (Antonio Banderas) enters her life and opens her eyes to the brutal atrocities being committed by the state. Betty Kaplan directs this romantic drama based on a novel by Isabel Allende.

3.1 Average Rating

A French Gigolo

2008

Josiane Balasko's part farce, part drama centers on Judith (Nathalie Baye), an entrepreneur in her 50s who gets caught in a tangle of emotions with sensitive, money-strapped prostitute Patrick (Eric Caravaca) and his cute wife, Fanny (Isabelle Carré). While financially supporting relatives in the Paris projects, Patrick begins to despair until Fanny, who has learned of her husband's secret profession, drives him back to Judith's arms and money.

3.1 Average Rating

Don't Tell

2005

As her due date approaches, pregnant Sabina (Giovanna Mezzogiorno) is suddenly plagued by disturbing memories of childhood abuse. Ashamed, she keeps her past a secret from her boyfriend, traveling to America to seek answers from her brother, Daniele (Luigi Lo Cascio). But instead of reassurance, she finds her sibling also scarred by the trauma inflicted by their father. Cristina Comencini directs this Oscar-nominated drama.

3.1 Average Rating

Venus Beauty Institute

1999

Unable to find long-term romance, aging hair stylist Angèle (Nathalie Baye) settles for the salon's distaff camaraderie and for living by proxy through her co-workers. But her life gets upended when shaggy-haired stud Antoine (Samuel Le Bihan) abruptly declares his love for her. The guarded Angèle faces a choice between taking a chance on intimacy and remaining inside her protective shell. Audrey Tautou co-stars as Angèle's salon co-worker.

3.1 Average Rating

The Ballad of Jack and Rose

2005

Writer-director Rebecca Miller elicits an astounding performance from husband Daniel Day-Lewis, who plays Jack, a father intent on raising his daughter (Camilla Belle) as an environmentally responsible adult. His complete devotion to the cause moves him to the remotest of islands, where he feels he'll be able to lead a more compassionate, "green" life. No matter how he tries, however, he can't seem to run from the demands of human interaction.

3.1 Average Rating

Rosalinda

1999

Mexican songstress Thalia takes the title role in this popular telenovela, playing a flower shop girl who dreams of becoming a singer. When she meets the handsome Franciso Jose (Fernando Carrillo) on a routine delivery, she finally has someone to love -- and, as luck would have it, someone to write and play songs for her. But soon after they wed, Rosalinda uncovers some long-buried secrets about her family, jeopardizing the couple's relationship.

3.1 Average Rating

Gas Food Lodging

1992

A hardworking, blue-collar mother (Brooke Adams) and her two diametrically opposed daughters, Shade (Fairuza Balk) and Trudi (Ione Skye), try to live a normal life in their whistle-stop desert town in New Mexico. Melancholy Shade escapes via the romantic melodramas at the local Mexican cinema, while Trudi throws herself into meaningless sexual relationships with men. Directed by indie filmmaker Allison Anders.

3.1 Average Rating

Amelia

2009

Hilary Swank stars as famed aviator Amelia Earhart in this dramatic biopic that follows the daring pilot's rise from obscurity in Kansas to her troubled marriage to businessman George Putnam (Richard Gere), who recruited her for her first transatlantic flight. Mira Nair (The Namesake, Vanity Fair) directs; Ewan McGregor, Joe Anderson, Christopher Eccleston and Mia Wasikowska co-star.

3.1 Average Rating

Total Eclipse

1995

Leonardo DiCaprio plays the prodigious 19th-century French poet Arthur Rimbaud in this captivating historical drama. Paul Verlaine (David Thewlis), an older and more traditional writer, finds himself infatuated with the young Rimbaud. That make him unable to keep the peace with his wife (Romane Bohringer). A love/hate relationship develops between the two men as they forge the rough waters of creative expression.

3.1 Average Rating

200 Cigarettes

1999

Set on the last day of 1981, 200 Cigarettes is a manic romantic comedy that follows a group of loquacious, chain-smoking twentysomethings seeking love and happiness as they converge for a blowout party in New York City's East Village. A cab driver (Dave Chappelle) provides the link between the disparate groups who seek to overcome personal drama to avoid being alone when the clock strikes midnight.

3.1 Average Rating

Vital Signs

1990

A group of medical students experience life's ups and downs while struggling to complete their residencies in this drama. Guided by head surgeon Dr. David Redding (Jimmy Smits), the group includes married student Kenny (Jack Gwaltney) and doctor's son Michael (Adrian Pasdar), both of whom compete for the attention of their beautiful colleague Gena (Diane Lane). Meanwhile, students Bobby and Suzanne become more than merely study buddies.

3.1 Average Rating