The Criterion Collection
Essays
Jun 16, 1992 — Of the 18 movies made by the filmmaking team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, none was as personally and artistically fulfilling as The Tales of Hoffmann. This dazzling screen adaptation of the Offenbach opera—a visual, sonic, and sensual delight—marked...
Essays
Dec 6, 1987 — Mike Nichols’s treatment of a young man’s initiation into the mysteries of sex at the hands of an older married woman has become a model for this common fantasy.
Nov 30, 2009 — The following essay was originally written for Criterion’s website in 2005, on the occasion of the DVD release of Powell and Pressburger’s The Tales of Hoffmann. We have posted it here to coincide with BFI Southbank’s ongoing Hein Heckroth exhibition...
The singer of the band Cigarettes After Sex shares his love for La Bamba, talks about how the romance of Eric Rohmer inspires his music, and selects favorites, from The Worst Person in the World to The Tales of Hoffmann.
Interviews
Jun 3, 2016 — During the second incarnation of this festival dedicated to movies preserved on nitrate film, Jared Case, the festival’s executive director, talks about his work bringing the Nitrate Picture Show to life, selecting this year’s films, and why nitrate remains a...
In Theaters
Mar 31, 2016 — Repertory PicksThis week, The University of Wisconsin–Madison Cinematheque will present a special screening of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s dazzling 1951 film The Tales of Hoffmann, adapted from French composer Jacques Offenbach’s 1881 opera of the same name. The event...
The Daily
Jul 1, 2026 — Film at Lincoln Center rolls out a series of ten films probing the secrets and suspicions of a nation that seems perpetually on edge.
The Daily
May 12, 2026 — Sorting through critics’ most-anticipated titles, catching up with interviews and profiles, and more.
The Daily
Sep 23, 2025 — Josh O’Connor stars in the heist movie that slips into another genre entirely.