The Criterion Collection
May 31, 1990 — Isabelle Huppert shot from minor actress to full-fledged French star with a mesmerizing performance as, ironically, a young woman who is incapable of escaping anonymity. In Swiss director Claude Goretta’s elegant, beautifully observed tragedy/character study, Huppert is “Pomme,” a lovely,...
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.
The writer and director of Blue Heron shares how John Cassavetes inspired her own approach to independent filmmaking, praises The Watermelon Woman and Not a Pretty Picture as essential works of hybrid cinema, and talks about her personal connection to...
Three indelible tales of Black urban life; a 1960s revenge thriller; a blockbuster biblical comedy; a glittering pre-Code jewel; the most sensual Hollywood noir; six woman-centered features from Japan; and a ravishing vision of a world where humans have forsaken...
The legendary director, writer, cinematographer, and producer praises Charlie Chaplin as a father to all filmmakers, reflects on casting Jean-Louis Trintignant in A Man and a Woman after seeing Il sorpasso, and shares why love has been the enduring theme...
The director of Flow praises the mixture of abstraction and emotion in Woman in the Dunes, talks about how Martin Scorsese played by his own rules with After Hours, and selects his comfort movie, Fantastic Mr. Fox.
The host of the hit interview show Chicken Shop Date talks about Portrait of a Lady on Fire and being drawn to films with undeniable chemistry, praises 12 Angry Men as one of the greatest films of all time, and...
The Oscar-nominated writer and director of Anatomy of a Fall praises the perfection of An Unmarried Woman, talks about the feminist qualities of La vérité, and selects Petite maman for her daughter.
The writer and director of The Two Faces of a Bamiléké Woman and Mambar Pierrette talks about being inspired by Ousmane Sembène and shares how Abbas Kiarostami’s films freed her to blur the boundaries between documentary and fiction.
The actor, who stars in Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City, highlights a Clu Gulager performance that the director recommended to him, recounts how his wife introduced him to An Unmarried Woman, and shares his mother’s favorite movie