Hours, The (12) (2002)

Director: Stephen Daldry

Starring: Nicole Kidman, Julianne Moore, Meryl Streep

Three interwoven tales from three periods in the 20th century, all linked by a work of literature. In 1923 Virginia Woolf is writing Mrs. Dalloway. A housewife pregnant with her second child in the 1950s is reading Woolfs Mrs. Dalloway and a modern-day editor organising a party for her ex-lover with AIDS is nicknamed Mrs. Dalloway. A darkly beautiful work. (110Mins)

Lost In Translation (15) (2003)

Director: Sofia Coppala

Starring: Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansson

A beautifully acted and observed mood piece with a perfectly integrated and carefully chosen music score, its a movie that rewards its audience for paying attention and has a cumulative emotional impact that is all the more powerful for its subtlety. (93Mins)

Barbarian Invasions, The (18) (2003)

Director: Denys Arcand

Starring: Remy Girard, Dorothee Berryman, Stephane Rousseau

An engaging and humane exploration of personal, political and sexual mores, Arcands Oscar-winning comedy drama features many of the same characters from his earlier Decline of the American Empire. Here, Remy being diagnosed with cancer prompts reconciliations and reunions, whilst his son calls upon his fathers old friends and mistresses to make his life comfortable. (99Mins)

Girl With a Pearl Earring (12) (2003)

Director: Peter Webber

Starring: Colin Firth, Scarlett Johansson

Johanssen has the standout performance as Griet, the servant girl employed in the Vermeer household who becomes the eponymous girl in one of his canvases. Cleverly lit with candle and shadow and unromantic in its view of life in 17th century Delft, this is a slowly-building beauty of a film. (95Mins)

Decline Of The American Empire,The (18) (1986)

Director: Denys Arcand

Starring: Remy Girard, Stephane Rousseau, Marie-Josee Croze

One of the Arthouse hits of 1986, Arcands supremely enjoyable, witty portrait of a group of self-obsessed thirtysomethings is a French-Canadian riposte to Kasdans The Big Chill, only funnier and sexier. (97Mins)