Picnic at Hanging Rock, To Have and Have Not
We’ll always have BFI Southbank
This Valentine’s Day take shelter from the storms and the bitter winds within the
warm and welcoming walls of BFI Southbank and make it a night to remember!
With the finest selection of films on offer, cinema-lovers can also spice up a hot
date with a tasty meal or fine wine - this is the best place in London to enjoy the
complete Valentine’s Day experience.
Nestled on the bustling South Bank, this vibrant venue is the only place in London
where you can enjoy the beautifully restored Oscar-winning Casablanca (1942) -
considered to be one of the most romantic films of all time. Watching this iconic
classic on the big screen is really a unique experience – it is the perfect film and
setting to impress. We’ll also be screening the noir classic To Have and Have Not
(1945), where you can witness the dashing Bogart and the smouldering Bacall fall in
love on and off set. And with screenings of the timeless French masterpiece
L’Atalante (1934) by Jean Vigo, you will be spoilt for choice.
There is something for everyone and with alternative tales of love and romance, we
even have something for the cynics too! There are screenings of Powell &
Pressburger’s fantastical The Red Shoes (1948) and a special Out at the Pictures with
Peter Weir’s haunting and stunningly photographed Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975). If
you are looking for something more contemporary, there is the Canadian ménage à
trois feature Heartbeats (Les amours imaginaires, 2010) which was a hit in last year’s
London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival.
If all of this leaves you hungry for more, go to the stylish benugo Bar and Kitchen
for the intimate dining experience and end an already perfect night with a cocktail
or two at the Riverfront Bar and Kitchen overlooking the Thames. With it’s funky
outdoor area, you can sit and enjoy the buzzy atmosphere, take in one of the most
stunning views that London has to offer, or simply people watch.
Here’s looking at you kid!!
Casablanca
Had Casablanca turned out as Warner Bros originally
envisaged, it would have been just another escapist wartime
romance. But thanks to extensive rewrites and various happy
accidents, it remains, 60 years after it was made, one of the
best loved movies of all time.
Humphrey Bogart is in his element as Rick Blaine,
defiantly ‘neutral’ proprietor of a popular Casablanca
nightclub in the early years of World War Two. When a Czech Resistance leader
fleeing from the Nazis turns up unexpectedly at the bar, accompanied by his wife
Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman) – a former lover of Rick’s – the embittered American finds his
emotions in turmoil, his loyalties torn… A remarkable international cast (Peter
Lorre, Sydney Greenstreet, Claude Rains,), a script packed with lines so memorably
witty that many became enduring catchphrases, and Michael Curtiz’s sumptuously
stylish direction make for a thoroughly involving and iconic tale of passion,
commitment, quiet courage and redemption. And it’s now been digitally restored –
play it, Sam…
USA 1942. Dir Michael Curtiz. With Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains, Peter
Lorre, Sydney Greenstreet, Paul Henreid, Conrad Veidt, Marcel Dalio, SZ Sakall, Dooley
Wilson. 102min. Digital. U. Courtesy of Park Circus
Tues 14 Feb 18:30 NFT1 (Fri 10 - Thu 23 Feb)
L’Atalante
Funny, heart-rending, erotic, suspenseful, exhilaratingly
inventive... Jean Vigo’s only full-length feature satisfies
on so many levels, it’s no surprise it’s widely regarded
as one of the greatest films ever made.
When Juliette (Dita Parlo) marries and moves in
with Seine barge captain Jean (Jean Dasté), their
relationship soon shows signs of strain. Sharing
the cramped boat with eccentric bosun Père Jules
(Michel Simon), a cabin boy and a clutter of cats doesn’t help; nor do Jean’s jealous
tendencies or the couple’s reluctance to compromise… To this simple story Vigo
brings an extraordinary array of ideas and insights, while the lustrous lyricism of
Boris Kaufman’s camerawork, injections of surrealism and the almost childlike
innocence of the performances locate the film in a fertile territory between objective
realism and subjective fantasy. In their scenes together (which include one of the
most erotic in cinema), Dasté and Parlo reveal an achingly vulnerable intensity. No
other movie matches its mix of playfulness, poetry, sensuality and tenderness; this
masterpiece is truly timeless.
France 1934. Dir Jean Vigo. With Jean Dasté, Dita Parlo, Michel Simon, Gilles Margaritis,
Louis Lefebvre. 89min. EST. Digital. PG. A BFI release
Tues 14 Feb 21:00 Studio (Wed 1 – Wed 29 Feb Extended Run)
The Red Shoes
One of Powell and Pressburger’s most enduringly
popular films is a stunning exercise in colour,
movement and a kind of romanticism that was
unusual in post-war British cinema. Explaining the
film’s success, Powell stated, ‘We had all been told
for ten years to go out and die for freedom and
democracy, for this and for that, and now that the war was over, The Red Shoes told us to go out and die for art’.
UK 1948. Dir Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger. With Moira Shearer, Anton Walbrook,
Marius Goring. 135min. Digital. U
Introduction by Ian Christie – on this date?
Tickets £10, concs £6.75 (Members pay £1.50 less)
Tue 14 Feb 18:10 NFT3
Picnic at Hanging Rock
On Valentine’s Day in 1900 three school girls and
their teacher disappear while on an excursion to
Victoria’s Hanging Rock, splintering the lives and
hearts of those left behind. Weir’s cinematic
exploration of the Unknown is also a tender treatise
on romantic friendship between young women.
Lingering glances, gentle caresses and declarations
of love from one student to another abound in this
beautiful and stunningly photographed film.
Australia 1975. Dir Peter Weir. With Rachel Roberts, Anne-Louise Lambert, Vivean Gray.
115min. PG
Tue 14 Feb 18:20 NFT2
Heartbeats (Les amours imaginaires)
Actor-writer-director Xavier Dolan has created
an affecting film dealing with a misshapen love
triangle. Dolan plays Nicolas, a young gay man
who shares the passion of his best girlfriend,
Marie, for the cherubic hunk that is Francis. This
beautifully constructed film is a sharp dissection
of the joys and heartbreaks of love. It’s also a
vivid portrait of different sorts of friendship and the subtleties of rivalry between
close friends.
Canada 2010. Dir Xavier Dolan. With Xavier Dolan, Monia Chokri, Niels Schneider. 101min.
15. EST
Tue 14 Feb 20:40 NFT2
To Have and Have Not
As adapted by William Faulkner and Jules Furthman,
Hemingway’s novel becomes a characteristically laconic
and witty Hawksian romance, in which Bogart’s fishingboat captain, working the waters around Martinique
during World War Two, discovers a sense of moral
responsibility thanks to the love of a good and very
strong-willed woman (Bacall). That the two leads fell in
love during the making of the film is marvellously
apparent, bringing both sexual chemistry and emotional
depth to the stirring intrigue and adventure.
USA 1945. Dir Howard Hawks. With Humphrey Bogart,
Lauren Bacall, Walter Brennan, Hoagy Carmichael, Marcel Dalio. 99min. PG
Tue 14 Feb 20:45
The BFI is the nation's cultural organisation for film, keeping the breadth of voices in
moving image culture alive and known. Through its venues, festivals, film releases and
online, the BFI inspires people to understand and enjoy film culture, ensuring that
everyone in the UK can see the broadest range and choice of films, otherwise not
provided by commercial cinema. The BFI reaches an audience of over 7.5 million in the
UK every year.
Booking information
The BFI is the lead body for film in the UK with the ambition to create a flourishing
film environment in which innovation, opportunity and creativity can thrive by:
Connecting audiences to the widest choice of British and World cinema.
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and future generations.
Championing emerging and world class film makers in the UK.
Investing in creative, distinctive and entertaining work.
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Growing the next generation of film makers and audiences.
The BFI Southbank is open to all. BFI members are entitled to a discount on all
tickets. BFI Southbank Box Office tel: 020 7928 3232. Unless otherwise stated tickets
are 10.00, concs £6.75 Members pay £1.50 less on any ticket. Website:
www.bfi.org.uk/southbank
