Richmond Film Society

Synopsis

The Servant was one of the key British films of the 1960s, winning three BAFTA awards for Dirk Bogarde (Best Actor), James Fox (Most Promising Newcomer) and Douglas Slocombe (Best Cinematography). Joseph Losey directed the film, adapted by Harold Pinter from Robin Maugham's novella, The Servant (1948).

When Hugo Barrett arrives for his job interview as upper class Tony’s servant he finds him asleep in a chair with an empty bottle in his hand. The shot of Barrett looking down on and appraising Tony anticipates what will follow, namely, the loss and disintegration of Tony’s control over the house and himself as Barrett slowly assumes power over him.

We see many of the early scenes through the eyes of Tony’s upper class fiancee, Susan, who mocks Barrett’s pretensions. She embarks on a power struggle with Barrett over who is the arbiter of taste and style in the house. Barrett counters by bringing his “sister” into the house on the pretext of using her as a maid, escalating the savage struggle for power.

The film explores themes of power, class and sexuality and will be introduced by Dr Sophie Belot, Senior Lecturer in Film and Screen Media at St Mary’s University.

Additional Info

Location

Richmond Film Society, The Exchange, 75 London Road , Twickenham, TW1 1BE

Booking Link

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Tickets

Synopsis

Set in 1944 Vermiglio, a high mountain village in the Italian Alps, war looms as a distant but constant threat. The arrival of Pietro, a refugee soldier, disrupts the dynamics of the local teacher’s family, changing them forever. During the four seasons marking the end of World War II, Pietro and Lucia, the eldest daughter of the village teacher, are instantly drawn to each other, leading to marriage and an unexpected fate. As the world emerges from tragedy, the family will face its own.

Additional Info

Location

Richmond Film Society, The Exchange, 75 London Road , Twickenham, TW1 1BE

Booking Link

This is an external website; My Community Cinema take no responsibility for the content of this page.

Tickets

Synopsis

It seems that schoolroom dramas are becoming a popular way of analysing and commenting on contemporary society. In this season, for example, we have also screened The Teachers’ Lounge and Happyend, whilst The Holdovers was shown last season. These are markedly different films to Radical. Perhaps these films have become popular because they jog memories of our own schooldays, for better or worse.

As with many such tales, it begins with the arrival of a new teacher. In Radical, the sixth grade pupils in a border town are among the worst performing students in Mexico, with their world one of neglect, violence, corruption and hardship. The teachers are mainly concerned with getting pupils through government standard tests that do little to encourage creative thinking (sound familiar?). It seems like a dead end, but it's the perfect place for a new teacher to deploy unorthodox methods to break through his student’s apathy and motivate them to think for themselves.

Based on true events and winner of the Sundance Film Festival’s Audience Award, Radical is a powerful, heartwarming drama that packs an emotional punch.

Additional Info

Location

Richmond Film Society, The Exchange, 75 London Road , Twickenham, TW1 1BE

Booking Link

This is an external website; My Community Cinema take no responsibility for the content of this page.

Tickets

Synopsis

RFS’s Summer film is the slow-burning and, at times, darkly comedic, French thriller, The Origin of Evil. A psychological thriller in the Claude Chabrol tradition, with hints of Patricia Highsmith and Ruth Rendell, we follow an outsider who becomes embroiled in a web of upper-class family politics and malice. When a financially distressed factory worker, Stéphane (Laure Calamy of Call My Agent!), gets in touch with wealthy Serge, announcing that she is his long-abandoned, illegitimate daughter, his immediate and highly avaricious family are none too pleased. Will she successfully prevail in a vipers’ nest of hostility, in which nothing is quite as it seems ?

A clever, humorous and highly entertaining French drama to bring the curtain down on Season 62.

Additional Info

Location

Richmond Film Society, The Exchange, 75 London Road , Twickenham, TW1 1BE

Booking Link

This is an external website; My Community Cinema take no responsibility for the content of this page.

Tickets

Synopsis

Based on the real-life story of activist Eunice Paiva (Fernanda Torres), whose husband was abducted by Brazil’s military dictatorship in 1971, I’m Still Here is a powerful depiction of life under the military junta and the impact of ‘the disappeared’ on their families. Directed by Walter Salles (Central Station,

The Motorbike Diaries), the film garnered 82 awards worldwide, including the 2025 Oscar for the Best International Feature Film, whilst the Golden Globe award for Best Actress in a motion picture drama went to Fernanda Torres.

The film will be introduced by Dr Jon Hackett of Brunel University - Senior Lecturer and Programme Lead in Film Production, Film and Television Studies.

Additional Info

Location

I’m Still Here (Brazil), The Exchange, 75 London Road , Twickenham, TW1 1BE

Synopsis

During a three-day backpacking trip in the Catskills, 17-year-old Sam navigates a clash of egos between her father (now embarked upon a second family, with a new, much younger wife) and his oldest friend, Matt. She endures their petty bickering and selfishness and simply rolls her eyes when their ‘banter’ veers a bit too close to misogyny for her taste.. When, however, an awkward campfire encounter between Sam and Matt ruptures the trip, it casts the trio’s relationships in a new, ugly light. A film of quiet intelligence and emotional depth.

Additional Info

Location

Good One (USA), The Exchange, 75 London Road , Twickenham, TW1 1BE

Synopsis

There Is No Evil tells four stories, that are variations on the crucial themes of moral strength and the death penalty that ask to what extent individual freedom can be expressed under a despotic regime and its seemingly inescapable threats. Every country that enforces the death penalty needs people to kill other people. Four men are put in front of an unthinkable but simple choice. The film is another example of superb Iranian film making.

Not surprisingly, considering the subject matter, be prepared for the odd shock.

It was philosopher Hannah Arendt who wrote about the 'banality of evil': those who commit the cruellest acts can be the most ordinary human beings. This is impressively shown in the first chapter of There Is No Evil, in which we follow a day in the life of a perfectly ordinary man, who drives off to work the next day and hesitates when the traffic light turns green. We, the, audience then understand why, as the very shocking last scene turns everything that came before upside down.

The other three episodes deal, in different ways, with the same issue: capital punishment. The film is not interested in legal dilemmas surrounding the death penalty; it only shows the consequences it can have. The focus is not on the question of whether capital punishment can be justified, but on the moral difficulties of those who keep the system running, or who are forced to do that.

Additional Info

Location

‘There Is No Evil’ (Iran), The Exchange, 75 London Road , Twickenham, TW1 1BE