Summary: A father’s sixtieth birthday is a cause for family celebration but as the extended relatives gather to rejoice a cloud hangs over them. Helge, the father, hopes his close family will support the festivities but eldest son Christian has something he wants to share with his family and will do so via a speech…
Category: Media Studies
Fanny and Alexander: Summary, Analysis
Summary: Fanny and Alexander is set in the Swedish town of Uppsala in the early 1900s and depicts the complex web of relationships connecting members of the wealthy Ekdahl family. Oscar Ekdahl is a theatre director, happily married to Emilie. The narrative is largely seen through the eyes of their two young children, Fanny and…
Europa Europa – Summary, Analysis
Summary: Europa Europa offers a picaresque tale of the childhood and adolescence of the German Jewish Solomon ‘Solly’ Perel during the Nazi regime, the Holocaust, and the Second World War. Solly lives happily with his family in Peine, Germany, but, when the persecution of Jews commences, they flee eastward, where he eventually becomes separated from…
The Spirit Of The Beehive – Summary, Analysis
Summary: Set in 1940s post-war Spain, Ana and her sister Isabel go to the movies one evening to see a screening of Frankenstein. Afterward, Ana becomes fascinated with the story and nature of Dr Frankenstein’s creation – the monster. As she seeks out ways to explore her fascination, she retreats from her family life, which…
Children Of Paradise (Les enfants du paradis) – Summary, Analysis
Summary: The film, which takes place in 1840s Paris, is divided into two parts. In the first, Garance (Arletty) is unhappy in her relationship with Lacenaire (Herrand), a dandified thief. She attracts the attention of Baptiste (Barrault), a mime artist at the Funambules Theatre. Baptiste has a rival for his affections in aspiring actor Frédérick…
Elena (Movie) – Summary, Analysis
Summary: Elena is married to Vladimir, her former patient, a wealthy Russian businessman. They both have children from previous marriages: Elena a lazy, slovenly son, and Vladimir a wayward, estranged daughter. Elena financially supports her unemployed son and his family, sometimes secretly with Vladimir’s money. Vladimir suffers a heart attack at the same time as…
Double Indemnity (1944) – Summary, Analysis
Summary: Framed as an episodic flashback narrated by insurance agent Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray), the story begins with an encounter between Neff and housewife Phyllis Dietrichson (Barbara Stanwyck) during a sales call. She incites him to dream up a plot to murder her husband in order to collect a ‘double indemnity’ insurance policy. Initially, the…
Do The Right Thing: Summary, Analysis
Summary: Set on a city block during the hottest day of the summer in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant (‘Bed-Stuy’), Do The Right Thing follows the character of ‘Mookie’ (Spike Lee), a pizza delivery boy, and a day in the life of the neighborhood residents as the climate gives way to escalating encounters and disputes…
Dilwale dulhania le jayenge: Summary and Analysis
Summary: Dilwale tells the story of Simran and Raj, both non-resident Indians (NRIs) from London, who meet each other during a European vacation in the early 1990s. While Raj comes from an upper-class family, Simran belongs to a traditional middle-class conservative family. The romance in Europe shatters everything for Simran as her enraged father, Baldev…
Days Of Santiago (Dias de Santiago): Summary and Analysis
Summary: A 23-year-old Peruvian armed forces veteran struggles to reintegrate himself into society only to hit a series of roadblocks, both societal and psychological, in the feature directorial debut from Peruvian filmmaker Josué Méndez. Santiago Román (Pietro Sibille) has just returned to Lima following six years of military service. Coolly received by his parents and…