Fear and Trembling
Based on the autobiographical book of much-loved, eccentric Belgian novelist Amélie Nothomb, Fear and Trembling recounts her gruelling experience in Japan, mixing culture clash with office politics. Having spent her childhood in Japan, Amélie – played by Sylvie Testud (La Vie en Rose, Lourdes) – decides to return after graduating from college to work as an interpreter at a corporation. She hopes her perfect command of the Japanese language will open doors for her, but instead, she is viewed as lacking in proper humility, and is increasingly mistreated by her co-workers who conspire to put her in her place.
Gomorrah
When the investigative book by Roberto Saviano was published in 2006, it had the effect of a bombshell and sold millions of copies worldwide. Gomorrah describes in a chilling way how the Camorra, a powerful mafia-like organization, touches all the aspects of the economic life Naples. In this ficitionalised adaptation, we follow five different stories that intersperse and whose characters illustrate how the criminal organisation affect their lives.
Head On
In this brilliant, yet confronting film adapted from Christos Tsiolkas' 1995 novel Loaded, a fresh-faced Alex Dimitriades (who first became known in Australia with The Heartbreak Kid, and is starring in upcoming SBS drama The Principal) plays Ari, a young Melbournite who finds it hard to reconcile his Greekness, his Australianness and his gayness. Ari jams all his energy and defiance, pain and joy into one high velocity night of dancing, sex and drugs.
Headhunters
Adapted from a novel by leading "Scandinoir" writer Jo Nesbo, Headhunters follows Roger, a charming headhunter who also happens to be Norway’s most accomplished art-thief. His lucrative work subsidizes his luxury lifestyle, but he decides to risk it all and daringly steal an extremely valuable painting from a former mercenary. Things go very wrong, and Roger discovers something which makes him a hunted man, in this fast-paced thriller. Stars Game of Thrones' Nikolaj "Jamie Lannister" Coster-Waldau as Roger's ruthless rival.
Hunting and Gathering
Director Claude Berri (Jean de Florette) adapted the popular novel by teacher-turned-bestselling-author Anna Gavalda (whose first novel was also adapted into Someone I Loved). Starring two of France's brightest young stars, Audrey Tautou and Guillaume Canet, this heart-warming fable follows a collection of misfits in Paris. Without each other, Camille, Franck, Philibert and Paulette's lives feel empty, but through one another they rediscover their passion for life and learn to face the world.
Jar City
Jar City is the adaptation of the best-selling crime novel by Icelandic author Arnaldur Indriðason, first published in 2000. When an elderly man is found murdered in his basement flat, Inspector Erlendur and his crew don’t have much to go by in the investigation, but a photograph of a young girl’s grave gives them a lead. They discover that many years ago the victim was accused of horrible crimes. A chilling story in a very chilly place.
Lady Chatterley
After the icy Jar City, this movie by Pascale Ferran (Bird People), which won the 2007 César Award for best Film, should help raise your body temperature. Based on D.H. Lawrence's novel John Thomas and Lady Jane, an earlier version of the famous and controversial Lady Chatterley's Lover, this is the story of an adulterous affair between Lady Constance Chatterley, a sexually unfulfilled upper-class married woman, and the gamekeeper who works for the estate owned by her wheelchair-bound husband.
Les Miserables
This star-studded four-part TV mini-series is based on the classic epic novel by Victor Hugo, which was first published in 1862 and is still considered on the of the greatest novels of the 19th century. After becoming a wealthy industrialist, Jean Valjean (played superbly by French powerhouse Gérard Depardieu) takes Cosette, the daughter of a prostitute, under his protection, hiding her in a convent after being chased once again by his former jailor, Javert (John Malkovitch).
Memories of My Melancholy Whores
In this adaptation of the novel by acclaimed Colombian/Mexican writer Gabriel García Márquez (One Hundred Years of Solitude), El Sabio has just turned 90 years-old. To celebrate, he seeks the company of a 20-year-old prostitute, who is selling her virginity to help her family. But instead of sex, he discovers a deep connection with her, and reflects on finding love for the first time in his life.
Orlando
A dying Queen Elizabeth I orders Noble Orlando (Tilda Swinton) to stay forever young, he obeys and lives happily for few hundred years in the castle she bequeathed to him. However, when he's almost killed during a visit in Turkey as British Ambassador, he changes overnight into a woman (also Swinton), which makes her life suddenly a lot more complicated. Whether playing Orlando as a 17th century noble man or a single mother trying to live off her writing in the 1990s, androgynous Tilda Swinton fits the bill perfectly as Virginia Woolfe's hero/ine, in this free reinterpretation of the 1928 novel.
Nowhere in Africa
This saga, based on the best-seliing 1995 autobiography by German writer Stephanie Zweig, tells the story of a Jewish family in pre-WWII Germany. As Walter and Jettel witness the ascension of Nazis in Europe, they decide to flee their home with daughter Regina and find refuge in Kenya (the movie was beautifully shot on location). While the little girl takes straight away to her new surroundings, her parents struggle, particularly Jettel, who had been used to a life of luxury, which contributes to the decline of her marriage.
Colonel Chabert
French cinema giant Gérard Depardieu stars in this adaptation of Honoré de Balzac's classic novel (part of his series The Human Comedy). Colonel Chabert, who after being presumed killed at the battle of Eylau, presents himself 10 years later at the office of sollicitor Mr. Derville. He's alive and kicking, intent on claiming back what belongs to him. However, his wealth has since been squandered by his widow, the Countess Ferraud and her new husband.
Perfume
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer is a German thriller directed by Tom Tykwer (Run Lola, Run), based on the internationally-acclaimed 1985 novel Perfume by Patrick Süskind. Set in 18th century France, the film tells the story of Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, an olfactory genius, and his homicidal quest for the perfect scent, which will make people finally love him.
Puberty Blues
When Bruce Beresford brought to the big screen in 1979 the novel Puberty Blues, written by Sydney teenagers Gabrielle Carey and Kathy Lette, it became an instant hit, thanks to its depiction tainted with brutal realism, but also humour, of the beach culture and Australian teenagers' lifestyles in the late '70s. It follows two teenage girls from ‘The Shire’ (Nell Schofield, Jad Capelja) in their attempts to join the cool surfing crowd. To ingratiate themselves into the ‘Greenhill Gang’ and reach a popular social rank, they must watch the boys surf, collect Chiko Rolls for them, spend time in shaggin’ wagons with them, or be condemned to facing ‘moll’ status.
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Based on the late Stieg Larsson's trilogy, which sold more than 22 millions copies worldwide, and which has since been adapted in Hollywood, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is about young and troubled computer hacker Lisbeth, who helps a discredited journalist on an investigation about 16-year old girl Harriet Vanger, who disappeared without a trace, on September 29th 1966. However, they discover that even the wealthiest families have skeletons in their closets.
Wuthering Heights
Director Andrea Arnold's gritty, stripped-bare take on Emily Brontë's epic novel, starring mostly non-professional actors, follows Heathcliff, a poor boy of African origins, rescued from poverty and taken in by the Earnshaw family on their moorland farmhouse. Over the years, he develops an intense relationship with his young foster sister, Cathy. When she later accepts to marry their rich neighbour Edgar, Heathcliff runs away from the farm. But a few years later, he returns with a vengeance to reclaim the love of his life.
Flowers in the Attic
There's creepiness aplenty in this 1987 adaptation of V.C. Andrews' shocking novel (which was recently remade with Heather Graham and Ellen Burstyn in the leading roles). A widow (Victoria Tennant) moves with her four children in her parents' house. When a shocking family secret threatens to be unearthed, the children are locked in an attic by their deceitful mother and cruel grandmother.
Onegin
Ralph Fiennes stars as Eugene Onegin, who, bored with life in St Petersburg, moves to the countryside where he's inherited an estate from a wealthy uncle. There he strikes up a friendship with neighbour Vladimir, an aspiring poet whose love for his fiancee Olga (Game of Thrones' Lena Headey) charms Onegin out of his cynicism. When Olga's sister Tatyana (Liv Tyler) declares her love for Onegin, he rejects her and begins flirting openly with Olga. A sumptuous adaptation of Alexander Pushkin's 19th century novel, on which several of the Fiennes siblings collaborated.
Bruna: Surfer Girl
This wild and sexy story of a São Paulo prostitute who recounts her adventures online is inspired by the true story of Raquel Pacheco. As a teenager, she left her comfortable middle class life to embark on a career as a sex worker and detailed her experiences online. The movie charts Raquel's growing sexual awareness as she forges a new identity as beach babe 'Bruna Surfistinha' ('little surfer girl'), and receives escalating repeat business with her many satisfied clients. 
