Commissioner Jules Maigret investigates the murder of a former ambassador, navigating uncooperative high-society families and a tight-lipped housekeeper to uncover a long-hidden secret.

Writer/director Pascal Bonitzer brings his unique perspective and panache to Simenon’s cherished Parisian detective – a French counterpart to Agatha Christie’s Poirot – as he attempts to solve the murder of a diplomat with a long-held secret.

Inspector Maigret (four-time César nominee Denis Podalydès) is urgently summoned to the Quai d’Orsay: a former ambassador has been found shot dead by his long-serving housekeeper (Anne Alvaro, The Taste of Others). But rather than contact the police, she has followed diplomatic protocols by first informing the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Forewarned that he will find a series of salacious letters – and cautioned to be discreet – Maigret heads to the victim’s opulent apartment. He finds no forensic evidence at the crime scene, but certainly, the letters prove startling – secret, decades-spanning correspondence between the ambassador and the Princess of Vuynes, whose own husband, by strange coincidence, has also just died… In French with English Subtitles

"Bonitzer presents a masterful contemporary update of one of the great sleuths while capturing the character’s essence." - New York Lincoln Centre

A leading member of the French New Wave, who came to be regarded as the 'French Hitchcock', for many years Claude Chabrol's classic thrillers have been missing from UK screens. Chabrol’s most celebrated and sinister film sees a tender friendship between a schoolteacher and local butcher darken as a series of murders unsettles life in their village. In French with English subtitles.

Le Boucher is part of the Power, Corruption and Lies on Screen Season, a themed run of films exploring how power can be misused, how corruption develops, and how truth can be manipulated. Alongside classics like The Big Sleep and All the President's Men the season brings together three of Chabrol’s most disturbing works, from 1969's La Femme infidèle and 1995's La Cérémonie (based on Ruth Rendell's novel A Judgement in Stone), these are thrillers which explore moral, rather than political, corruption and where polite society and dark secrets entwine to murderous effect.

Carl Reiner's comedy-mystery stars Steve Martin as private detective Rigby Reardon who is hired by Juliet Forrest (Rachel Ward) to investigate the death of her father, a scientist who was working on a mysterious project. As the case unfolds, Reardon encounters Nazis, espionage, murder and a bizarre plot involving mind control.

Masterfully incorporating clips from classic noir films, digitally inserting Steve Martin into scenes with legendary actors such as Humphrey Bogart, Barbara Stanwyck, Burt Lancaster, Ava Gardner, James Cagney and Ingrid Bergman, the film is both a loving tribute to and a parody of 1940s film noir. 

A playful but precise homage to classic noir, Carl Reiner’s film creates a detective story built from cinema itself. Beneath the humour lies an affectionate critique of noir tropes—reminding us that even the myths we tell ourselves about crime, power and truth are constructed.

There are no adverts or trailers with this screening.

In 1960, sixteen newly independent African countries enter the United Nations, a political earthquake that shifts the majority vote from the colonial powers to the global south. Congo becomes the arena in which the battle over the UN is fought. As Nikita Khrushchev pounds his shoe at the UN-top in reaction to the neo-colonial grab of the resources of newly independent Congo, UN delegates from African Countries are blackmailed. In an incredulous twist Patrice Lumumba’s assassination unites the Afro-Asian block, demanding the UN General Assembly to vote for immediate worldwide decolonization.

Jazz and decolonisation fuse in this upbeat historical rollercoaster, set through a quartet of voices from an activist, a diplomat, a writer and a world leader. Starring Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, Abbey Lincoln, Max Roach, Nina Simone, Miriam Makeba, John Coltrane, Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus, Malcolm X and Nikita Khrushchev, and many more. In Dutch, English, Russia, French and Arabic with English subtitles.

Part of the Power, Corruption and Lies on Screen Season, a themed run of films exploring how power can be misused, how corruption develops, and how truth can be manipulated. Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat exposes how political power is exercised behind the scenes, and how governments, corporations and international institutions manipulate events for their own interests.

A righteous Vichy civil servant and a humanitarian priest exploit bureaucratic loopholes to rescue over 100 Jewish children from a deportation camp in 1942 Lyon.

Actor and director Daniel Auteuil tells the story of a relatively unknown chapter in the German Occupation of France: the rescue of Jewish children from Vénissieux in August 1942.The narrative follows Gilbert Lesage, a young civil servant at the Service Social des Étrangers, played by Antoine Reinartz, who is appointed to chair a committee tasked with deciding which Jews will be permitted to leave the internment camp in Vénissieux. A directive from the Vichy regime changes everything. It stipulates that non-accompanied children must not be deported. Certain committee members including Father Glasberg, played by Auteuil, then attempt to save as many children as possible before their deportation. 

While other French films this year concentrated on such celebrated figures as De Gaulle or Jean Moulin, Auteuil (on his sixth directorial outing) chooses to tell the story of the unsung heroes. These men and women took incredibly brave action, with no weapons and no desire for glory, simply because they refused to accept the unacceptable. At a time when the last remaining Holocaust victims are disappearing, the film serves as an important reminder of our duty to remember. In French with English subtitles.

"Robust moral thriller, both intellectually chewy and emotionally finely calibrated." - ScreenDaily

In 1972 France, a fearless lawyer takes on the landmark Bobigny trial to defend a teenage girl prosecuted for having an illegal abortion.

A landmark trial shakes France in 1972 as young Marie-Claire is prosecuted for having an illegal abortion with the help of her mother and two other defendants. In a courtroom governed by men, the verdict seems inevitable: prison for the women, while the rapist goes unpunished. 

Their last hope lies with Gisèle Halimi (played by Charlotte Gainsbourg), a fearless lawyer known for openly challenging patriarchy and confronting the system that condemns victims and lets perpetrators walk free. Alongside the accused, Gisèle will not only change their fate, but, against all odds, transform the condition of women forever. Three years later, it led to the Veil Act of 1975, which officially decriminalised abortion in France. In French with English subtitles.

"Powerful testament to the resilience of women through the generations." - Cineuropa

To ruin a western town, a corrupt political boss appoints a black sheriff, who promptly becomes his most formidable adversary.

An odd choice for the Power, Corruption and Lies season but Mel Brooks’ audacious satire provides a fitting end to the season. Dismantling authority, genre conventions and social hierarchies through anarchic comedy, Blazing Saddles exposes the absurdity at the heart of power. After a season of secrets and corruption, laughter becomes its own form of resistance. 

Contains mouthed strong language, moderate sex references and racist terms.