Beautiful Lies

Four movies from BBC's Natural World: Birds of Paradise, Queen of the Manta Rays, Forest Elephants, The Wild Places of Essex.

During the silent period, a surprising number of opera stars found themselves starring in movies, especially in Europe, and while the voices that were their fortune could not be heard, their hyper-emotional histrionics often communicated with unusual power on the big screen. Filmmaker Peter Delpeut, who previously examined the mysterious and otherworldly images of early cinema in Lyrical Nitrate, has compiled footage from a dozen operatic silents released between 1913 and 1920 in his feature Diva Dolorosa. Edited for emotional and visual impact rather than narrative clarity, Diva Dolorosa features vintage performances from such singing stars as Lyda Borelli, Pina Meichelli, and Francesca Bertini. The film also boasts an original score by Loek Dikker, which was performed with a live orchestra for the film's world premiere at the 1999 Holland Film Festival.

Adapted from the best-selling novel by author Clare Allan, director Benjamin Ross' made for television drama follows the unlikely friendship between a psychiatric patient who lives to sponge off the system, and the newly arrived patient who causes her to question everything she ever thought she knew. N (Anna Maxwell Martin) has spent the last thirteen years living in a North London psychiatric ward, and she'd do it all over again if given the opportunity. She's made it her mission in life never to be released, and she's willing to do whatever it takes to remain institutionalized for life…..

You do NOT need to know *any* Japanese to benefit from this DVD.

Over 300 video clips are easily accessed via 37 menu cards. The menu is broken down into Kyu grades (from white belt to black) and then into Basics, Kata and Sparring, all the techniques a student will need to demonstrate.

* The menus are all in English, though as Karate originates from Japan, the names of the routines (Kata) and counting (1, 2 ,3 etc) is often done in Japanese, hence this has been recorded as the official DVD language.

This French language drama from Portuguese filmmaker Manoel de Oliveira takes an ironic look at the pretentiousness of international jet-setters while simultaneously examining an obsessive romantic relationship between an aging Lothario and a beautiful married woman. The tale begins at a garden party in a lovely villa in the Azores held by Rogerio and Leonor for handsome, middle-aged Michel and his mistress Irene, a noted Greek movie star. The guests aren't there long before an obvious attraction between Leonor and Michel prompts them to head for a private beach (their tryst, if there was one, occurs off-camera). Five years later, the foursome again meet for a garden party and once again they pair off after spending much time discussing gender differences, emotion, social insight and exchanging witty bon mots.

Two brothers in their 40s are found dead in the forest. By their side lies a woman, very weak, but still alive. "All that matters is past" is the story of how Janne meets William after many years of separation. She leaves her family to live with him in a cabin by the river. They recreate the feeling of love and lust that they had as children, being sweethearts playing in the woods. But one day a Chinese baby girl is found floating down the river, and they realize that they are being haunted by William's brother. William and Janne runs further into the woods, trying to escape from their nemesis.

Four years in the making, Life will set a new benchmark in family entertainment and natural history epics. Life is the latest wildlife epic from the BBC’s award-winning Natural History Unit. It has the revelation, cinematic style, sense of place and emotionally involving individual sequences that that were the hallmark of The Blue Planet and Planet Earth, with all the scope, detail and content of an Attenborough epic, and the addition of close-up, intensely dramatic new behaviour – all captured by the world’s top wildlife photographers with the aid of the most cutting-edge and sophisticated filming techniques.

Alors, petits gastronauts! Floyd is here with the best in French cuisine (and a drop of something to wash it down).
Join the 'shy and retiring' cook extraordinaire Keith Floyd in the BBC batmobile as he winds his way through six of the great gastronomic and panoramic regions of France – and a few of its lesser known mouthwatering kitchens.

Simon Reeve embarks on an extraordinary four-part journey around the Mediterranean, uncovering the wild extremes that lie behind the tourist veneer.