National Theatre Live: The Effect (2024)

Cruel Intentions

Slaking a thirst for dangerous games, Kathryn challenges her stepbrother, Sebastian, to deflower their headmaster's daughter before the summer ends. If he succeeds, the prize is the chance to bed Kathryn. But if he loses, Kathryn will claim his most prized possession.

Moulin Rouge!

A celebration of love and creative inspiration takes place in the infamous, gaudy and glamorous Parisian nightclub, at the cusp of the 20th century. A young poet, who is plunged into the heady world of Moulin Rouge, begins a passionate affair with the club's most notorious and beautiful star.

Sleepless in Seattle

After the death of his mother, a young boy calls a radio station in an attempt to set his father up on a date. Talking about his father’s loneliness soon leads to a meeting with a young female journalist, who has flown to Seattle to write a story about the boy and his father.

Tsotsi

A young South African boy from the Johannesburg ghetto named Tsotsi, meaning Gangster, leaves home as a child to get away from his helpless parents. Now a teenage thug, Tsotsi finds a baby in the back seat of a car he's just stolen. He decides that it is his responsibility to care for the infant and in the process learns that maybe the criminal life isn’t the best way.

Wrooklyn Zoo

Eighteen-year-old Kosa is the best skater in Wrocław. He has a beautiful girlfriend, great friends, an adored grandfather and a clear plan for the future - he wants to win a prestigious skateboarding competition with a lot of money at stake and a trip to Los Angeles. Everything changes dramatically when, during a carefree vacation, Kosa meets Zora - a magnetic Romani girl, with whom magic and a passionate feeling that he has never experienced before enters the boy's life.

Jules and Jim

In the carefree days before World War I, introverted Austrian author Jules strikes up a friendship with the exuberant Frenchman Jim and both men fall for the impulsive and beautiful Catherine.

Last Tango in Paris

A recently widowed American begins an anonymous sexual relationship with a young Parisian woman.

Friends

Paul, a rich English boy, and Michelle, an orphaned French girl, run away from home to a remote beach. Living on their own, their friendship grows into love.

Best Wishes

An old widower, Jasper, routinely makes coffee in two mugs and picks up trash around his community. Some of his more interesting finds speckle his home. His neighbors mostly disregard him. On one of his regular hunts, he chances upon an envelope. To his surprise, he finds old wedding photos and presumes the addressee, Angie, to be the bride. Determined to complete the delivery, Jasper follows a map to the address. When he finally arrives, his excitement is upended when Angie, now divorced, rebuffs him and the photos. He leaves her with an open invitation to his home, should she change her mind. The next morning, Jasper starts his routine-only to find Angie at his door. After a heart-to-heart on loss and new life, Jasper invites Angie to pick up trash with him. Together, they go.

Milk White

Takayuki (Takao Osawa) is an elementary school teacher in Tokyo. He is seized with Behçet's syndrome, and will gradually lose his sight. He resigns from his job and leaves his girlfriend, Yoko (Yuriko Ishida) to return to his hometown, Nagasaki, where his mother lives. Takayuki spends his days strolling around Nagasaki, to imprint familiar scenes on his memory. Yoko visits him and insists on staying. Takayuki has major concerns for her future, and his own life. He drives her away, for her own good. After days of affliction, the two reunite. The story leads to an emotive conclusion, the end of his spiritual journey.

Assalamualaikum Beijing 2: Lost in Ningxia

Aisha thought she had found happiness with Arif, a figure who perfectly complemented her life. Making her not hesitate to remove all obstacles, even the most difficult ones, to prove how great her love was. In fact, the love that Aisha believed in not only gave her wings to fly high, but also dropped her from the highest place, taking her to wander the jungle without a clear goal. Making her ask, Have the decisions she has made so far been right? Where will her love find its estuary? Truly God is All-Good, the journey through Ningxia made Aisha realize that time is another form of His goodness. And the most important part is not the beginning, but the end. Always the end.

Barcelona Summer Night

In 2012 the comet Rose crossed the skies of the city of Barcelona and its magic that night caused 346 love stories flourish. An atmosphere of dreams, hopes and desire mixed to give a special connection between people. From these stories six are the stars of the film. A dinner among friends with a love of life is coupled with a first time for miles. An encounter that can change their lives and revive old ties that clash with the discovery of a baby on the way. In parallel, the struggle between friendship and love strikes the last story, a clandestine love between gay athletes who have to make a tough decision.

Babyteeth

A terminally ill teen upsets her parents when she falls in love with a small-time drug dealer.

Autumn in New York

Will Keane, a Manhattan restaurateur, is content with his playboy lifestyle until he meets Charlotte Fielding, a free-spirited young woman. Together the pair pursue a passionate affair that forces them both to reevaluate what they want out of life, even as fate threatens to steal away their future.

Faust

God and Satan war over earth; to settle things, they wager on the soul of Faust, a learned and prayerful alchemist.

The Clearing

When affluent executive Wayne Hayes is kidnapped by a disgruntled employee and held for ransom in a forest, Wayne’s wife is forced to reckon with the FBI agents as they negotiate with the kidnapper.

Tell No One

A man receives a mysterious email appearing to be from his wife, who was murdered years earlier. As he frantically tries to find out whether she's alive, he finds himself being implicated in her death.

Savage Grace

This examination of a famous scandal from the 1970s explores the relationship between Barbara Baekeland and her only son, Antony. Barbara, a lonely social climber unhappily married to the wealthy but remote plastics heir Brooks Baekeland, dotes on Antony, who is homosexual. As Barbara tries to "cure" Antony of his sexuality -- sometimes by seducing him herself -- the groundwork is laid for a murderous tragedy.

Jeanne and the Perfect Guy

Jeanne, a receptionist at a travel agency, is looking for the love of her life. She thinks she has finally found it with Olivier. However, Olivier reveals he has AIDS and disappears from her life after her profession of love and confession of infidelity.

The Red Thread

Seven years after their first infatuated encounter, Abril and Manuel meet again. Despite the fact that they are both married, it is soon apparent that their attraction has only grown.

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry

This comical love story follows the story of A.J. Fikry, whose life is not at all what he expected it to be. His wife has died, his bookstore is experiencing the worst sales in its history and now his prized possession, a rare edition of Poe poems, has been stolen. He’s given up on people and even the books in his store offer another reminder that the world is changing too rapidly. But when a mysterious package arrives at the store, it gives Fikry the chance to make his life over and see things anew.

Happy Journey

Niranjan, after years of shouldering family responsibilities, becomes distant from his family. However, he happens to meet his sister's spirit and the two set out on a trip to rekindle their bond.

Tape

Jon, a first-time filmmaker, finds himself in Lansing, Michigan to present his film at a local film festival. Vince, his high school friend who is now a volunteer fireman and small-time drug dealer, also visits the town to support Jon on his big day, or so it seems. After a raucous hello and much backslapping, it appears that there is an undercurrent of tension in the air.

Normal Life

Chris Anderson and his wife Pam live a fairly normal life until Chris loses his job on the police force and secretly turns to robbing banks to make his wife's dreams come true. Upon discovering his secret, she joins his deadly crime wave and together they terrorize an unsuspecting suburban town.

Love Stories From Fukuoka 17

Plot unavailable

Love of a Woman

Gabriella, a young twenty-five year old from Milan , is married to the lawyer Bernasconi, a middle-aged man, without scruples, who in the past had been the lover of Gabriella's mother. Gabriella falls in love with Franco, an airplane test pilot. Her husband, however, is not willing to grant her a divorce.

Nymphomaniac: Vol. II

The continuation of Joe's sexually dictated life delves into the darker aspects of her adult life and what led to her being in Seligman's care.

Letter to the King

In Letter to the King we meet a group of refugees, all with their own agendas, on an excursion to Oslo. A young man about to be deported visits his former employers to collect his off-the-books salary, a martial arts expert is looking for work, a young woman is haunted by the past and out for vengeance and an old man named Mirza is busy writing a letter to the king to get his final wish granted. An altogether urgent and nuanced portrait of a motley group of individuals, too often regarded as a homogeneous group.

Maestro

A towering and fearless love story chronicling the lifelong relationship between Leonard Bernstein and Felicia Montealegre Cohn Bernstein. A love letter to life and art, Maestro at its core is an emotionally epic portrayal of family and love.

Sabrina

Linus and David Larrabee are the two sons of a very wealthy family. Linus is all work – busily running the family corporate empire, he has no time for a wife and family. David is all play – technically he is employed by the family business, but never shows up for work, spends all his time entertaining, and has been married and divorced three times. Meanwhile, Sabrina Fairchild is the young, shy, and awkward daughter of the household chauffeur, who goes away to Paris for two years, and returns to capture David's attention, while falling in love with Linus.

Le Divorce

While visiting her sister in Paris, a young woman finds romance and learns her brother-in-law is a philanderer.

A Walk in the Clouds

World War II vet Paul Sutton falls for a pregnant and unwed woman who persuades him -- during their first encounter -- to pose as her husband so she can face her family.

Intacto

An enigmatic tale of four people whose lives are intertwined by destiny are subject to the laws of fate. They discover that luck is something they cannot afford to be without as they gamble with the highest stakes possible in a deadly game from which only one of them will emerge intact.

Young Ones

In a future where water is scarce, a farmer defends his land and hopes to rejuvenate his parched soil. However, his daughter's boyfriend schemes to steal the land for himself.

Lust, Caution

During World War II, a secret agent must seduce and assassinate an official who works for the Japanese puppet government in Shanghai.

Love Life

A married young academic falls under the sexual thrall of a much older man whose air of jaded ennui conceals a secret desire for vengeance.

Melody

Saul Sinclaire is a divorced musician that has experienced some success as a commercial composer. His life is interrupted when a 20-year-old package mysteriously shows up on his doorstep. The completely unexpected delivery is from his very first love, Melody Hall. With mixed feelings of anticipation and apprehension, he decides to try and reconnect. Almost immediately he experiences the rekindling of the relationship that had meant so much to him so many years before. However, simultaneously and almost equally unexpected, Saul is suddenly faced with some difficult career choices. This situation is almost identical in its implications as the first time he and Melody were together.

The Gold Rush

A gold prospector in Alaska struggles to survive the elements and win the heart of a dance hall girl.

Irreversible

A woman’s lover and her ex-boyfriend take justice into their own hands after she becomes the victim of a rapist. Because some acts can’t be undone. Because man is an animal. Because the desire for vengeance is a natural impulse. Because most crimes remain unpunished.

Looking: The Movie

Patrick returns to San Francisco for the first time in almost a year to celebrate a momentous event with his old friends. In the process, he must face the unresolved relationships he left behind and make difficult choices about what’s important to him.

The Island of Thirty Coffins

The story takes place in 1917. Véronique is a young woman of 35 years, nurse at the military hospital of Besançon. She suddenly learns of the murder of her husband, the mysterious Count Vorski, whom she has not seen for fourteen years. Her research will also lead her to the track of her father and son whom she believed to have died in a shipwreck, already a long time ago. From clue to clue, here we are in Brittany, on this island with a name so ill-fitting... Brutal deaths, enigmatic words written... by whom? A frightening prophecy, the superstitious terror of the island's inhabitants, and suddenly, Veronica d'Hergemont can no longer leave this island. She's stuck alone. Almost alone...

A Nos Amours

Fifteen-year-old Suzanne seeks refuge from a disintegrating family in a series of impulsive, promiscuous affairs. Her fulsome sexuality further ratchets up the suppressed passions of her narcissistic brother, insecure mother and brooding, authoritarian father.

The Architecture of Love

Raia, a famous writer struggling with writer's block, travels to New York to get inspired. There, she meets River and becomes entangled in a love story haunted by the past.

9 Songs

Matt, a young glaciologist, soars across the vast, silent, icebound immensities of the South Pole as he recalls his love affair with Lisa. They meet at a mobbed rock concert in a vast music hall - London's Brixton Academy. They are in bed at night's end. Together, over a period of several months, they pursue a mutual sexual passion whose inevitable stages unfold in counterpoint to nine live-concert songs.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Joel Barish, heartbroken that his girlfriend underwent a procedure to erase him from her memory, decides to do the same. However, as he watches his memories of her fade away, he realises that he still loves her, and may be too late to correct his mistake.

William & Catherine: A Royal Romance

The film is based on the story of William of Cambridge and Catherine Middleton. Shown in the same life of William of Cambridge, and Catherine Middleton met at the University of Saint Andrews, besides the romance that they maintained, the break of it and commitment.

Down to You

College coeds in New York City, Al, the son of a celebrity chef, and Imogen, a talented artist, become smitten the second they lay eyes on one another at a bar. However, the road to happiness is not a smooth one. Outside forces, including a predatory porn star who wants to lure Al into her bed, threaten to pull apart the young lovers before their romance has a chance to really flourish.

High Crimes

A female attorney learns that her husband is really a marine officer awol for fifteen years and accused of murdering fifteen civilians in El Salvador. Believing her husband when he tells her that he's being framed as part of a U.S. Military cover-up, the attorney defends him in a military court.

The Apartment

Max is a former playboy who has decided to settle down by marrying his current love, Muriel. However, when Max catches a glimpse of the great lost love of his life, he becomes obsessed with rekindling their relationship.

The French Lieutenant's Woman

In this story-within-a-story, Anna is an actress starring opposite Mike in a period piece about the forbidden love between their respective characters, Sarah and Charles. Both actors are involved in serious relationships, but the passionate nature of the script leads to an off-camera love affair as well. While attempting to maintain their composure and professionalism, Anna and Mike struggle to come to terms with their infidelity.

Kadhal Desam

Two boys from rival colleges, one rich and the other poor, become good friends after an incident. A new girl in college makes both their hearts melt but neither realises that they love the same girl.

Factory Girl

In the mid-1960s, wealthy debutant Edie Sedgwick meets artist Andy Warhol. She joins Warhol's famous Factory and becomes his muse. Although she seems to have it all, Edie cannot have the love she craves from Andy, and she has an affair with a charismatic musician, who pushes her to seek independence from the artist and the milieu.

Verses of Love

Fahri attracted many women, including Maria, Nurul, and Naora. They hide their feelings until Fahri's marriage with Aisha which broke their hearts.

Mean Creek

Teenagers living in small-town Oregon take a boat trip for a birthday celebration. When they get an idea to play a mean trick on the town bully, it suddenly goes too far. Soon they're forced to deal with the unexpected consequences of their actions.

Summertime Blues

The life of 15 year old Alex is turned upside down, when his parents are divorced and find new partners right away. After a fight at school, the mother takes him over to England, where Alex chaotic life continues.

Azzamine

Jasmine, who is tomboyish and lazy, is matched through an arranged marriage with a religious man who brings tranquility through his behavior and words named Azzam. Jasmine asks Azzam to step back and start avoiding her because she feels unworthy, but Azzam's gentleness makes her melt and linger in Jasmine's mind. In addition, she already has a boyfriend who has been in a relationship for four years named Deka. Jasmine must decide where her heart will anchor.

In the Land of Women

After a bad breakup with his girlfriend leaves him heartbroken, Carter Webb moves to Michigan to take care of his ailing grandmother. Once there, he gets mixed up in the lives of the mother and daughters who live across the street.

Feeling Minnesota

Sam Clayton's marriage to ex-stripper Freddie comes about when she's strong-armed into the match by Red, a club proprietor who once did her a favor. But Freddie falls in love with Jjaks, Sam's brother, and the pair tries to escape the situation together. It isn't long before both Sam and Red catch up with them, resulting in threats against the two of them -- although tension also starts to build between Sam and Red.

Miss Julie

Over the course of a midsummer night in Fermanagh in 1890, an unsettled daughter of the Anglo-Irish aristocracy encourages her father's valet to seduce her.

Thus Began Antoine's Down-Going

Antoine - a grieving loner - spends his days in a cafe on Place Clichy watching people. Every day, he sees a woman he calls Albertine get out of the subway and go to the movies. Today, he takes it upon himself to talk to her. Thus began Antoine's down-going.

No Postage Necessary

Sam always seems to make the wrong decision. A convicted computer hacker, he's single, jaded and barred from using the internet. Forced to crash on his brother's couch, he makes ends meet by working at the local Twistee Treat and stealing mail while disguised as a postal worker. Then, a single pink envelope changes everything. Handwritten by a heartsick Josie to her late husband, the tender missive awakens something in Sam.

Ice Princess

With the help of her coach, her mom, and the boy who drives the Zamboni, nothing can stop Casey Carlyle from realizing her dream to be a champion figure skater.

My Girl and I

Su-ho is a plain high school boy, and Su-eun is a bright and beautiful girl in the same school. For some unknown reason, Su-eun has a crush on the boy, and for equally mysterious reasons she rescues Su-ho in the sea though he doesn't know who actually saved him.