National Theatre Live: The Effect (2024)

Griffin and Phoenix

Griffin has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Instead of quietly facing his death, he decides to have fun in the time remaining. At a college class on death, he meets Phoenix, who has terminal leukemia.

Bar Salon

Tragicomic portrait of a bar's owners and patrons in a poor Montreal neighbourhood.

Children of Paradise

In a chaotic 19th-century Paris teeming with aristocrats, thieves, psychics, and courtesans, theater mime Baptiste is in love with the mysterious actress Garance. But Garance, in turn, is loved by three other men: pretentious actor Frederick, conniving thief Lacenaire, and Count Edouard of Montray.

Belle Époque

In 1931, a young soldier deserts from the army and falls into a country farm, where he is welcomed by the owner due to his political ideas. Manolo has four daughters, Fernando likes all of them and they like him, so he has to decide which one to love.

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...

The Little House

Following the death of the unmarried and childless Taki, Takeshi, a young relative of hers, discovers several pages of closely written lines in which the old lady has recorded her memories. This is how he learns the truth about her youth working as a housemaid and nanny for the Hirai family in a little house in Tokyo with a red gabled roof.

City Lights

A tramp falls in love with a beautiful blind flower girl. His on-and-off friendship with a wealthy man allows him to be the girl's benefactor and suitor.

Do the Right Thing

Salvatore "Sal" Fragione is the Italian owner of a pizzeria in Brooklyn. A neighborhood local, Buggin' Out, becomes upset when he sees that the pizzeria's Wall of Fame exhibits only Italian actors. Buggin' Out believes a pizzeria in a black neighborhood should showcase black actors, but Sal disagrees. The wall becomes a symbol of racism and hate to Buggin' Out and to other people in the neighborhood, and tensions rise.

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.

Heavenly Creatures

Precocious teenager Juliet moves to New Zealand with her family and soon befriends the quiet, brooding Pauline through their shared love of fantasy and literature. This friendship gradually develops into an intense and obsessive bond.

Notes on a Scandal

A veteran high school teacher befriends a younger art teacher, who is having an affair with one of her 15-year-old students. However, her intentions with this new "friend" also go well beyond platonic friendship.

Stranger Than Fiction

Harold Crick is a lonely IRS agent whose mundane existence is transformed when he hears a mysterious voice narrating his life.

Titanic

101-year-old Rose DeWitt Bukater tells the story of her life aboard the Titanic, 84 years later. A young Rose boards the ship with her mother and fiancé. Meanwhile, Jack Dawson and Fabrizio De Rossi win third-class tickets aboard the ship. Rose tells the whole story from Titanic's departure through to its death—on its first and last voyage—on April 15, 1912.

East of Eden

In the Salinas Valley in and around World War I, Cal Trask feels he must compete against overwhelming odds with his brother for the love of their father. Cal is frustrated at every turn, from his reaction to the war, how to get ahead in business and in life, and how to relate to his estranged mother.

Boys Don't Cry

A young transgender man explores his gender identity and searches for love in rural Nebraska.

Hello, Love, Goodbye

A bartender and a domestic helper of Filipino origin living in Hong Kong find themselves falling in love, but they each have different plans for their future.

After Midnight

The Political drama shows the denunciation and persecution of the 19-year-old Sanne in the Nazi state. After she falls in love with her cousin, Sanne is betrayed by her jealous aunt to the Gestapo.

The Jacket

A military veteran goes on a journey into the future, where he can foresee his death and is left with questions that could save his life and those he loves.

Casanova

With a reputation for seducing members of the opposite sex, regardless of their marital status, a notorious womanizer discovers a beauty who seems impervious to his charms. However, as he continues to pursue the indifferent lady, he finds himself falling in love.

North Country

A fictionalized account of the first major successful sexual harassment case in the United States — Jenson vs. Eveleth Mines, where a woman who endured a range of abuse while working as a miner filed and won the landmark 1984 lawsuit.

My Prostitute Love

Halil goes to a bar with his friends and meets Sabiha, a prostitute, and they fall in love. Two lovers want to escape their past and live together. However, Sabiha knows little about Halil's life, and she has to face some facts.

Come Early Morning

A thirty-something southern woman searches for love, despite the burdens she carries with her.

Side Effects

America! Built on a better pill. Karly Hert has spent the last ten years selling drugs. Legally, that is. Karly is a pharmaceutical sales representative. She sells pills to doctors. She makes lots of money. She has a company car. She has a nice fat expense account. But there's a growing pit in Karly's stomach. Something isn't right behind the scenes at big pharma. Based on the director's decade working directly for the industry.

Carlito's Way

A Puerto-Rican ex-con, just released from prison, pledges to stay away from drugs and violence despite the pressure around him, and lead a better life outside NYC.

That Obscure Object of Desire

After dumping a bucket of water on a beautiful young woman from the window of a train car, wealthy Frenchman Mathieu, regales his fellow passengers with the story of the dysfunctional relationship between himself and the young woman in question, a fiery 19-year-old flamenco dancer named Conchita. What follows is a tale of cruelty, depravity and lies -- the very building blocks of love.

Running Water

A lonely career machinist falls for a troubled young artist and they are drawn together while being guided through a mysterious dimension to reconcile with their pasts.

1 Imam 2 Makmum

Anika tries to win her husband Arman's love, but he still can't let go of his late wife, Leila. Can she compete with someone who's no longer alive?

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.

Home Again

Life for a single mom in Los Angeles takes an unexpected turn when she allows three young guys to move in with her.

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.

Reflections in a Golden Eye

Bizarre tale of sex, betrayal, and perversion at a military post.

Frankie and Johnny

When Johnny is released from prison following a forgery charge, he quickly lands a job as a short-order cook at a New York diner. Following a brief fling with waitress Cora, Frankie develops an attraction for Cora's friend and fellow waitress Frankie. While Frankie resists Johnny's charms initially, she eventually relents when her best friend, Tim, persuades her to give Johnny a chance.

Almost Love

Adam and Marklin’s 5-year relationship has gone from a passionate flame to a simmer, forcing them to reconcile with each other’s shortcomings while their friends endlessly search for love in New York City.

Let the Sunshine In

Isabelle, Parisian artist, divorced mother, is looking for love, true love, at last.

Last Tango in Paris

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

Vanilla Sky

David Aames has it all: wealth, good looks and gorgeous women on his arm. But just as he begins falling for the warmhearted Sofia, his face is horribly disfigured in a car accident. That's just the beginning of his troubles as the lines between illusion and reality, between life and death, are blurred.

Don Juan DeMarco

John Arnold DeMarco is a man who believes he is Don Juan, the greatest lover in the world. Clad in a cape and mask, DeMarco undergoes psychiatric treatment with Dr. Jack Mickler to cure him of his apparent delusion. But the psychiatric sessions have an unexpected effect on the psychiatric staff and, most profoundly, Dr Mickler, who rekindles the romance in his complacent marriage.

Pan's Labyrinth

Living with her tyrannical stepfather in a new home with her pregnant mother, 10-year-old Ofelia feels alone until she explores a decaying labyrinth guarded by a mysterious faun who claims to know her destiny. If she wishes to return to her real father, Ofelia must complete three terrifying tasks.

The Illusionist

With his eye on a lovely aristocrat, a gifted illusionist named Eisenheim uses his powers to win her away from her betrothed, a crown prince. But Eisenheim's scheme creates tumult within the monarchy and ignites the suspicion of a dogged inspector.

Abdelinho

In love with Brazil and Maria, a soap opera heroin harassed by a corrupt contractor, Abdelinho suffers parallel ordeal in Morocco by pressure of Amr Taleb, a dogmatic, moralistic priest, enforcing religious purity on the community

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.

Allegiance

Inspired by the true-life experience of its star George Takei, Allegiance follows one family's extraordinary journey in this untold American story following the events of Pearl Harbor. Their loyalty was questioned, their freedom taken away, but their spirit could never be broken.

The Manual of Love

Four intertwined stories on the joys and sorrows of love.

Manual of Love 2

Nicola, paralyzed after a car crash, falls in love for his physiotherapist Lucia. Franco and Manuela, a young couple unfit to have children, fly to Barcelona for a specialized treatment for fertility. Filippo and Fosco, two gay men, decide to marry. Ernesto, waiter in a chic restaurant, has a liaison with Cecilia, the new Spanish help.

The Scent of Green Papaya

In 1951, a young Vietnamese girl arrives at a Saigon household as their new servant.

Truly Madly Deeply

Nina is totally heartbroken at the death of her boyfriend Jamie, but is even more unprepared for his return as a ghost. At first it's almost as good as it used to be – hey, even the rats that infested her house have disappeared. But Jamie starts bringing ghostly friends home and behaving more and more oddly.

Starter for 10

In 1985, against the backdrop of Thatcherism, Brian Jackson enrolls in the University of Bristol, a scholarship boy from seaside Essex with a love of knowledge for its own sake and a childhood spent watching University Challenge, a college quiz show. At Bristol he tries out for the Challenge team and falls under the spell of Alice, a lovely blond with an extensive sexual past.

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time

When 17-year-old Makoto Konno gains the ability to, quite literally, "leap" backwards through time, she immediately sets about improving her grades and preventing personal mishaps. However, she soon realises that changing the past isn't as simple as it seems, and eventually, will have to rely on her new powers to shape the future of herself and her friends.

Aaja Nachle

Dia is a divorced mom living in New York and must go back to India after she receives news that her guru is on his death bed. When she arrives she finds he is gone and has left her the responsibility of saving and reviving the Ajanta Theater where she used to dance. The problem is that the political officers want it torn down and turned into a shopping mall. The storyline follows Dia and her challenge to stand up for what she believes in and fight the cause to the end, while trying to win back the love and support of the people of the town whom she walked out on ten years prior.

Persuasion

Royal Navy Captain Wentworth was haughtily turned down eight years ago as suitor of pompous baronet Sir Walter Elliot's daughter Anne, despite true love. Now he visits their former seaside country estate, rented by his brother-in-law, Admiral Croft, so the financially stressed baronet can afford a fashionable, cheaper residence in trendy Bath. The former lovers meet again on the estate, where they feel vibes again, but neither dares admit them until it seems too late.

Closing the Ring

During the 1940s, a group of young men go off to war, leaving behind Ethel Ann, who is in love with one of them, Teddy. In modern-day Belfast, a man named Jimmy endeavors to return a ring found in the wreckage of a crashed plane. He travels to Michigan, where the grown Ethel Ann, who married another man after Teddy was killed in battle, now lives. Ethel Ann must decide whether to go with Jimmy to meet the soldier who last saw Teddy alive.

Hoya

"Eighteen, Nineteen" depicts a youth scandal involving fraternal twins Ho-Ya and Seo-Ya. They experience their last winter before they become adults ...

Elisa

When Elisa confronts Sean about finally building towards the life they both dreamed of, it occurs to Sean that there's no time like the present to make a change. The question is, did he wait too long?

Love Yourself First

A short film about self-love and self-discovery.

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.

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.

The Eunuch

A nobleman sends his daughter to the king as a concubine in order to gain personal power and favors from the monarch. Her lover follows her into the palace disguised as a eunuch. They continue to meet in secret until discovered and sentenced to death.

Iris

True story of the lifelong romance between novelist Iris Murdoch and her husband John Bayley, from their student days through her battle with Alzheimer's disease.

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.