Valerie Crawford Pfannhauser

When it comes to a filmmaker as relentlessly prolific as Woody Allen – over 45 years – the critique of his work and comparison of his films to one another is almost an art form in its own right. And most definitely a conversation piece. So when Allen’s latest film Midnight is Paris is rated by critics as one his best works in a decade, then this is certainly upping expectations.

The French word potiche is an ornamental object of little value, something of no real use; but in everyday language it is a derogatory term for a woman, roughly equivalent to ‘trophy wife’, without her own identity. Or sometimes for a younger wife taken as a symbol of an older man’s power or virility.But more, it is used for a thing once beloved, now set on a shelf and largely ignored.

Following his lauded Oscar-winning debut The Lives of Others and getting every offer imaginable from Hollywood, German writer-director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck chose as his follow-up a very different type of film.

Séraphine is Martin Provost’s poignant and captivating biopic that charts periods in the life of the largely forgotten French artist Séraphine Louis, also known as Séraphine de Senlis, who died in 1942. The film was the winner of seven Cesars from the French Academy in 2009, including the award for the best film and best actress.

Whatever else he is, filmmaker Quentin Tarantino is certifiably eccentric. So his latest, Inglourious Basterds, is many things: a war movie, but also a fantasy, stylized but also shocking, bold, brash, exhilarating, and humorous.

The Darjeeling Limited is the latest off-beat, eccentric and observant human comedy from director/writer Wes Anderson. Set in India, it features all the well-honed trademarks of the Anderson oeuvre including casting Owen Wilson, Bill Murray and other regulars, in-frame symmetry, elegant compositions, bright colour schemes, slow motion effects and stylised dialogue.

In just a few months since it's May release, Revanche, by Austrian filmmaker Goetz Spielmann, has already won wide critical acclaim. Winner of eight film awards in Europe and the US, this absorbing drama of guilt and revenge is Spielmann's strongest work to date, where exploitation, and accidental murder, retribution and redemption are woven together in a poignant narrative, while sustaining the thought-provoking tone of European art-house cinema.