Je m'appelle Agneta

 

Je m’appelle Agneta 2026

• Director: Johanna Runevad
• Cast: Eva Melander, Claes Månsson, Björn Kjellman·       
• Why? Recommended by fellow film nerd MP
• Seen: 9 May 2026      

       Agneta (Melander), 49, loves France though she has never been there. She has worked for twenty years for the Swedish Traffic Administration when suddenly she loses her job. She applies for work as au pair for a Swedish boy who lives in Provence, and gets it. She leaves her doltish husband (Kjellman) and off she goes. Only the boy is an old homosexual man (Månsson) who doesn’t want an au pair. Of course they become best friends.

       Cosy feel-good but altogether too hammy and clichéd. 

2 ½ * of 5

 

Wuthering Heights 2026

 

Wuthering Heights 2026

• Director: Emerald Finnell
• Cast: Margot Robbie, Jacob Elordi, Hong Chau, Shazad Latif, Alison Oliver, Martin Clunes, Charlotte Mellington, Owen Cooper·       
• Why? The novel
• Seen: 8 May 2026

       How many film versions have I seen? How many times have I read the novel? Who can count?

       Margot Robbie as Cathy? Interesting.

       The reviews are almost unanimously harshly negative and I can agree that there are problems. First of all, everyone except Robbie and Elodi as Heathcliff, and he’s too pretty, are miscast. Particularly Latif as Edgar and Clunes as the father.

       Great freedom has been taken with the story, especially the erotic additions, which, to be honest, lurk throughout the entire novel, albeit far from implicitly.

       The novel’s great and tragic passion is there, though, and the visuals are spectacular.

       Flawed, yes, but quite brilliant.  

4* of 5

 

 

West Side Story 1961

 

West Side Story 1961

• Director: Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise
• Cast: Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Rita Moreno, George Chakiris, Russ Tamblyn·        
• Why? It’s a musical
• Seen: Several times before. Now 1 May 2026                     

       It’s the dancing. And the songs, the ones that aren’t love songs, which are too sweet for me. But ‘America’, ‘Officer Krupke’, ‘Cool’, ‘A Boy Like That’.

       And the Shakespeare, of course.

       Sadly the film is badly flawed. Beymer is completely wrong and lifeless as Tony, and though I love Wood dearly, she’s too adorable here, and not convincing. Nor is their love affair. So 

5* of 5 for the good stuff and 1* for the bad.

 

 

The Outrun

 

The Outrun 2024

• Director: Nora Fingscheidt
• Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Paapa Essiedu, Saskia Reeves, Stephen Dillane·        
• Why? Scotland
• Seen: 30 April 2026 

       Troubled by alcoholism and unemployed despite a Master’s in biology, Rona (Ronan) leaves London and her boyfriend Daynin (Essiedu), who has given up on her, and returns to her childhood home in Orkney. Her mother (Reeves) is a religious fanatic, her father (Dillane) is bi-polar.

       She fights the desperate urge to drink, and the urge to return to London.

       It’s as much a nature documentary on the magnificent Orkney Islands as a gripping portrait of a woman struggling with addiction. Ronan is, as always, outstanding.

       Do you know what a corncrake is? 

4* of 5  

 

 

 

The King and I

 

The King and I 1956

• Director: Walter Lang
• Cast: Yul Brynner, Deborah Kerr, Rita Moreno, Martin Benson, Terry Saunders, Carlos Rivas
• Why? It’s a musical.
• Seen: Once or twice before. Now 28 April      

       Yul Brynner is such a sweetie. Probably not completely realistic in this role though it’s based on a true story. The chemistry between Brynner and Kerr is entertaining. The visuals are lavish, the songs appealing.

       Hammy at times but I can’t help but love it a bit.      

4* of 5.

The Little Shop of Horrors

 

The Little Shop of Horrors 1960

• Director: Roger Corman
• Cast: Jonathan Haze, Jackie Joseph, Jack Nicholson·       
• Why? A classic
• Seen: 27 April      

       This is just silly. If you haven’t seen it or don’t know the story, look it up on IMDb. I can’t be bothered.

       For the very young and dorky Jack Nicholson     

1* of 5.