Alexander Pope: Rediscovering a Genius

Oct 10, 2021

0h 49m

★ 0.0

Overview

Docudrama that recounts the astonishing life story of a forgotten genius, English poet Alexander Pope, who lived from 1688 to 1744.

Genres

Documentary

Drama

Alexander Pope: Rediscovering a Genius Trailers

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Cast

Narrator

Emilia Fox

Alexander Pope

Simon Callow

Duchess of Marlborough

Harriet Walter

Interviewee

John Cleese

Dr Johnson

Jeff Rawle

Lord Byron

Shubham Saraf

Lady Arabella Fermor

Agatha Elwes

Interviewee

Felicity Rosslyn

Interviewee

Philip Hensher

Live performance, Bayerische Staatsoper, 2011. The Tales of Hoffmann (French: LES CONTES D'HOFFMANN) is an opéra fantastique by Jacques Offenbach that combines three short stories by E.T.A. Hoffmann into a haunting whole: a melancholy poet reflects on three women he loved and lost in the past: a mechanical performing doll, a Venetian courtesan, and the consumptive daughter of a celebrated composer. One of the questions this opera poses for any director is how to link the 'tales' of Hoffmann's three lost loves together and knit them satisfactorily into the Prologue and Epilogue. In this production, Richard Jones solves the puzzle by turning it into an autobiographical journey which ends with a grand meet-up of all the characters Hoffmann has encountered: for once, Hoffmann is not presented as a rollicking kind of drunken story-spinner, but rather a sad-eyed, sobered-up depressive, who reaches for the bottle only because his disastrous love life has gone wrong yet again.

4.1

Justine

Aug 6, 1969

In Alexandria, in 1938, Darley, a young British schoolmaster and poet, makes friends through Pursewarden, the British consular officer, with Justine, the beautiful and mysterious wife of a Coptic banker. He observes the affairs of her heart and incidentally discovers that she is involved in a plot against the British, meant to arm the Jewish underground in Palestine. The plot finally fails, Justine is sent to jail and Darley decides to return to England.

6.5

Winter Meeting

Apr 7, 1948

A repressed poetess and an embittered war hero help each other cope with their problems.

6.0

The Barretts of Wimpole Street

Sep 21, 1934

Remarkable poet Elizabeth Barrett is slowly recovering from a crippling illness with the help of her siblings, especially her youngest sister, Henrietta, but feels stifled by the domestic tyranny of her wealthy widowed father. When she meets fellow poet Robert Browning in a romantic first encounter, her heart belongs to him. However, her controlling father has no intention of allowing her out of his sight.

6.8

Cyrano de Bergerac

Nov 16, 1950

France, 1640. Cyrano, the charismatic swordsman-poet with the absurd nose, hopelessly loves the beauteous Roxane; she, in turn, confesses to Cyrano her love for the handsome but tongue-tied Christian. The chivalrous Cyrano sets up with Christian an innocent deception, with tragic results.

6.4

Limonov: The Ballad

Sep 5, 2024

A revolutionary militant, a thug, an underground writer, a butler to a millionaire in Manhattan. But also a switchblade-waving poet, a lover of beautiful women, a warmonger, a political agitator, and a novelist who wrote of his greatness. Eduard Limonov’s life story is a journey through Russia, America, and Europe during the second half of the 20th century.

6.3

Stéphane Mallarmé

Jan 1, 1968

Stéphane Mallarmé is one of the many educational documentaries that Éric Rohmer did for the television during the 1960’s. At the beginning of the film, Rohmer states that he has placed in Mallarmé’s mouth words taken from an interview with the writer by Jules Heuret published in 1891.

4.3

Before I Sleep

Oct 19, 2013

Eugene Devlin, a once famous, now reclusive poet, searches through his past, looking for redemption and peace.

6.6

Man of La Mancha

Dec 12, 1972

In the 16th century, poet, playwright and part-time actor Miguel de Cervantes has been arrested, together with his manservant, by the Spanish Inquisition. They're accused of presenting an entertainment offensive to the Inquisition. Inside the huge dungeon into which they have been cast, the other inmates gang up on Cervantes and his manservant, staging a mock trial, with the intention of stealing or burning his possessions. Cervantes wishes to desperately save a manuscript he carries with him and stages, with costumes, makeup, and the participation of the other prisoners, an unusual defense—the story of Don Quixote.

0.0

Riyadh Poem

Jan 13, 2024

A doctor is tasked by his general manager, who suffers from cancer and is being manipulated. Will the important thing be based on what he won, or is there something facing the patient?

7.2

Pyaasa

Feb 19, 1957

Vijay, a destitute poet, searches for true love while attempting to get his work published. With the assistance of two women in his life, his dream comes true - but at a cost that causes Vijay to rethink his worldview.

6.9

Stevie

Sep 15, 1978

For a poet with a gift for crafting words into barbs, Stevie Smith lives a relatively conventional life. Sheltered in a London suburb, she spends her days engaged in tedious housework, crafting verse and conversing with her aunt. But while her body may be committed to drudgery, Stevie's mind is constantly trying to break free, which causes her to rail against religion and middle-class values, and prevents her from finding happiness with a man interested in her.

5.5

The Romantic Englishwoman

Jun 11, 1975

A marriage crisis between a writer and his wife leads her to flee to Germany and eventually return with another man, through whom the writer is going to overcome his writer's block.

5.7

Poet and Muse

Oct 13, 1978

Semi-fictitious biopic of Finnish poet Eino Leino, made with a large budget to celebrate the 100th anniversary of his birth. The film concentrates on his relationships with first wife Freya Schoultz and later muse, poetess L. Onerva. His friends include equally central figures of the Finnish cultural scene in the early 1900s, such as painters Halonen and Gallén-Kallela, and composer Sibelius.

7.6

The Glass Menagerie

Dec 16, 1973

Amanda Wingfield dominates her children with her faded gentility and exaggerated tales of her Southern belle past. Her son plans escape; her daughter withdraws into a dream world. When a gentleman caller appears, things move to crisis point.

0.0

Pink Motherland

Feb 18, 2009

A documentary about Néstor Perlongher. His life, his poems, and his activism in Argentina's Frente de Liberación Homosexual (homosexual liberation front).

6.4

Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man

Nov 24, 2006

Poet, singer / songwriter and ladies man Leonard Cohen is interviewed in his home about his life and times. The interview is interspersed with archive photos and exuberant praise and live perfomances from an eclectic mix of musicians, including: Jarvis Cocker, Rufus & Martha Wainwright, Teddy Thompson, ANOHNI, The Handsome Family and U2's Bono and The Edge.

7.2

Dante's Divine Politics

Dec 27, 2021

Dante Alighieri was a poet, philosopher and politician in 1300 Florence. The visionary author of "Inferno", the first book of the "Divine Comedy", he was both a direct witness and a narrator of his times and his poem is a remarkable geopolitical chronicle of a tumultuous period of the Middle Ages from 1300 to 1320, a time when Kings, Popes, rulers and warlords played a deadly chess game for the control of Europe. In this high end docudrama, some of the world's finest scholars will help provide historical context to the unfolding of events, making them accessible to a wide audience, and giving us a privileged viewpoint over one of the most eventful and funding chapters of European history.