This film is currently unavailable
Stella
Alun Owen and director Alan Clarke's extraordinary power-play charts the explosive sexual dynamic between the titular heroine and her obsessive lover.
Director: Alan Clarke
Overview
This extraordinary power-play between the titular heroine and her obsessive lover is a showcase for the talents of writer Alun Owen and director Alan Clarke. Like their earlier collaboration, Shelter, it reveals Owen’s penchant for charting the dynamics of male-female relationships and the emotional weaponry each gender enlists when engaging in psychological warfare.
With its crackling, waspish dialogue and barbed sexual tension, Stella would be a fine TV if filmed entirely straight, but Alan Clarke’s shrewd direction elevates it further. Revelling in the confines of the 4:3 ratio, Clarke films his lovers in tight, claustrophobic closeups, revealing unusual angles and intimate juxtapositions. Critics at the time felt Clarke’s camerawork was too showy for the material, but seen today in the context of Clarke’s career it’s a fascinating forerunner of his later exercises in style for the BBC. Digitisation supported by the Mohamed S. Farsi Foundation.
Related
The Last Chapter The Last Chapter
Drama 1974 29 mins Director: David Tringham
Dark tale in which a best-selling author (Denholm Elliot) is unbalanced by an assured young fan (Susan Penhaligon) who questions the move into easy commercialism displayed in his recent work.
Rita, Sue and Bob Too Rita, Sue and Bob Too
Drama 1987 93 mins Director: Alan Clarke
A married man seduces two teenage babysitters in Alan Clarke’s mix of bawdy comedy and social comment, based on Andrea Dunbar’s Bradford plays.
Made in Britain Made in Britain
Drama 1982 76 mins Director: Alan Clarke
Tim Roth burst onto British screens with his coruscating performance as a teenage skinhead in this TV play from Alan Clarke and David Leland.
Out of Darkness Out of Darkness
Horror 2024 87 mins Director: Andrew Cumming
Bringing a whole new meaning to the term ‘period film’, Andrew Cumming’s Palaeolithic horror movie is a true original.
The Peasants The Peasants
Drama 2023 115 mins Director: Hugh Welchman and Dorota Kobiela
Using an advanced oil painting animation technique, The Peasants is a visually thrilling rendering of Władysław Reymont’s Nobel Prize-winning tale.
The Iron Claw The Iron Claw
Biopic 2023 132 mins Director: Sean Durkin
Compelling sports drama about the real-life Von Erich brothers and their tragic journey to the top of professional 1980s wrestling.
Samsara Samsara
Drama 2023 114 mins Director: Lois Patiño
Berlin Film Festival award winner Lois Patiño’s assured third feature transports us to magical places in Laos and Zanzibar, where the visible and the invisible merge.
Gassed Up Gassed Up
Drama 2023 102 mins Director: George Amponsah
A group of London teenage boys turn to motorbike crime for survival in George Amponsah’s high-octane follow-up to The Hard Stop.
Occupied City Occupied City
Documentary 2023 251 mins Director: Steve McQueen
Steve McQueen’s cinematic commemoration of the Holocaust offers a multidimensional experience full of gravity and sublimity.