‘Mothering Sunday: A Romance’, by Graham Swift
Set during a single day in the 1920s, this engrossing novel explores the way each generation mythologises the past. Review by Leo Robson
Doppelgängers in film and fiction
Film-makers have long been fascinated by doppelgängers – but they might do better to leave it to the novelists
Thelma Schoonmaker: the queen of the cutting room
Thelma Schoonmaker has edited every film by Martin Scorsese since 1980. Now the duo are working to preserve the films of her late husband and Scorsese’s hero, the director Michael Powell
On show at the Oscars
‘It is not the first time an actor capable of subtlety has been celebrated for his most showy role’
Overtaken by the future
It rarely takes long for the newfangled to become the new normal
Solemn Bond’s reborn identity
This week’s new film releases reviewed: ‘Skyfall’, ‘Elena’, ‘Sister’, ‘Room 237’ and ‘Halloween’
Eyes on the prize
With new films by Michael Winterbottom, Martin McDonagh and Deepa Mehta, the London Film Festival offers reasons to be fearful and cheerful
Løve story with a touch of Rohmer
This week’s films reviewed: ‘Goodbye First Love’, ‘Le Quai des Brumes’, ‘Angel and Tony’, ‘Monsieur Lazhar’, ‘Safe’ and ‘American Reunion’
Stillman after all these years
As Whit Stillman Month begins in New York City, the film director talks about his delightfully fresh new project
The joys of being up close and personal
Public events like literary festivals offer a sense of intimacy and human connection that cannot be replicated on digital platforms
Nostalgia really is what it used to be
‘Mad Men’ allows us both to patronise the past and to long for its simplicities
In thrall to the power of personalities
When we watch TV programmes, we do so as part of a crowd that uniformly defers to a person of perceived authority
Imperial measurements
Jeremy Paxman approaches imperialism from a sensible, modern perspective, using British traits to denounce other British traits
Scientists, vampires and other heliophobes
It would be wonderful if history programmes concentrated on everyday phenomena
Marriages put to work
Achieving the right balance between work and life is hard in every television marriage
Beneath the skins of the fathers
Recent TV programmes about men and childcare are not showing the full picture
East End promise, safely delivered
‘Call the Midwife’ wants to portray the London area’s past as truly in the past and ripe for heart-warming reminiscence
The world as seen from England
However seductive we may find France or Spain or Italy, they must finally be deemed baffling
Typically English, basically American
John McKay’s film ‘We’ll Take Manhattan’ tells the story of English photographer David Bailey’s struggle to be accepted
Something rotten in France – and Denmark
Jonathan Meades’s show sought to expose ‘les trente glorieuses’ as a period of amnesia and hypocrisy
Desperate to be more than housewives
Womankind hasn’t received especially enlightened or flattering treatment on screen
Value in Victorians and Morse mythology
Though we complain about it, sequels, prequels, remakes and spin-offs will continue to persist in popularity
