FRANCES BARBER

McKELLEN: PLAYING THE PART (2018)
Starring Ian McKellen, Scott Chambers, Luke Evans, Milo Parker, Adam Brown and Frances Barber. Directed by Joe Stephenson.

This fully authorised feature-length documentary celebrates the life and work of Sir Ian McKellen. Excerpts from a 14 hour interview serves as the basis for the film, covering everything from his upbringing to becoming a theatre star; to coming out and being a leader in the gay rights community; to his film stardom from Magneto to Gandalf; and personal thoughts on everything on acting to old age and death. Private photo albums and a wealth of never-before-seen archive material, including diaries written when he was 12 and unseen behind the scenes footage of theatre shows and films make this an intimate and intriguing journey.

THE BOOKSHOP (2018)
Starring Patricia Clarkson, Emily Mortimer, Bill Nighy, Honor Kneafsey, Hunter Tremayne, James Lance, Frances Barber, Reg Wilson, Michael Fitzgerald and Nigel O'Neill. Directed by Isabel Coixet.

Set in 1959, Florence Green, a free spirited widow, puts grief behind her and risks everything to open up a bookshop – the first such shop in the sleepy seaside town of Hardborough, England. Fighting damp, cold and considerable local apathy she struggles to establish herself but soon her fortunes change for the better. By exposing the narrow minded local townsfolk to the best literature of the day including Nabokov’s scandalising 'Lolita' and Ray Bradbury’s 'Fahrenheit 451', she opens their eyes thereby causing a cultural awakening in a town which has not changed for centuries.

Her activities bring her a kindred spirit and ally in the figure of Mr Brundish who is himself sick of the town’s stale atmosphere. But this mini social revolution soon brings her fierce enemies: she invites the hostility of the town’s less prosperous shopkeepers and also crosses Mrs Gamart, Hardborough’s vengeful, embittered alpha female who is herself a wannabe doyenne of the local arts scene. When Florence refuses to bend to Gamart’s will, they begin a struggle not just for the bookshop but for the very heart and soul of the town.

REVIEWS The Bookshop - Faded and musty

FILM STARS DON'T DIE IN LIVERPOOL (2018)
Starring Annette Bening, Jamie Bell, Julie Walters, Vanessa Redgrave, Stephen Graham, James Bloor, Frances Barber, Leanne Best, Kenneth Cranham and Tom Brittney. Directed by Paul McGuigan.

Based on Peter Turner's memoir, the film follows the playful but passionate relationship between Turner and the eccentric Academy Award-winning actress Gloria Grahame in 1978 Liverpool. What starts as a vibrant affair between a legendary femme fatale and her young lover quickly grows into a deeper relationship, with Turner being the person Gloria turns to for comfort. Their passion and lust for life is tested to the limits by events beyond their control.

REVIEWS Film Stars Don't Die In Liverpool - A Hollywood romance