Search: Starring Julie Christie

Mesmerising, heart-wrenching, and a remarkably intimate vision.

The fashions may have come and gone since John Schlesinger commited Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall's story of a young man torn between his family and the future to film but Billy Liar is still suprisingly light on his feet 50 years down the line.

It is precisely Diana’s lack of intellectual sophistication that makes her interesting.

All of this visual and intellectual discourse is tied together with two excellent central performances.

Every image drives the story on, or highlights the characters’ tragedy.

For me, and I suspect an entire generation, this is the definitive, almost faultless, take on one of English literature’s most powerful and evocative works.

It is difficult to find anything bad to say about a film that treats an interesting subject with such respect and ingenuity.

Both Losey and Pinter are less interested in the romance itself than in the way its illicit nature exposes the class divide.

By this point in his career, Ken Branagh had found his voice and a set of skills to match his confidence.

The two time periods are balanced with care although the earlier one with its opulence and lush cinematography from Walter Lassally remains the most beguiling.

Has an interesting script by Murray Watts, a wonderful sense of place and an imaginative use of flashbacks, where a painterly technique emulates memory.

By halfway through you're beginning to wish the wolf would just eat the entire village.

Unashamedly low budget, it focuses on good acting in claustrophobically tight sets.

Ultimately, there is no depth to the drama and precious little soul.