Léon Morin, Priest12A

Directed by Jean-Pierre Melville | France | 1961 | 1h 55m | French w/ English subtitles | Starring Jean-Paul Belmondo, Emmanuelle Riva, Irène Tunc

In Nazi-occupied France, a devoted priest finds himself drawn to a young, sexually frustrated widow whose relationship with God has entirely diminished. Jean-Paul Belmondo delivers an astutely sensual performance as the hot-under-the-collar man of the cloth in Jean-Pierre Melville’s triumph of atmosphere and innuendo.

Reviews

‘Miraculous cinema, even for heretics.’
Geoff Andrew, Time Out

‘A poetic, spiritual film exploring with elegance and simplicity the great human dilemmas in the context of one of 20th Century’s France’s greatest challenges — the Occupation.’
Film4

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We showed Léon Morin, Priest between October 17, 2021 and October 20, 2021.

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What else is on?

Today (Tuesday 11th March)

17:30

Memoir of a Snail 15
Deaf/HOH Subtitles
1h 35m
A lonely misfit with a passion for collecting ornamental snails forms an unlikely friendship with an eccentric elderly woman. Winner of Best Film at last year’s London Film Festival and nominated for Best Animated Feature at the Oscars.

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19:45

Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Comm 15
3h 22m | French w/ English subtitles
The days of a widowed mother follow an unchanging routine, until a small disruption triggers a slow, inevitable unraveling. A modernist masterpiece recently voted the Greatest Film of All Time by critics in the 2022 BFI Sight & Sound decennial poll.

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Tomorrow (Wednesday 12th March)

14:30

The Seed of the Sacred Fig 15
2h 47m | Persian w/ English subtitles
As political unrest engulfs Tehran, a newly appointed investigating judge grows increasingly paranoid of his own family. Filmed entirely in secret, Mohammad Rasoulof’s has been nominated for Best International Feature at the Oscars.

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18:00

Misericordia Cert-TBC18+
1h 42m | French w/ English subtitles
The Cultural Programme at Oxford University presents a special preview screening of Alain Guiraudie's award-winning French comedy-thriller Misericordia. Followed by an exclusive In Conversation discussion and Q&A with the director.

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21:00

No Other Land 15
1h 32m | Arabic & Hebrew w/ English subtitles
Award-winning documentary created by a collective of four young Palestinian-Israeli activists, filmed over five years, examining the displacement and destruction faced by a young Palestinian’s community in the southern West Bank.

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Plan your visit

Our beautiful art deco inspired auditorium can be found just off East Oxford's Cowley Road. We are open 7 days a week. We open the cinema and box office 30 minutes before the scheduled start time of each film, and the Box Office then closes 10 minutes after the film starts. We don’t show adverts, just a couple of trailers, so don't be late as the film itself starts very close to the advertised time!