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for edward norton, who directs and stars. and lucy in the sky — natalie portman gets lost in space whilst on earth. and that is a very interesting and a mixed bag of a week in terms of themes. it is, yeah. talk through your first choice. so let's start with ordinary love, which is written by owen mccafferty, a belfast playwright, and it starts leslie manville and liam neeson as a couple who have, in their past, a tragedy, a loss, but they are living with it and dealing with it and we meet them at the beginning of the movie. they're doing a walk that she's kind of insisted they do because they're reaching that age when they're starting to get aches and pains and they need to stay healthy. she then feels a lump in her breast and he says "i'm sure it's absolutely nothing" and she says "well, i don't know". he says "ok, go and see the doctor and whatever it is, we'll go through it together". and then, of course, what happens is they discover that it is something

and they then have to go through medical intervention. and despite the fact he has said, you know, "i will be with you through all of it," necessarily, their paths start to diverge. but the brilliance of the movie is that it manages to intertwine something which is very, very big in their lives happening with the small, tiny everyday mundane details of being in hospital. here's a clip. what rubbish bin goes out tonight? brown or grey? i'm not sure. what went out last week? if i knew what went out last week, i'd know what one goes out tonight. i think it's grey. just look what the neighbours put out. i know it's summer, right, but what's the point of having a bin for garden waste here in the winter when there isn't any garden waste? dunno. well, you should know. that could be vital information at some point. vital. really? yes, joan. vital. why don't you go for a walk? no. no, i'll stay and watch tv. i haven't numbed my brain enough today. 0h.

and that, to me, says that it's an intimate portrait of a marriage about — as much as anything. it really is. not just about breast cancer, it's... no, absolutely. it is absolutely about their relationship and it is about them facing something in which they say they will be absolutely together all the way through it but necessarily, they are separated during the process. but also, its one of those films in which people have conversations in which they appear to be talking about nothing, but they are actually talking about everything whilst talking about nothing. so the couple have this lovely relationship in which they kind of bicker with each other in an affectionate way — it's kind of a way of saying i love you without saying i love you. it's sort of complaining about, you know, putting the bins out and... and, i mean, ithought this was beautifully done. it's directed by glenn leyburn and lisa barros d'sa, who made that fantastic movie good vibrations about the belfast punk scene and terri hooley. and i think this is leslie manville‘s best performance. i really hope that she gets

recognised at the baftas. i love her. i could watch in anything and everything, and ever since her mike leigh days, and you can see this is just... and i loved her in phantom thread as well, but the thing with this is what's really brilliant about it is firstly, it has the smack of authenticity. you know, owen mccafferty is writing to some extent from experience. there is one wonderful conversation after they've been for a meeting with the doctors and the doctors say "well, look. on a scale of one to five — one being we're not worried and five being we are, this is a three." and they have a conversation about whether three is closer to five than one. and it's exactly the kind of conversation — the absurdist, nonsensical conversation that you would have. i mean, i really believed in their relationship all the way through. i completely believed in the characters. i thought the film was done with fantastic sensitivity and it's funny. i mean i've seen it three times and the third time i saw

it was in belfast, where the audience laughed a lot because there were a lot ofjokes in it. it's a film that is full of life and full of love and i — honestly, ijust loved it. and i can't wait. even having been through it, i can't wait to see it on every level and every day that you described. yeah, it's great. yeah. as we say, a mixed week in terms of themes, talk us through... so, motherless brooklyn. rather different. so this is project which edward norton has been trying to get off the ground for ages and ages ages, based on a novel byjonathan lethem. the setting is now moved to 19505. essentially, edward norton plays a private investigator with tourette‘s syndrome who spends the movie attempting to find out what happened to his mentor who was killed at the beginning of the movie. and as the plot unravels, we discover that it's to do with a huge sort of — it's to do with property and it's to do with conspiracy and it's to do with government and a bunch of other things, so it kind of throws but chinatown. but at the centre of it, the interactions between the characters, a stellar cast — alec baldwin, willem dafoe, bruce willis, gugu mbatha—raw, who is so terrific — and the film looks wonderful. i think it's really brilliantly designed by beth mickle. it has a very, very fine and evocative score.

as for norton, he does completely commit to the role of the private investigator with tourette‘s, which makes him sort of constantly interrupt himself with what appears to be an inner voice. it's a strange film, it's quite long — its 2.5 hours long — and i think that it's something that you have to give yourself over to. but if you're willing to let it work its spell — and it's quite a slow—paced film — i actually think it's quite rich and you can get lost in that world quite easily. ifound it quite immersive, quite an immersive experience. and a terrific supporting performance by alec baldwin. all righty. um, i really want to lucy in the sky to be good because i love films about space and exploration and... ok, look, i think i'm a bit of a lone voice in this, because i liked it. ok, so basically... you are a lone voice, from everything i've read! yeah, so natalie portman is an astronaut who looks down at the earth from space and then finds it impossible to readjust to life back on the ground. here's a clip. i'm just a little bit... i don't know. you know? say no more. we've all been there.

yeah. been where? what did i say? i don't know, but you said it. that's... just feel a little off. no, not off. it's more... you know how it is. you go up there, you see... everything. the whole universe. and everything here looks... so small. we are so small. and then you splash down and you go to, what? applebee's? you know, monday night football? clip your toenails? all you can think about is... when can i go back? and in a way, the whole film is kind of encapsulated in that exchange, that all you want to do is wonder how, you know, when you can get back. and as a result of it, she cannot adjust to life back down here. her marriage starts to fall apart, she becomes, you know, unhinged. she is so desperate to get back on another mission, she starts to seek outlets in — she starts to break rules,

which she has never done up until this point. now, there is, of course, a true life case in the background of all of this but i think it's important that the film stands or falls on its own terms. and what i liked about it — and i think you saw it in that shot — was natalie portman does have one of those faces which can, you know, telegraph a huge amount of information. and when she is saying that thing about "i've looked down on the earth from above and now i can't" — i absolutely believe that that's the case. plus, for me, that is the interest of movies about space, is what it does to your inner self, not your outer self. that idea of escaping, you know, the earth and looking down, what kind of perspective that would give you. and that runs through a movie like the ninth configuration, which i love, or a movie recently, this year, the swedish film aniara. they're all basically about the same thing, which is once you've been up there,

how do you deal with life back down here? and the answer is i have no idea, and i thought the film did a pretty convincing job of letting me know how her character couldn't deal with life back down on earth. also, it was a very, very evocative score byjeff russo, and it looked — and originally, the part was earmarked for reese witherspoon, which kind of reminded me of reese witherspoon‘s role in that film wild. oh, i loved wild! yeah, so did i. yes, loved it! i think that you might like this more than some other critics have done because, as you mentioned, it hasn't been warmly critically received. i love it when you go out on a limb! best out is a re—release. oh, my gosh, this is going to look gorgeous. yeah, so umbrellas of cherbourg, and this is part of the bfi‘s musical season. so the bfu have been doing this musical season celebrating musicals. tommy was out in cinemas recently, we talked about that. yes, yes, yes! so this is the jacques demy from 1964, i think it is, and i've only ever seen it on the small screen. i've only ever seen on video, for heaven's sake! on video! before dvd, on video! so this is a real treat, the chance to be able to see umbrellas of cherbourg up on the big screen. of course, it was in the news when la la land was back in cinemas

because of course damien chazelle talked about how it had been an influence on la la land. yes, yes. but lovely to be able to see it in the cinema. yes, glorious. and dvd this week? i liked blinded by the light. yeah, so did i! i like it. really warm—hearted core. yeah! and does not — i mean, there are some scenes we actually gasped out loud at the racism. i thought it was very... imean, it's... extraordinary. inspired by... ..terrifying. based on a real—life memoir by sardraz manzoor, who also worked on the screenplay, directed by gurinder chadha, and it's the story about somebody growing up in luton and being in love with the songs of bruce springsteen and encountering kind of, you know, 19805 racism, but finding an escape through the songs of bruce springsteen, whose songs are, you know, are all about getting in cars and driving to reservoirs! and what i love about it is — i mean, i'm nota huge bruce springsteen fan, but i thought it brought those songs to life in a way that made sense to me. and i do think you are absolutely right — that portrayal of that racism that the central character encounters. but it's funny and warm and there — and i confess, i cried more than once in it. i thought it really worked as a sort of — as an emotional piece.

i thought it was really terrific. yeah, well, i laughed and cried. and then every time there was a scene of appalling racism, i was thinking "but this is the 19805 and this was still going on!" i know, i know. and that side of it blew me away. and in that way, it was quite clever, i thought. it might look a bit frothy on the outside but actually, it was saying some very serious things. and is directed by gurinder chadha, who has a track record of, you know, dealing with serious subjects but in a way which is kinda very, very accessible. and i also think that sarfraz manzoor‘s work on it is really important because it is his story. yes. and he has turned the story into something which is kind of accessible for a mainstream audience. and i imagine you weren't a huge springsteen — i never had you down a5 a springsteen fan. not particularly, but i sort of not fussed either way, which is probably not allowed when it comes to springsteen, is it? but i quite liked it! i liked him in the end! did you come out of the movie — i came out of the singing, you know, born to run.

hello again. it is a windy start to the new week. the strongest winds focused by a storm alia —— storm aliyah on the south of england and south—west of wales. we have already had gu5t5 of 70 miles an hour. some big waves as well. it turned dry here by the end of the night. pretty windy elsewhere, mind you, but drawing down some slightly cold air as the wind turns more northerly. a windy day on monday. the strongest of the winds probably transferring to these north sea coast where we will see quite a few showers in the morning, and showers out west in the rsc. generally the showers will fade away, rsc. generally the showers will fade any rsc. generally the showers will fade away, many places will be driving sunshine by the afternoon. not as windy by then, but it will probably feel colder than did on sunday. chilly evening for eastern parts of the uk. then it gets wet and windy later on in the night, in time for tuesday. bands of rain, especially heavy rain, coming into western areas later in the day. here there will be squally winds around as well. another windy day but a mild

day. temperatures in double figures.

i'm rico hizon in singapore, the headlines: police in india arrest the owner of a building in delhi which caught fire killing at least 43 people. the fbi says it's treating friday's deadly attack on a us navy base in florida as a presumed terrorist attack. i'm samantha simmonds in london. also in the programme: russian athletes face sweeping sanctions for another doping—linked scandal. we have a special report from moscow. and we visit ethiopia for a lesson in what can be done to restore environments damaged by human activity.