with confronting guilt. it's also a pretty good drama in terms of — it's a courtroom drama. now, i love a courtroom drama, i do understand that courtroom dramas are full of things that never happen in real courtrooms, like people producing witnesses out of nowhere that nobody�*s heard of, people presenting papers — ijust happen to have in my bag... i quite like a courtroom drama too, you see, so... but... yeah, i'm a suckerfor it. i keep expecting somebody to slam the table and say, "you can't handle the truth!" if you accept that the drama itself is fairly contrived and it does, you know, have all those conventions, then i think it's very entertaining. but more importantly, it is about something very serious. it is about that thing of looking back into the past, looking back into a country's guilty past and your own family's guilty past and asking questions about whether people are the people that they seem to be. so it's doing quite a clever thing which is it's a very entertaining pot—boiler on one hand but also, its about something far more substantial. as i said, i haven't read the book,

but i very much enjoyed the film. it's called the collini case, it's in cinemas now. ok, now, respect. i really want this to be good. yes. because aretha franklin — what a figure, what a life story. an extraordinary life story. and so the good news is, she's played byjennifer hudson, who is fantastic in the lead role — i mean, i think everybody expected this. aretha franklin herself effectively appointed jennifer hudson. she had, you know — she was very controlling on the project right up until her death in 2018, and she said tojennifer hudson, "you're the right person to do this" so that's great. i mean, she can sing, she can act, she has charisma, she has presence and it's a great performance. i think the problem is that the film itself isn't quite as exceptional as either its central performance or, indeed, as aretha franklin. it's a very sort of tumultuous life story and the film wants to play things fairly safe. so there's domestic abuse, there is alcoholism, there is — there's a lot of stuff that is quite dark

and the film acknowledges it. what it doesn't really know, then, is what to do with it. the musical set pieces are fantastic — i mean, really fantastic — and it goes from the 1950s in detroit up to 1972 and the recording of, you know, her record—breaking gospel album and actually, because that's a very glorious place to finish — people will recently have seen amazing grace, the documentary about her doing that, which, you know, was delayed for so long, so i think it's worth seeing it forjennifer hudson's performance because she's terrific. ijust — i wanted the film to be more exceptional and an awful lot of the rock biopics have got the same beats, they've got the same story points. a lot of this seems familiar. but she carries it shoulder high and when she's on stage, when she's doing it, she's really great. and it's notjust the voice — it's the gestures, it's the way she holds her head back, its the way she half—closes her eyes. i mean, she's got the physical performance absolutely down pat, so that's great. the film itself, however, not as good as her performance. 0k, yes, a mixed bag. i mean, jennifer hudson is very talented, isn't she?

and herself — i'm — well, i'm fascinated to know what you made of it. ok, so i mentioned that i don't think that respect knows what to do with its themes of domestic abuse. so in the case of herself, this is an irish drama played at sundance in 2020 — before everything happened — and it's co—written by clare dunne who stars as sandra, who is a mother who has an abusive partner, she needs to get away from the abusive partner with her children to find a house. she can't find a house and then she sees, online, someone saying, "look, it's possible to build a house for a fairly small amount of money". this sounds ridiculous but then, a family friend says "well, i'll give you my back garden," effectively, "to do it in, if you can make the house". here's a clip. a house? hmm. our own house? hmm. at the bottom of the garden? like a fairy house. the only thing is, girls — _ and this is really important, right? — we can't tell anyone. not anyone at school, not nanny, not granddad and especially, - especially not daddy. why? i'm just going by what

ado the builder said. i he said that's the rules — i and you've seen him, right? you don't want to mess with him, do you? - no. so we have to keep this to ourselves, yeah? - our own special secret. like black widow? sort of. what's that? 0h, it'sjust a code word. it's better you don't know. yeah. so. no telling, 0k? hmm. pinkie promise? both: one... ..two. . .three. .. ..pinkie promise! 0h, girls. oh, and that's a fantastic clip, ithink... it's beautiful! ..because that summarises so much and reminds us how brilliant the three of them are when they're on screen together. and you completely believe in them as a family. yes, yes. and, so, it's directed by phyllida lloyd, mamma mia!, which was a huge smash hit, iron lady, which of course you know was oscar—feted. this feels like a smaller project.

but here's the interesting thing — half the film is about the nightmare of domestic abuse and half of it is about the dream of building your own home — which is, you know, almost a fairytale. in fact, at one point, they actually do refer to it as a fairytale home. and i think the thing that the drama does really well for me is that on the one hand, it's got that stuff that you get from something like witness — remember the barn building scene in witness? — which everyone loves, it's everyone�*s favourite scene — of course everyone loves watching a home being built! and it uses that to tell a much darker story about the plight of a woman who is being failed by the system, who is looking everywhere for help and is not receiving it. and i think that what the drama manages to do is to tell that darker story, that more difficult story, but in a way that looks like it's a heart—warming, uplifting movie. i know that you were quite surprised by how tough some of it was. i felt — for me, i felt it was more a film about the domestic violence

than the house building — even though there are some quite joyous scenes with the house building and the way her neighbours come to help and all that sort of thing. just that — i thought it was a clever undercurrent but a real — a real knot in your stomach constantly because you are constantly worried about the abusive man who you know is still out there. so here's the fascinating thing. if you actually look at the amount of screen time that you see, you know, it's flashbacks, it's fairly little and they're fairly discreet. yes! but this — it's like a kind of a tension in your gut all the way through because they're interspersed as flashbacks and you feel that they are the background to everything. i think that's what's clever about the film. i think that what the film is doing is kind of, you know, it's sugar—coating the pill by making it apparently about putting a house together. and there's all this stuff — will it happen? will it work? all that stuff — but actually, it's about something more serious. and i think if you're going to make a film about this kind of story, the challenge is to make it acceptable. to make it — yeah — will i enjoy watching it? well, yes, there is plenty to enjoy in herself. there is also plenty to be alarmed

by, but i think that's a pretty good balancing act. yes, i would agree with that. also good performances. and great to see in cinemas because it was going to go — you know, it had a streaming release because its cinema release was messed up and it should have won awards but it was eligible last year and nobody saw it, so now it's great that it's in cinemas. yes, go see it. absolutely go see it. what's your verdict on best out? see, i love annette, which is the musical by leos carax with music by sparks. i love sparks — partly an age thing — but i love sparks, absolutely love sparks. this is a story about a cynical comedian who marries a much—loved soprano and they have a baby, which is portrayed by a puppet, and the baby inherits the voice of its mother. and it's like — it's a fable, it's a very dark fable in many ways. it sounds like a completely bonkers idea but it works for me because there is a kernel of truth in there. i've seen it three times now. i've played the soundtrack over and over again. it's got some real earworms — i mean, sparks are great at kind of earworms songs — but i thought it was really wonderful. it's. .. it looks wacky - beyond

wac ! it is, but it's like the thing about quirky, you know? there's a very thin line between quirky and irksome. wacky makes it sound more zany — which i never like zany. it's strange and weird and experimental but it's also — it made me cry. i love films that make me cry. oh, well, so do i! the servant i really, really want to see, though. it won't make you cry. 0h! the servant was described — this is a i960sjoe losey film with a screenplay by harold pinter, and dirk bogarde, sarah miles, james fox, wendy craig — and it's about people stuck in a single place, essentially, in which servant and master relationships are turned on their head. you can see it as a film that influenced everything from — er, i mean, parasite, ithink, takes an awful lot from it. there's a steve woolley film called stone which takes a lot from it in performance. it's in ak, back in cinemas now for a couple of weeks, then you can get it on dvd and download from the 20th. really worth seeing. you loved the trailer, right? yes, yes, yes, and i liked

parasite, and echoes and — yes, yeah. yes, but very cold, very cold! very chilly — not a lot of laughs! chuckles. that's ok, that's ok. get to the cinema nonetheless, that's what we have to say. so lovely to have you back. thanks very much, mark. great to be back, thank you. see you very soon. all the previous shows are on iplayer, of course. and i hope you can start enjoying some cinema—going. wouldn't that be fantastic? thanks for being with us. bye— bye. hello. for most of us today, the weather is not too bad, but across the south—west of the uk, wales and north—west england, it is pretty gloomy at the moment. we have had outbreaks of rain, and it may stay gloomy across western parts of the country for the next two or three days, i'm afraid. the pattern in the jet stream is visible, it is a

looping northwards, then southwards, then coming back again. when we get this, things tend to become slow moving across the uk, and actually if you look at the satellite picture, you can see a weather front here, almost like a wave. within this mass of cloud, in fact right across the country, the winds are light, they are going in different directions, in fact coming in from the north keeping things chilly here. blowing out of the east and then the south towards the west of then the south towards the west of the uk. things really are not moving an awful lot, so the damp weather is sticking around across wales and manchester and liverpool through today, whereas to the north and east the weather is better. by no means are we talking about clear blue skies, but you can see the winds going like that across the uk. this is basically stock here and it is with us until tuesday night. so in fact, early on monday morning, it is still raining across wales, probably cornwall and devon as well. it is very small weather front that is

stuck on the edge of the periphery of this area of high pressure, and what we really would need is a jet stream to blow through and just get it out of the way but we haven't got that at the moment so the cloud and rain will linger across cornwall, devon, somerset probably into gloucestershire, wales, the irish sea into monday as well. towards the east, the weather will be drier but it is probably going to be fairly cloudy. maybe the tip of cornwall seen sunshine on monday. here is tuesday's forecast. finally the cloud and damp weather is expected to shift towards the east and out into the north sea but it may take some time, and when that happens, still a little unsure, but the west will improve. one of the reasons western parts will improve his this area of high pressure which is building. the air is sinking, squeezing out the clouds, trying things out. i think across many western areas, wednesday and thursday with the high pressure

building is looking absolutely fine. but at the same time in the north—west of the uk, so parts of northern ireland, the western isles of scotland, it looks as if it will turn a little on the and breezy side towards the very end of the week friday time. that is it from me, have a good afternoon.

this is bbc news. iam i am looks legal pal. -- luxmi goal. the headlines: emma raducanu makes history at the us open, beating leylah fernandez to become the first british woman to win a grand slam singles final in 44 years. the queen is among those congratulating the teenager following her stunning victory in new york, just months after finishing her a—levels. to have a note from her, i was extremely honoured and very grateful that she took notice of my tennis. i can't believe it, i'm maybe going to frame that letter or something. the uk's health secretary says the government won't introduce vaccine passports in england, ahead of plans to protect the nhs from rising covid cases this winter.

what i can say is we have looked