Couple Indemnity

American Pie (1999)

Hal has selected a real coming-of-age sex comedy with the first instalment of the popular American Pie franchise from his early teen years. The story follows a group of high school classmates who make a pact to lose their virginity before they graduate. Starring Jason Biggs, Chris Klein, Mena Suvari, Eugene Levy and Jennifer Coolidge.
Director: Paul Weitz

Barry Lyndon (1975)

Izzy's latest selection is the highly acclaimed Stanley Kubrick historical epic Barry Lyndon (1975) that recounts the early exploits and later unravelling of an 18th-century Irish rogue and gold-digger (Ryan O'Neal) who marries a rich widow in order to attempt to climb the social ladder and assume her late husband's aristocratic position. 
Director: Stanley Kubrick

Rear Window (1954)

For our latest podcast, we are delighted to be joined by a true podcast inspiration with Scott, host of numerous incredible shows such as Reel Britannia, Stinking Pause, Rainbow Valley and the official Talking Pictures TV Channel. 
Scott joins us today for a deep-dive into Hal's latest film selection in the Hitchcock marathon, none other than Rear Window (1954). 
A newspaper photographer (James Stewart) with a broken leg passes time recuperating by observing his neighbors through his window. He sees what he believes to be a murder.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Challengers (2024)

Izzy's latest choice for the podcast is last year's popular romantic sports drama film Challengers, which follows the love triangle between an injured tennis-star-turned coach Tashi (Zendaya), her low-circuit tennis player ex-boyfriend (Josh O'Connor), and her tennis champion husband (Mike Faist) across 13 years of their relationship, culminating in the match between the two men on the ATP Challenger tour.
Director: Luca Guadagnino

Foyle's War: Among the Few (2003)

Hal has selected the first of one his many favourite tv shows to cover for the podcast with Foyle's War. A British detective drama set in Hastings, England, during and after the Second World War. Created by Anthony Horowitz, it follows the quietly determined Detective Chief Superintendent Christopher Foyle (Michael Kitchen) as he investigates crimes on the home front — from black market rackets and espionage to murder and treason. Balancing historical accuracy with gripping storytelling, the series explores the moral complexities of wartime Britain through its four central characters: Foyle himself, his spirited driver Sam Stewart (Honeysuckle Weeks), the steadfast DS Paul Milner (Anthony Howell), and Foyle’s RAF pilot son Andrew (Julian Ovenden). 
The episode of Among the Few (2003), is set in autumn 1940. As the Battle of Britain rages overhead, Foyle investigates the death of a young female lorry driver, Connie Dewar, whose work ferrying fuel to a nearby RAF base puts her close to a dangerous black-market petrol-theft ring. The case draws Sam undercover at the transport depot and entangles Andrew Foyle when fellow pilots fall under suspicion. Beneath the veneer of heroism “among the few,” Foyle uncovers a web of theft, betrayal, and personal tragedy.
Director: Jeremy Silberston

Imitation of Life (1959)

Izzy has selected a really groundbreaking 1950's drama in what was the last ever work directed by the great Douglas Sirk with Imitation of Life. The film tells the story of Lora Meredith (Lana Turner), a white single mother who dreams of being on Broadway, has a chance encounter with Annie Johnson (Juanita Moore), a black widow. Annie becomes the caretaker of Lora's daughter, Suzie (Sandra Dee), while Lora pursues her stage career. Both women deal with the difficulties of motherhood: Lora's thirst for fame threatens her relationship with Suzie, while Annie's light-skinned daughter, Sarah Jane (Susan Kohner), struggles with her African-American identity.
Director: Douglas Sirk

Charade (1963)

Hal has chosen another of his favourite with the iconic romantic suspense thriller Charade (1963) where we witness intrigue that ensues in Paris as a woman (Audrey Hepburn) is pursued by several men who want to get their hands on a fortune her murdered husband had stolen. She soon loses trust in those who claim they want to help her. Also features some glorious romantic scenes and witty one-liners featuring a certain Cary Grant.
Director: Stanley Donen

The Lives of Others (2006)

Izzy's choice this week is a highly-respected German BAFTA and Academy Award winning movie called The Lives of Others (2006), set in East Berlin in 1984, an agent (Ulrich Muhe) of the secret police conducting surveillance on a writer and his lover finds himself becoming increasingly absorbed by their lives.
Director: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck

Dial M for Murder (1954)

Hal has returned this week with one of his all-time favourite Hitchcock movies, Dial M for Murder, the incredible one-room mystery thriller starring Ray Milland as Tony Wendice, who plans to murder his wife (Grace Kelly) when he finds out that she had an affair with someone a year ago. He blackmails an old college associate (Anthony Dawson) to execute the crime but things don't work out as planned.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Aftersun (2022)

Izzy has selected yet another emotionally heavy movie for this week's episode with the 2022 coming-of-age drama Aftersun. Sophie (played by Frankie Corio) reflects on the shared joy and private melancholy of a holiday she took with her father (Paul Mescal) twenty years earlier. Memories real and imagined fill the gaps between miniDV footage as she tries to reconcile the father she knew with the man she didn’t.
Director: Charlotte Wells