Rosamund Pike

“I'm then going to try and head to Italy. Yes, I'm going to head to Italy, to Antonioni and L'eclisse because well, actually, sentimentally, my first car was... Is – still have it – is a Citroën DS which I bought when I was making Pride & Prejudice, and it was owned by Monica Vitti. There's a postage stamp on the dashboard, which I always sentimentally believe came from an important letter that was sent to her, so... Monica Vitti's coming with me.”

“Oh, you know what? I think I gotta go to England. I think I've got to go to the British realism. A Taste of Honey. There was something very exciting that happened to British cinema, and I think all the actors of this generation have held a kind of awe for me. They obviously were able to make films before all the extra stuff that sort of clouds our vision nowadays. They were able to be creative and immersed, and not have to be so self-aware, which is something I crave. So, A Taste of Honey is coming with me back to London.”

“While I'm here, I'm going to introduce you, if you don't already know it, to a surrealist gem, which is Daisies. It's a Czech film by Věra Chytilová. I've just spent five years living in the Czech Republic, making a television series, The Wheel of Time. And the Czechs are fiercely witty and... They have a dark humor that's actually very aligned with British humor. And I think what happened in the Czech New Wave was super exciting and avant-garde. And, you know, so much attention is paid to the French New Wave and much less to the Czech New Wave, so I'm putting Daisies in...”

“And I'm now going to hunt for a Miloš Forman film, which... Here we go. Miloš Forman, Loves of a Blonde, which, of course, you know, a Czech hero. And so, in honor to my new lived second country, I'm taking a bit of the Czech Republic with me.”

“So I'm in New York, and when I'm in New York, I can never be in New York without thinking of Martin Scorsese. I actually watched Goodfellas on the plane on the way over and ended up landing feeling very jumpy, in the way that Scorsese can, in breaking with every... Sort of seemingly making a masterpiece and yet breaking form at every turn, and you think, how can you have one person narrate and then just change narrator in the middle? I always marvel anew at the way he tells story and the number of characters he handles and the way he... He goes from humor to tenderness and then, you know, puts all this violence, underscored by "Frosty the Snowman." So it's made me want to see Mean Streets again. So Mean Streets is coming with me, and...”

“I've heard that Criterion have released some of Scorsese's early shorts. Now, in the shorts is a short film that stars Scorsese's mother. She plays Tommy's mother in Goodfellas and in Scorsese Shorts, which is right here, we get a very early glimpse of Scorsese's work with his mum.”

“And I'm going to start with I Am Curious because I Am Curious. And I'm also interested in the depiction of sex and sexuality on screen. I think it's very interesting, the debate, where it's taking us these days. Are we entering an age of prudery? I'm interested in the way that wellness is taking over our lives, and yet sex seems to be taking a backseat. So that's my first pick.”

“Well, I think it's almost time to go. So, as a final pick, I'm going to end where I started, with an exploration of the body. And I'm going to take Agnès Varda's magnificent collection. I can't believe that the Criterion Collection have gathered all of her work together in this beautiful edition, complete with essays and all the films and some of the photographs, all collected. She was an unbelievable photographer. What an image-maker. And I think as a... Female working in films, the depiction of womanhood in all its stages, never losing interest, pursuing female identity as it changes, Agnès Varda gave that experience honestly and openly and daringly to all of us. So, thank you, Agnès. And you're coming with me, and thank you for having me.”