The sheltering sky (1990)

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Academy Award-winning director Bernardo Bertolucci (The Conformist, Last Tango in Paris, The Last Emperor) brings a stunning adaptation of Paul Bowles’ heartbreaking classic novel to the screen that Vincent Canby in The New York Times called “a long, beautifully modulated cry of despair... the sort of dark, romantic movie that only Mr. Bertolucci could bring off.”

In the hopes of rekindling their marriage, sophisticated American couple Port and Kit Moresby (John Malkovich and Debra Winger) set off for North Africa intending to travel through Algeria – uncertain of exactly where they are heading but determined to leave the modern world behind. They are instead tested to their limits by the unfathomable emptiness and impassive cruelty of the desert.

A distinguished and emotive follow up to his Best Picture-winning The Last Emperor (Academy Awards 1988) and a sensual highlight in an extraordinary filmmaking career, The Sheltering Sky won a BAFTA for Vittorio Storaro’s outstanding cinematography and a Golden Globe for Ryuichi Sakamoto’s haunting original score.