We want to get to know you more to help improve our service. Please take 2 minutes to fill out our survey here. Thank you! test2

This film is currently unavailable

This film is certified

Contains alcoholism and mild horror

I accept this guidance

Title of error

See Help

The Lost Weekend

Billy Wilder’s still searing film about alcoholism remains one of only two films to have won the Best Picture Oscar and the top prize at Cannes Film Festival.

Drama 1945 101 mins

Director: Billy Wilder

Rent for £3.50

Overview

Billy Wilder’s still searing film about the dangers of alcohol stars Ray Milland as a writer struggling with the demon drink. Tricking his brother and partner into believing he’s decamping to the country for a sober break, he returns to his dingy flat for what will turn out to be a dark weekend of the soul.

The first Hollywood film to portray alcoholism is all its uncompromising detail, from the DTs to hallucinations, Lost Weekend was rewarded with four Academy Awards and remains one of only two films to have won the Best Picture Oscar and the top prize at Cannes Film Festival. Billy Wilder was inspired to embark on the project following the painful experience of working with recovering alcoholic Raymond Chandler on Double Indemnity, hoping that Chandler would recognise some of himself in the film and act upon it. In his attempts to accentuate the story’s gritty realism, Wilder hoped to release the film with no music score, only for early screenings to fall flat. The film was eventually released with Miklós Rózsa’s highly influential theremin score.

Director

Billy Wilder

Featuring

Ray Milland , Jane Wyman and Phillip Terry

Genres

Drama

Certificate

Contains alcoholism and mild horror

Country

USA

Language

English

Accessibility

Rent for £4.50

Barrio Boy Barrio Boy

Romance 2022 83 mins Director: Dennis Shinners

A Latino barber embarks on an erotically charged odyssey of self-discovery over one hot summer in Brooklyn.

Rent for £4.50

Small Things Like These Small Things Like These

Drama 2024 99 mins Director: Tim Mielants

Oscar-winner Cillian Murphy delivers a stunning performance as a coal merchant who discovers horrific secrets about his local convent.

Rent for £3.50

Rafiki Rafiki

Drama 2018 83 mins Director: Wanuri Kahiu

Romantic sparks fly between the daughters of two opposing politicians in Wanuri Kahiu’s neon-bright story of forbidden love in Kenya.

Rent for £4.50

Who We Love Who We Love

Drama 2021 94 mins Director: Graham Cantwell

Bullied for her sexuality, Dublin schoolgirl Lily turns to her gay best friend for support in this vibrant coming-out, coming-of-age drama.

Rent for £4.50

2073 2073

Documentary 2024 83 mins Director: Asif Kapadia

Oscar-winning director Asif Kapadia's unsettling drama-documentary delivers a powerful commentary on the state of the world today… and tomorrow.

Rent for £4.50

Only the River Flows Only the River Flows

Crime 2023 102 mins Director: Shujun Wei

Shujun Wei's slow-burn noir draws us inexorably into its mysterious psychological journey.

Rent for £3.50

Apocalypse Now Apocalypse Now

War 1979 141 mins Director: Francis Ford Coppola

Transplanting Joseph Conrad’s colonial-era novel Heart of Darkness to Vietnam, Coppola created a mesmerising fantasia on the spectacle of war.

Currently unavailable

River Runs through It River Runs through It

Biopic 1992 124 mins Director: Robert Redford

Two contrasting and occasionally conflicted brothers find solace while fly fishing the rivers of their Montana home.

Currently unavailable

Slumdog Millionaire Slumdog Millionaire

Drama 2009 120 mins Director: Danny Boyle

Danny Boyle’s crowdpleaser, based around the Indian version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, won the Oscar for best picture.

Rent for £3.50

La La Landd La La Landd

Comedy 2016 128 mins Director: Damien Chazelle

Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone channel old-school Hollywood glamour in this bright and playful romantic musical from director Damien Chazelle (Whiplash).