Rentals
Oscars - Best Leading Role
Leading names matter. Names like Streep, Stanwyck, Mirren, Rampling and Moore, just part of this formidable roll call.
Their films vault across time and trend to show us people and nations at war, lovers fragmenting and humanity at its most hauntingly real.
WINNERS
There Will Be BloodThere Will Be Blood
Drama 2007 158 minsDirector: Paul Thomas Anderson
Daniel Day-Lewis' Oscar-winning performance as a ruthless oil baron bestrides Paul Thomas Anderson's towering 21st-century classic.
RayRay
Biopic 2004 152 minsDirector: Taylor Hackford
Jamie Foxx won an Oscar for his extraordinary performance as Ray Charles, in a film that revived the potency of the musical biopic.
Manchester by the SeaManchester by the Sea
Drama 2016 137 minsDirector: Kenneth Lonergan
Casey Affleck and Michelle Williams shine in this devastating, Oscar-winning drama from Kenneth Lonergan about a man’s painful hometown return.
Still AliceStill Alice
Drama 2014 102 minsDirector: Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland
Julianne Moore won an Oscar for her extraordinary performance as a linguistics professor diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.
The Iron LadyThe Iron Lady
Drama 2012 105 minsDirector: Phyllida Lloyd
Meryl Streep delivers an extraordinary performance as Margaret Thatcher in a provocative portrait.
RoomRoom
Thriller 2016 118 minsDirector: Lenny Abrahamson
Brie Larson’s Oscar-winning performance is the beating heart of Lenny Abrahamson’s extraordinarily moving drama.
The King's SpeechThe King's Speech
Historical drama 2011 113 minsDirector: Tom Hooper
Oscar-winning tale of the relationship between King George VI (Colin Firth) and the Australian speech therapist who treated his stammer.
La La LanddLa La Landd
Comedy 2016 128 minsDirector: Damien Chazelle
Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone channel old-school Hollywood glamour in this bright and playful romantic musical from director Damien Chazelle (Whiplash).
The Imitation GameThe Imitation Game
Biopic 2014 115 minsDirector: Morten Tyldum
Benedict Cumberbatch’s roundly acclaimed performance anchors the incredible, Oscar-winning story of code-breaker Alan Turing.
The QueenThe Queen
Drama 2006 103 minsDirector: Stephen Frears
Helen Mirren won an Oscar for her performance as the enduring monarch who comes under scrutiny following the death of Princess Diana.
Room at the TopRoom at the Top
Drama 1958 117 minsDirector: Jack Clayton
Jack Clayton directs this romantic, love-triangle drama featuring Simone Signoret in an Oscar-winning performance.
NOMINEES
The WifeThe Wife
Drama 2018 100 minsDirector: Aneil Karia, James Gray, Anna Biller and Ian Shand
Glenn Close and Jonathan Pryce are the spouses with a secret in a tight, taut drama of ego and legacy.
The PostThe Post
Drama 2017 116 minsDirector: Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg’s acclaimed, gripping and timely drama about the publishing of the Pentagon Papers, featuring Tom Hanks and an Oscar-nominated performance from Meryl Streep.
Hacksaw RidgeHacksaw Ridge
Biopic 2017 139 minsDirector: Mel Gibson
Andrew Garfield stars in Mel Gibson’s visceral war film, telling the extraordinary story of the soldier who saved 75 lives in one of WWII’s bloodiest battles.
JackieJackie
Biopic 2017 100 minsDirector: Pablo Larraín
Natalie Portman is exceptional as the iconic First Lady who has to quickly adjust to the world-shaking trauma of her husband’s assassination.
Captain FantasticCaptain Fantastic
Drama 2016 119 minsDirector: Matt Ross
Viggo Mortensen plays the father-gone-primitive in this wonderful award-winning comedy about an off-grid family.
45 Years45 Years
Drama 2015 95 minsDirector: Andrew Haigh
One of the most acclaimed British features of recent years, starring Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay as a couple rocked by news from the past.
ElleElle
Drama 2015 131 minsDirector: Paul Verhoeven
Isabelle Huppert gives an unforgettable performance in Paul Verhoeven’s provocative thriller about one woman’s response to a violent attack.
Pride & PrejudicePride & Prejudice
Drama 2005 127 minsDirector: Joe Wright
Keira Knightley stars in Jane Austen’s timeless romance, reinvigorated for the modern age by the masters of British rom-com, Working Title.
VolverVolver
Drama 2005 121 minsDirector: Pedro Almodóvar
Family secrets echo around a Spanish clan, ringing loud enough to rouse the dead, in Pedro Almodóvar's assured melodrama.
Two Days, One NightTwo Days, One Night
Drama 2014 95 minsDirector: Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne
Academy Award-winner Marion Cotillard’s collaboration with Cannes Festival-favourites Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne is a stunning, tense drama about a woman’s race against time to save her job.
Beasts of the Southern WildBeasts of the Southern Wild
Drama 2012 93 minsDirector: Benh Zeitlin
Set in a Deep South delta, Zeitlin’s feature debut takes a child’s eye view of poverty, adult apathy and ecological crisis. Hallucinatory fare
Vera DrakeVera Drake
Drama 2005 120 minsDirector: Mike Leigh
Mike Leigh’s acclaimed story of a selfless woman who performs unlawful abortions in 1950s Britain; both an affecting drama and vital social history.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless MindEternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Drama 2004 103 minsDirector: Michel Gondry
Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet play the couple who fall in love so quickly it seems they must have known each other in a past life ... only to discover they did.
12 Years a Slave12 Years a Slave
Biopic 2014 134 minsDirector: Steve McQueen
Chiwetel Ejiofor and Michael Fassbender star in Steve McQueen’s fearless, Oscar-winning story of a free man who’s sold into slavery.
FoxcatcherFoxcatcher
Drama 2014 135 minsDirector: Bennett Miller
Steve Carell and Channing Tatum deliver stunning performance in the story of the strange relationship between two Olympic wrestlers and their millionaire benefactor.
BrooklynBrooklyn
Romance 2015 112 minsDirector: John Crowley
Saoirse Ronan shines as a woman who journeys from post-war small-town Ireland to New York, in Nick Hornby’s adaptation of Colm Tóibín’s best-selling novel.
TrumboTrumbo
Biopic 2015 124 minsDirector: Jay Roach
Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad, Argo) gives a cracking performance as Dalton Trumbo, the Oscar-winning screenwriter who became a Hollywood outcast.
The Hurt LockerThe Hurt Locker
War 2008 131 minsDirector: Kathryn Bigelow
Kathryn Bigelow won the Best Director Academy Award in 2010 for this visceral, thrilling story of an American maverick bomb disarmer in Iraq.
Cape FearCape Fear
Drama 1991 128 minsDirector: Martin Scorsese
Scorsese’s remake of J Lee Thompson’s 1962 thriller stars Robert De Niro as a psychotic rapist out to avenge the lawyer he blames for his conviction (Nick Nolte).
CarolCarol
Drama 2015 119 minsDirector: Todd Haynes
Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara illuminate Todd Haynes’ intoxicating adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s beloved novel.
Pulp FictionPulp Fiction
Crime 1994 154 minsDirector: Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino’s crackling crime classic still retains its swagger as one of the great American films of recent decades.
Mona LisaMona Lisa
Drama 1986 100 minsDirector: Neil Jordan
Neil Jordan's gritty thriller stars Bob Hoskins as a gangster recently released from prison who falls in love with the prostitute he is supposed to be protecting.
VenusVenus
Comedy 2007 95 minsDirector: Roger Michell
Peter O’Toole in one of his last, finest performances in this story about an aging actor who thought he’d seen it all – until he met her.
Double IndemnityDouble Indemnity
Crime 1944 108 minsDirector: Billy Wilder
Barbara Stanwyck is the housewife who dupes an insurance salesman into a devious murder plot, in this giant of American cinema - the archetypal Film Noir.
AmourAmour
Drama 2012 127 minsDirector: Michael Haneke
Michael Haneke’s Palme d’Or-winner, about an octogenarian couple trying to cope when a stroke leaves the wife partly paralysed and speechless.
Tom JonesTom Jones
Comedy 1963 121 minsDirector: Tony Richardson
Tony Richardson's raucous and innovative adaptation of Henry Fielding’s classic novel was the winner of four Academy Awards.