Released in 1964, The Gospel According to St. Matthew marks an important shift away from the gritty urban realism of Pasolini's earlier films towards the visionary imagery of his later work. A committed but far from conformist Marxist, Pasolini took a powerful and immediate approach, with no false piety or sentimentality. Employing a cast drawn largely from the peasantry of Southern Italy, where the film was shot, the action has the feel of a mystery play reenacted for the camera. Enrique Irazoqui's Christ is part folk hero, part political agitator, but always pursuing his destiny with unswerving conviction. The disciples make for vivid contrasts in facial expression, while Susanna Pasolini (mother of) is unforgettable as Mary, distraught at the Crucifixion. The recourse to handheld cameras and zoom sequences is well ahead of its time, while the almost jump-cut editing and diverse soundtrack-including Bach, Mozart and the Missa Luba-enhance the sense of action being experienced as it happens. A classic of post-war cinema which has lost none of its urgent humanity. -Richard Whitehouse.

You'll wonder at first what The Dreamlife of Angels has to do with the everyday lives and loves of two working-class girls who become unlikely buddies in the gray, cold city of Lille. It's worth waiting to find out. Isa's all big-eyed gamine (Élodie Bouchez), her dark hair short-cropped, a generous mouth given to smiles-she incandesces from homely to arresting radiance. Lacking roots, money, even a permanent roof, this open-hearted twentysomething embraces life as a parade of possibilities, demonstrating a rare gift for making authentic creature contact. In contrast, blonde, slender Marie (Natacha Régnier) suggests a fallen angel, her delicate features frozen into a permanent rictus of suspicious contempt. Class-conscious, this material girl hungers for upscale salvation. Mischievous peasant and would-be princess stalk good-looking guys in the mall; smoke and share confidences in bed; tease a couple of hefty club bouncers, one of whom comes to care, with surprising tenderness, for indifferent Marie. But all the energy and zest flow from Isa (auditioning for club work, her Madonna imitation is flat-out infectious, while Marie slouches through a listless "Lauren Bacall"). When Marie goes literally mad for a promiscuous club owner (Grégoire Colin)-his wealth and beauty the dream she's been living for-their lovemaking's like warfare; her prideful resistance to his power over her spirit and body is what first-and briefly-turns him on. Bouchez and Régnier rightfully shared Best Actress honors at Cannes: their characters-as well as the comatose girl Isa helps to call back to life-are endearingly earthbound angels, sustained or betrayed by their respective aspirations. [+]