Rosamund Pike’s Top Picks from the Criterion Closet: The Criterion Collection has been the gold commonplace for movie lovers throughout the globe for greater than 4 many years, scrupulously restoring and distributing basic and modern masterpieces with distinctive care. Revered for its steadfast dedication to presenting motion pictures as shut as doable to their makers’ imaginative and prescient, Criterion has, over time, secured a particular place within the hearts and minds of cinephiles, turning each movie-watching act into an immersive, profound one. Yet, lately, it’s not simply their immaculate restoration that has enthralled audiences—it’s an intimate, heat video sequence known as Closet Picks that has stolen the highlight.
Snug in Criterion’s New York City workplace lies a comfortable, homey area—a closet brimmed with every movie the corporate has launched. In Closet Picks, this modest area unfolds right into a stage the place administrators, actors, and luminaries from the movie fraternity are invited to wander via the cabinets and handpick the movies that formed them. As they plump for his or her selections, they share private tales of how these motion pictures formed and influenced them. For viewers, it’s a mesmerizing mix of storytelling, movie suggestions, and an amusing embrace of shared enthusiasm.
Just days in the past, the enduring Rosamund Pike stepped into this fascinating closet. The 46-year-old, Oxford-educated, London-born actor boasts a splendid profession that spans display screen, stage, and past. From her debut as a Bond woman in Die Another Day (2002)—making her the primary Bond woman to have attended Oxford—to her dazzling supporting roles in Pride & Prejudice (2005) and An Education (2009), Pike’s ingenuity shines.
The subsequent decade noticed her advance to guide roles in mainstream blockbusters like Johnny English Reborn (2011) and Jack Reacher (2012), however it was her manipulative and crafty portrayal of Amy Dunne in David Fincher’s Gone Girl (2014) that proved to be her tour-de-force, and establishing her as star, and incomes her first Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations. Pike continued to shine, receiving one other Golden Globe nomination for A Private War (2018).
She lastly gained a Golden Globe in 2021 for her portrayal of a con girl within the 2020 Black-comedy I Care a Lot. Pike acquired one other Golden Globe nod for enjoying an aristocratic matriarch in Emerald Fennell’s black comedy thriller Saltburn (2023). On tv, she has already nabbed a Primetime Emmy for her 2019 miniseries State of the Union, and presently stars as Mairaine Damodred in Amazon Prime’s fantasy drama The Wheel of Time, the third season of which dropped final month.
Rosamund Pike dived deep into the cinematic treasures which have left an indelible mark on her and unveiled her prime Criterion Closet favorites. Here are the movies she selected:
1. I’m Curious (1967)
Pike kicked off with Swedish director Vilgot Sjöman’s groundbreaking erotic-drama I’m Curious (1967), a daring selection reflecting her curiosity about cinema’s boundaries. Here’s what the actress needed to say about this thought-provoking movie:
“My first pick is I Am Curious because I am curious,” Pike declared. “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.” She presses on to ask: “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.”
2. L’Eclipse(1962)
Next, sifting via the closet, Pike journeyed to Italy and picked Michelangelo Antonioni’s 1962 romantic drama L’Eclipse. While sharing her deeply private and mawkish tie to Monica Vitti, the movie’s star, Pike mentioned:
“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.” She provides,“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.”
3. A Taste of Honey(1961)
The actress’s love for British realism shone via with Tony Richardson’s gritty basic A Taste of Honey (1961). Pike vividly described her admiration for the period’s uncooked, unfiltered storytelling. She mentioned:
“I think I’ve got to go to the British realism. 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. She added, 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”.
4. Daisies(1966)
Then Pike shared her enthusiasm and awe for the Czech New Wave, impressed by her time filming three seasons of The Wheel of Time within the Czech Republic. She chosen Věra Chytilová’s surrealist gem Daisies (1966), she mentioned:
“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”.
5. Loves of a Blonde(1965)
Next, Pike picked Miloš Forman’s tender basic Loves of a Blonde (1965), additional showcasing her deepened connection together with her newfound dwelling, the Czech Republic. She mentioned:
“Miloš Forman, Loves of a Blonde, which, of course, you know, a Czech hero. And so, in honor of my new second country, I’m taking a bit of the Czech Republic with me.”
6. Mean Streets(1973)
In New York, Pike couldn’t assist however choose Scorsese’s gritty masterpiece Mean Streets (1973). She spoke of her admiration for Scorsese’s vivid portrayal of New York City, his unorthodox narration, and his flawless dealing with of a number of characters. She mentioned:
“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 at the way he tells the 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.”
7. Scorsese Shorts
The actress doubled down on Scorsese, choosing a group of his early brief movies. Pike expressed her pleasure about seeing Scoresese’s mom featured in one in all her son’s early brief movies. She mentioned:
“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”.
8. The Complete Films of Agnès Varda
Pike returns to the theme of feminine exploration for her closing choose. She chosen The Complete Films of Agnès Varda, which options all 39 of her movies, pictures, essays, and extra. She mentioned:
“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 has 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”.