The Daily Telegraph from London, Greater London, England • 18

18 FRIDAY, MAY 12, 1995 THE DAILY TELEGRAPH ARTS I FILMS NEW RELEASES Hugo Davenport on Bullets over Broadway; an offbeat weepie; girls growing up in Ireland; and the abuse of childhood innocence Woody remixes the old cocktail VEN devoted Woody Allen reasonably fans suspect could the New York joker of thumbing the same old pack of thematice each cards film for has too long. seemed Of a shuffle with a dogdeck; the cut, the deal and play all a bit familiar a touch of pastiche and a midlife crisis here, a and a collision of worlds there. Not that all his recent work has lacked entertainment value. A kinder Allen's method might be jazz, of which he is an enthusiastic off-screen practitioner: you know the riffs but there is usually some ingenious variation to refresh ear. So perhaps it's not unduly damning to say that Bullets over Broadway recalls Broadway Danny Rose in its Runyonesque cocktail of show-business eccentrics and gangsters.

True, Allen stays behind the camera this time, directing and sharing the writer's credit with Douglas McGrath. The theme is that old chestnut, the integrity of the artist. Or rather, The Artist. It was the Surrealists who first drew subversive parallels between art and crime: in characteristic style, Allen takes conceit literally by making the only real artist of the piece a mobster. All of which is little more than a pretext for a broad, farcical send-up of backstage rivalry, egomania and galloping neurosis among the pampered darlings of the Great White Way.

Set in the Twenties, the picture charts the career of a writer, David Shayne (John Cusack), who trumpets lofty aims until he finds the only way to get his play staged and direct it is to cast a shrill mafioso's moll in a major role as, yes, a psychiatrist. Olive Neal (Jennifer Tilly) is so hopeless that she pronounces as something equine and cannot recall Hamlet's drift after "To Her boyfriend is Nick Valenti, who bellows down the phone about extracting an enemy's vitals through his windpipe when the showgirl, producer (Jack Warden) and director meet for introductory drinks. The show receives a fillip as Helen Sinclair (Dianne Wiest, winner of this year's best supporting actress Oscar for the role after an identical success in Allen's Hannah and Her Sisters nine years ago) takes the lead. A posturing vamp, selfdescribed with false humility as vain Broadway leg- BULLETS OVER BROADWAY (15 cert, 99 mins) general release BOYS ON THE SIDE (15 cert, 117 mins) general release she flatters David's pretensions and draws him into a romantic liaison, with a finger pressed to his lips and husky, urgent murmurs of: "Don't speak!" There is much bitching and intrigue, none of it very subtle. Our own Jim Broadbent is splendid as a rotund thespian who has an eating disorder so severe he hides a swiss roll in his script or chomps a chicken-leg in midseduction, and who is ejected into the street to meet his public in a high-tensile corset; Tracey Ullman is suitably abrasive as an actress doting on a chihuahua, Mr Woofles, that she claims to breast-feed.

But the key character is Cheech (Chazz Palminteri), Olive's reluctant mobster minder. His testy observations, unwelcome at first, sharpen the play; eventually he resorts to his automatic in defence of artistic purity, bringing on a crisis for David and a pat happy ending though Rob Reiner, as the tubby Lothario consoling the director's spurned girlfriend (Mary-Louise Parker), adds a welcome flourish. Shot in old gold and sepia, opulent in design, adorned with atmospheric period music, balsa weight fun: Woody without splinters. Mary-Louise Parker; underused in Allen's film, pulls out the stops in Herbert Ross's Boys on the Side. The film is a self-consciously offcentre weepie concerning adventures of three women on the road.

Whoopi Goldberg plays a lesbian singer, Drew Barrymore a pregnant wild-child fleeing a murder rap after bashing her violent drug boyhead; Parker is a prim estate agent, devoted to the Carpenters and suffering from Aids. At first glance, the trio presents a menu of fashionable female deviance of such inclusive political correctness, it almost hurts. To the credit of Don Roos's gentlypaced script, however, the film's view of relations between the sexes is far from separatist: it's more about frustration and trying to create a sense of family in a world where the old definitions have N. PETIT Boggle PLAY TODAY TO WIN ONE OF TWO SHEAFFER PEN SETS Play Boggle today, and you could win one of two classic Crest fountain pens with matching ball-points from Sheaffer. These stylish pens have an unusual hand-finished red lacquer barrel with 23 carat electroplating cap.

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but not necessarily in a straight example, in line. the For game alongside, you can AS No make letter SIRE cube and may PEER. be used more than once in NU the same word, and words must be a minimum of four letters, with no proper names. HOW Write today's words on a piece of paper, and send them, together with your name, address, and postcode to: Boggle (15), PO Box 2340, Dorchester, Dorset DT2 7YN, to arrive by Friday May 19. The winners will be the first correct entries drawn after the closing date, and their names will be published together with some example words on Saturday May 27.

Standard Telegraph Competition rules apply. Competition is open to all residents of the UK, Channel Islands, Isle of Man and Eire. If you would rather not receive post from other companies carefully selected by The Telegraph, please write to: Reader Relations Department, The Telegraph PIc, 1 Canada Square, Canary Wharf, London E14 5DT. irretrievably unravelled. The picture is a bit of a shambles in narrative terms, but not without beguiling moments.

Jane (Goldberg) falls for someone she cannot have and must settle for sisterly solidarity, while Robin (Parker), wooed in vain by a barman, faces the fact that her desire for husband and children will not be fulfilled. Barrymore delicious spark delinquent spontaneity to Holly, finding the man of her dreams Abe Lincoln (Matthew McConaughey), a cop of impeccable uprightness, in law as in bed. As the three party, quarrel and make up on a spacious Arizona ranch, Robin's estranged mother (Anita Gillette) joins the tribe for a quavering singalong of You Got It, which should irrigate all but the most drought-stricken tearducts. A vain Broadway legend hustles a high-minded playwright into romance: Dianne Wiest and John Cusack in 'Bullets over Broadway' A pawn wins the game Girls' night out: Minnie Driver (Benny) and Saffron Burrows (Nan) get ready Cost of ignorance ce RELAND is fast becomI ing not just for a tax-friendly Hollywood moguls, but also a domain of quasi-mythical rural innocence among indigenous on both sides of film makers From Widow's Peak to The War of the Buttons, we have lately seen several sunny forays into the eccentric rivalries and minor scandals of village life. Pat O'Connor's Circle of Friends, adapted from a Maeve Binchy novel, looks like more of the same.

Yet for all its delicacy of tone, there is a more robust thematic underpinning to the lyricism a pointed critique of the Catholic Church, which fostered so much ignorance and misery among young people through its blinkered approach to sexuality during the Fifties. The film traces the path to I OPERA AND BALLET COLISEUM 0171 632 8300 (24HR) ENGLISH NATIONAL OPERA Ton't (LAST PERF) 7.00 COSI FAN TUTTE Tomor 7.15 DON GIOVANNI ROYAL OPERA HOUSE 0171 304 4000 for Box Office Standby info Tickets available on the day The Royal Ballet Ton't 7.30 (Last Night) Forsythe's FIRSTEXT Tetley's LA Ashton's RHAPSODY The Birmingham Royal Ballet Tue (First Night), Wed 7.30 COPPELIA Thur 7.30 (First Night) Balanchine's THEME AND PILLAR OF LE TRICORNE SADLER'S WELLS 0171 6000 BALLET PRELJOCAJ 'Even seeing it isn't believing it' Times May 7.30pm (13 May 3.30pm 8pm) THEATRES ADELPHI A "ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER'S MASTERPIECE" Wall St Journal SUNSET BOULEVARD Starring ELAINE PAIGE and JOHN BARROWMAN 24HR CREDIT CARD BOOKINGS CALL 0171 344 0055 (bkg fee) GROUP BOOKINGS 0171 413 3302 (bkg fee) NO BOOKING FEE FOR PERSONAL CALLERS AT THE ADELPHI BOX OFFICE Recorded information 0171 379 8884 Mon-Sat 7.45 Mats Thur Sat 3.00 ALBERY BO 0171 369 1730 cc 344 4444 (no bkg fee) THEY'RE The Brand New Production of FIVE GUYS NAMED MOE With the hit international company The joint's jumpin' again from Thursday Opening Night 25 May Thurs 8pm Fri Sat 6.00 00 8.45 ALDWYCH cc 416 0000 (No Fee) Evenings 7.30. Matinees Wed Sat 3.0 FELICITY KENDAL MARGARET TYZACK ART MALIK in INDIAN INK "TOM STOPPARDS TRIUMPH A BEAUTIFUL AND FUNNY FIREBALL OF A PLAY TO ILLUMINATE THE 'Today' Directed by PETER WOOD CIRCLE OF FRIENDS (15 cert, 102 mins) general release adulthood of three young women in provincial Knockglen between 1949 and 1957. Benny (Minnie Driver), bigboned and buxom, outspoken but sensitive, is the heart of the drama. She is flanked by glamorous Nan (Saffron Burrows), who dreams of marrying into the Anglo-Irish Ascendancy, and Eve (Geraldine O'Rawe).

As an orphan with access to the private Eden of a tumbledown cottage in the Eve the Tis freest of them. Benny's unsuspecting father, the town draper, coaxes her to marry his scheming assistant, Sean. Alan Cumming invests the latter with enough sly oleagi- AMBASSADORS 0171 836 1171 cc 0171 420 344 4444 (No Fees) "A glowing, moving and utterly hilarious evening" Sunday Times MIRIAM MARGOLYES. JOSEPHINE SERENA TEWSON EVANS THE KILLING OF SISTER GEORGE FRANK MARCUS' COMEDY can only and salute' Daily Mail Eves 8, Mats Thur 3, Sat 5.30 8.30 APOLLO 0171 494 0000 PETER BOWLES LISA HARROW in TERENCE RATTIGAN'S IN PRAISE OF LOVE "A D.Mail "UNMISSABLE" Today Eves 8pm. Mat Thurs 3pm, Sat 5pm APOLLO VICTORIA cc 0171 416 6045 cc 24 hrs 0171 344 420 0000 Groups 0171 416 413 3321 Andrew Lloyd Webber's New production of STARLIGHT EXPRESS "A REBORN THEATRICAL DELIGHT" Daily Mail White knuckle runs 19.45 daily Tue Sat 15.00 Tickets from £12.50 CAMBRIDGE BO CC 0171 494 5054 cc (no Bkg Fee) 312 4444 Grps 413 1970 FAME THE MUSICAL Reduced Price Prevs from 16 June CAMBRIDGE THEATRE 0171 494 5080 CC 420 4444 (24hrs 7 days bkg fee) New York's smash hit musical MAMA, I WANT TO SING Featuring MICA PARIS "blazes hot electric" E.

Std Mon-Thurs 7.45pm, Fri 5.30pm 8.15pm Sat 3pm 7.45pm Friday 5.30pm only, all tickets £12.50 COMEDY BO 0171 369 1731 cc 344 4444 Groups 413 3321 THE MOST ACCLAIMED COMEDY OF THE YEAR STEPHANIE COLE "Dazzlingly special" Daily Mail A PASSIONATE WOMAN by KAY MELLOR Directed by NED SHERRIN Tue-Sat 8pm, Mats Wed 3pm, 4pm CRITERION 839 4488 344 4444, 420 0000 BEST COMEDY Olivier Award Evening Standard Awards MY NIGHT WITH REG By Kevin Elyot David I Bamber Best Actor Olivier Awards Eves 8pm. Wed Sat Mats 4pm Extended due to popular demand Booking to August A OR 6TH EVERY BADA MAY ANTIQUES FAIR THE DUKE OF YORK'S HEADQUARTERS, CHELSEA, LONDON SW3 10TH-16TH MAY 1995 WEEKDAYS: 11.00AM-8.00PM SATURDAY, SUNDAY LAST DAY: PM ORGANIZERS TEL: 0171 823 5901 FAX: 0171 823 5903 nousness to build an EEC Brylcreem-mountain: small wonder that Benny falls for handsome Jack Foley (Chris O'Donnell), a college rugby star agonising about following his father's vocation as a doctor, when she arrives to study in Dublin. Catholic repression is amusingly offset with lectures on Malinowski's anthropological classic about the sexual freedom by adolescent Trobriand Islanders, The Sexual Life of Savages, but the costs of ignorance are revealed when Nan, seduced and dropped by weak, wealthy Simon Westward (Colin Firth), feels driven to an act of betrayal. The obligatory happy ending is a mite contrived, but there is much else to enjoy especially the strength and vulnerability of Driver's performance. DOMINION Ticketlines 0171 416 6060.

420 0000 (bkg fee). Grps 0171 416 413 0200. GREASE and Starring SAMANTHA SHANE RICHIE JANUS US 'Fast, furious fun, fun, fun' D.Mirror Eves 7.30, Mats Wed Sat 3pm. SOME GREAT SEATS AVAIL MON-THUR DONMAR WAREHOUSE 369 1732 OUR BOYS DRURY LANE THEATRE ROYAL SS cc (bkg fee) 24hr 7 days 0171 494 344 420 0000 Groups 0171 312 5454. MISS SAIGON CLASSIC LOVE STORY OF OUR TIME" NOW IN 6TH SENSATIONAL YEAR! Eves 7.45 Mats Sat at 3pm.

Good seats available for Wed Mat apply B.O. BOOKINGS PERSONAL CALLERS (0171 494 5060) (bkg fee). DUCHESS cC 0171-494 5070 cc 344 4444 (no bkg fee) 836 2428 (bkg fee). Groups 0171 413 3321. Eves 8, Wed Mat 3, Sat 5 8.30.

"A SAUCY COMEDY" E.Std. NOW IN ITS 5th YEAR A DON'T DRESS FOR DINNER "GLORIOUSLY OUTRAGEOUS" T.Out. DUKE OF YORK'S 0171 836 CC 420 4444 (no fee) Gps 413 7941 ROBIN COUSINS NICHOLAS PARSONS Star in RICHARD O'BRIEN'S THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW The Worlds Most Popular Rock Roll Musical "so funny, so fast, so sexy" D.Mail '94 Opens 17 May FORTUNE BO CC 0171-836 2238 CC 420 0000 (24hrs no fee) 344 4444 (no Grps 413 3321 "A FEAST OF D.Mail JOHN MICHAEL NORMINGTON GRANDAGE Susan Hill's THE WOMAN IN BLACK Adapted by Stephen Mallatratt "THE MOST THRILLING PLAY FOR YEARS" Gdn Mon-Sat 8pm Mats Tues 3pm Sat 4pm GARRICK 0171 494 5510 CC 344 "Sean 0'Casey's greatest a ect production by Joe Dowling Obs THE PLOUGH AND THE STARS "glows blazes with passion feeling TO BE MISSED" Sun Times Strictly limited season to 10 June only Eves 7.45 Mats Thurs Sat 2.30pm GIELGUD 0171 494 4444 Rupert Graves Marcus D'Amico Rachel Weisz Nicholas Clay in NOEL COWARD'S DESIGN FOR LIVING MATHIAS 'TRIUMPHANT' D. Mail Eves 7.45pm, Thur Sat Mats 3 pm FINAL 5 WEEKS OF LONDON'S MOST SENSATIONAL PRODUCTION HAYMARKET 0171 930 8800 24hr 7 Day cc with Fee 344 0000 Evenings 7.30. Matinees Wed Sat 2.30.

DEARBHLA MOLLOY PAUL SHELLEY The National Theatre Production of Tom Stoppard's 'MASTERPIECE' D. Tel ARCADIA Directed by TREVOR NUNN BEST PLAY OF THE YEAR Evening Standard Drama Award 1993 Laurence Olivier Award LAST 4 WEEKS! ENDS JUNE 3 HER MAJESTY'S 24hr 494 5400 (bkg fee) CC 0171 344 0000 (bkg fee) Group Sales 0171 930 6123. ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER'S AWARD WINNING MUSICAL THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA Directed by HAROLD PRINCE NOW BOOKING TO 9 DECEMBER 1995 Eves 7.45, Mats Wed Sat 3.00 Apply to Box Office Daily for Returns OWN in Brooklyn, life is for a Michael remorseless (Sean hustle Nelson), the bright, taciturn 12-year-old hero Boaz Yakin's intriguing Fresh. This is a ghetto picture with a difference. No rap soundtrack; instead, a dark, seething wash of guitar and strings from Stewart Copeland.

And despite some shocking violence, it's both provocative and moving. Those who believe children grow up too fast nowadays will have that conviction redoubled by the story of Fresh, for such is Michael's street name. Living in a crowded foster-home, the boy cuts classes to run errands for drug-dealers, learning speed-chess moves between times from his talented but broken father (Samuel L. Jackson, of Pulp Fiction fame, in a performance of angry integrity). Fresh has an "in" with the pimpish local heroin dealer, Esteban (Giancarlo Esposito), who exacts sexual favours from Fresh's elder sister, Niaddicted, (N'bushe Wright), and with the psychotic crackdealer Corky (Ron Brice).

After witnessing the tragic murder of a young girl, the boy plays off the two sides against each other a cool strategist with a hidden agenda. There's gritty, slowburning poetry the film, coupled with a recognition that the worst of inner-city poverty, casualty, dren are pushed into perilous LONDON PALLADIUM 0171 494 4444 (£1 tkt serv 420 0000 Grps 0171 420 0200 JONATHAN PRYCE in OLIVER! "'LIONEL BART'S MASTERPIECE. ASK FOR MORE" S. Times Eves 7.30, Mats Wed Sat 2.30 CHECK DAILY WITH B.O. FOR RETURNS AND CANCELLATIONS LYRIC Shafts Ave BO cc 0171 494 5045 cc 416 6066 Grps 494 0200.

"FIVE STAR ENTERTAINMENT" S. Times AIN'T MISBEHAVIN' THE FATS WALLER MUSICAL "PURE YOUR BREATH AWAY" D.Mail Eves 8pm Mats Thur 3pm, Sat 5pm NATIONAL THEATRE BO 0171 928 2252: Grps 0171 620 0741; 24hr cc bkg fee 0171 420 0000 OLIVIER Ton't 7.15, Tomor 2.00 7.15 WOMEN OF TROY Euripides in a translation by Kenneth McLeish LYTTELTON Tomor (PREVIEW) 7.30 ABSOLUTE HELL Rodney Ackland COTTESLOE Ton't 7.30, Tomor 2.30 7.30 (LAST PERFS) THE BLUE BALL Paul Godfrey NEW LONDON Drury Lane WC2 BO 0171 405 0072 CC 0171 404 4079 24hr 0171 344 420 0000. Groups 0171 930 6123 THE ANDREW LLOYD T.S. ELIOT INTERNATIONAL AWARD-WINNING MUSICAL CATS Eves 7.45 Mats Tue Sat 3.00. LATECOMERS NOT ADMITTED WHILE AUDITORIUM IS IN MOTION.

PLEASE BE PROMPT. Bars open at 6.45. LIMITED NUMBER SEATS AVAIL DAILY FROM BOX OFFICE OPEN AIR THEATRE Regents Park 0171 486 2431 486 344 4444 (Bkg Fee) RICHARD III Prevs from May 26 A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM Joins Rep June 12 THE MUSIC MAN Joins Rep July 25 BOOK NOW! PALACE THEATRE BO 0171 434 0909 cc 24hrs (bkg 0171 344 0000 Group Sales 0171 930 6123 Groups 0171 494 1671. THE WORLD'S MOST POPULAR MUSICAL LES MISERABLES Eves 7.30 Mats Thu Sat 2.30. Latecomers not admitted until the interval LIMITED NUMBER OF SEATS AVAIL DAILY FROM BOX OFFICE.

PHOENIX 0171 369 344 4444. 0171 420 0000 Groups 0171 930 6123 BEST MUSICAL Awards. Plays and Novello Awards WILLY RUSSELL'S BLOOD BROTHERS STEPHANIE LAWRENCE S. Express. the audience to its feet, and roaring its approval" D.

Mail. Eves 7.45, Mats Thur 3.00, Sat 4.00. PICCADILLY 369 0000 "BEST NEW MUSICAL IN MoS ONLY THE LONELY ORBISON STORY "ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC!" Cap Rad 5.15/8.15, Sat Sun 4 ALL SEATS PRICE FRI 5.15 PERF NB: SUNDAY MATINEE AT 4PM PRINCE EDWARD 0171 734 8951 cc (24hr no bkg fee) First Call 0171. 420 344 4444 Groups 930 6123 BEST MUSICAL Laurence Olivier Awards 1993 ALL SINGING ALL DANCING ALL GERSHWIN CRAZY FOR YOU "PUTS THE BRIGHT LIGHTS BACK IN THE WEST END IN DAZZLING STYLE" Mail on Sunday. Eves 7.45, Mats Thu Sat 3.00 GOOD SEATS AVAIL THIS WEEK Grp's 0171 413 3321 PRINCE OF SALES, 0171 839 420 Barry Manilow's 'An Evening of Pure Delight' D.

Mail The Hit Musical Starring DARREN DAY 'Nothing Can Possibly Top This' D. Tel Nominated Best Musical Olivier Awards Eves 8 p.m. Mats Wed Sat 3 p.m. Group discounts available SEATS NOW AVAILABLE FRESH (18 cert, 113 mins) THE MAN BY THE SHORE (no cert, 105 mins) SIN COMPASION (15 cert, 117 mins) games of survival, is innocence. No 12-year-old should have to be this manly, nor this ruthless.

The beauty of it wish-fulfilment, maybe is that for once a pawn wins the game, and for the noblest of reasons. Adult violence is seen through the eyes of a much more helpless innocent -an eight-year-old girl growing up under "Papa" Doc Duvalier's Haitian regime during the Sixties in Raoul Peck's subtle, chilling The Man by the Shore (L'Homme sur les Quais). Here we find a pervasive sense of evil festering beneath the tropical heat among empty, sun-blinded streets. Sarah (Jennifer Zubar), a dreamy girl, lives with her redoubtable grandmother (Toto Bissainthe) while her parents remain in enforced exile. She plays solitary games in a shady attic, for friendship is difficult in such a fearful climate.

One day Sarah accidentally witnesses the brutal beating of her uncle, Sorel (Patrick Rameau), whom we meet later as a pathetic, clowning cripple. She cries out from a balcony as her soldier father Latour) tries in QUEEN'S 0171 494 5041 cc 420 344 4444 Groups 930 6123 EXPLOSIVE DANCE, COOL JAZZ HOT MIKADO Previews from 18 May. Opens 24 May ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY LONDON (0171 638 8891) BARBICAN: TWELFTH NIGHT Ton't 7.15, Tomor 2.00 7.15 THE PIT: AFTER EASTER Ton't 7.15, Tomor 2.00 7.15. STRATFORD (01789 295623) RST: THE TAMING OF THE SHREW Ton't 7.30, Tomor 1.30. SWAN: THE RELAPSE Ton't 7.30, Tomor 1.30.

SAVOY 0171 836 cc days no bkg fee 420 0000 Grps 413 8000 Winner 5 1995 Laurence Olivier Musical Awards JOHN GORDON RUTHIE SINCLAIR HENSHALL ACTOR BEST ACTRESS BEST DIRECTOR BEST SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE BEST MUSICAL REVIVAL SHE LOVES ME BEST MUSICAL Critics Circle Award Mon-Sat 7.45. Mats Wed Sat 3.00 SHAFTESBURY BO 0171 379 5399 CC 24hr 344 4444 Grps 930 6123 GORDEN RUE KAYE McCLANAHAN HARVEY by MARY CHASE Dir by CLIFFORD WILLIAMS Prevs May Opens 18 May Eves 7.45, Mats Thu Sat 2.30 FOR A LIMITED SEASON ST. MARTINS 071 836. 1443 (no bkg fee) 071 497 9977 (bkg fee), groups 071 312 1994 (no bkf fee) Eves 8 Tues 2.45 Sat 5 8. 43rd YEAR OF AGATHA A CHRISTIE'S THE MOUSETRAP STRAND 0171 930 8800 or 0171 344 0000 bkg fee.

DON'T MISS LONDON'S 'BIG I HIT' Gdn A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE Tue- Sat 7.45. Mats Thu 2.0, 3.0 FINAL 5 WEEKS BOOK NOW! VAUDEVILLE 0171 836 9987 cc 0171 420 0000 (No Fees) DIRECT FROM SELL SUCCESS AT THE NATIONAL THEATRE DEALER'S CHOICE' by PATRICK MARBER Evgs 7.45 Sat 5.0, 8.15 Mats Wed 3.0 vain to stop the cruelty of the local Tonton Macoute boss, Janvier (a performance of dead Michel Martial). menace from The story unfolds in flashback, three decades on, with a reflective voice-over commenting on the obscurations of a memory clouded by terror. Janvier coils round the family like a python, helping himself to goods from the their small shop, awaiting his chance; it comes when Grandmother bravely stands up to the petty demands of the vulgar, spiteful Mme Janvier. A haunting film, lingering in the mind like a bad dream.

Just as grim, in its way, is Sin an impressive updating of Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment from Peruvian director Francisco J. Lombardi. It stars Diego Bertie as a poor student who murders his rapacious landlady and her husband, then seeks redemption with a teenaged prostitute, Sonia (Adriana Davila), struggling to support her younger siblings. An odd mixture of ideals, arrogance and nihilism, establishes a complex relationship with the patient detective (Jorge Chiarella) investigating the killings, while a creepy old man Romero) tries to. lure Sonia with the promise of wealth.

Dostoevsky's preoccupations translate rather well to modern Lima a testament to his modernity and a Catholic context. VICTORIA PALACE Box Off CC fee) 0171 834 1317 CC (bkg fee) 0171 344 0000 0000 0 0000 0000 0000 000 0000 Groups 0171 413 930 6123. The Buddy Holly Story "BRILLIANT" Sun. "WONDERFUL STUFF" Sun. Tel.

Mon Thurs 8.00 Fri 5.30 8.30. Sat 5.00 8.30 ALL SEATS PRICE FRI 5.30 PERF. 6TH STUNNING YEAR OVER 2200 PERFORMANCES Booking till the year 2000! FULLY WHITEHALL 0171 369 4444 OLIVIER AWARD WINNER 1995 MARIA FRIEDMAN BY EXTRA SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT Sings Gershwin, Porter, Sondheim Previewing Now, Opens 16 May Tues-Fri 8, Sat 6 8.45, Sun 4 WYNDHAMS 0171 369 1746 cc (no bkg fee) 0171 344 4444 JULIET STEVENSON "FUNNY, D. Tel SIMON RUSSELL BEALE ROBERT GLENISTER THE DUCHESS OF MALFI by John Webster "PHILIP FRANKS IS Eve Std Eves 7.30 Mats Wed Sat 3.00 CINEMAS CURZON MAYFAIR Curzon St. 0171 369 1720 (no bkg fee).

LE COLONEL CHABERT (PG), Progs at 1.15 (not Sun), 3.35, 6.00, 8.30 CURZON PHOENIX Phoenix St. off Charing Cross Rd 0171 369 1721 (no bkg fee) THE MADNESS OF KING GEORGE (PG), Progs at 1.35 (not Sun), 3.55, 6.15, 8.35. CURZON WEST END Shaftesbury Ave W1 0171 369 1722 (no bkg fee). DEATH AND THE MAIDEN (18) Progs at 1.25 (not Sun), 3.45, 6.10, 8.35 THE GREEN ROOM at The Cafe Royal London's Premier Cabaret Nightclub. BLOSSOM DEARIE 16 May 3 June 1995 RESIDENT BAND, BAR, DANCING TIL 3am Tues-Sat, Dinner 7pm, Cabaret 9.15 pm.

Dinner Cabaret £48. Cabaret only £20. For bookings please call: 071 437 9090 The Daily Telegraph Telegraph Books EMPLOYMENT LAW 1995 New Edition The Practical Guide for Personnel Managers, Trade Union Officials, Employers, Employees and Lawyers by Christopher Waud £14.95 Paperback (add £1.00 overseas) Available from bookshops or by telephoning THE 24 HOUR BOOKLINE ON 01279 626100 for Express Or send your order (made payable to Telegraph Books) to: Telegraph Books, PO Box 50, Harlow, Essex CM17 ODZ Please allow 21 days for delivery (50 overseas) if you do not wish to receive mailings of offers or services from other companies carefully selected by The Telegraph ple, please tick this box A KOGAN PAGE.