True Stories
True Stories are those based (sometimes loosely!) on fact. They cover topics as diverse as drug addiction, poverty, political unrest, the corruption of power, alcoholism, class divisions, sexual inequality, mental illness and other human struggles. Meet some of history's most intriguing characters, find out what it's really like to climb a mountain or paint a masterpiece. Truly, the True Story is one of cinema's most engaging and enthralling genres.
Bio-pics feature in this section and are also gathered together separately under the 'Biography' sublink left.
Pictured: Inside the Las Vegas mob, Scorsese's unromantic 'Goodfellas'
Love and Mercy ( Blu-ray ) (2014)
Director: Bill Pohlad
Starring: John Cusack, Paul Giamatti, Elizabeth Banks, Paul Dano
Bill Pohlad's Love & Mercy, a biopic of Beach Boys mastermind Brian Wilson, focuses on two distinct periods in the songwriter's life. One timeline fol... Read more
Love in Thoughts (2004)
7.1/10
Director: Achim von Borries
Starring: Thure Lindhardt, Daniel Bruhl, August Diehl
Inspired by a true story, this atmospheric German drama examines the unlikely friendship between working-class poet Paul and wealthy daredevil Guenthe... Read more
Love is Strange (1998)
6.7/10
Director: Annette Haywood-Carter
Starring: Kate Nelligan, Ron Silver
Kathryn (Kate Nelligan) and Tom (Ron Silver) were opposites whose marriage ended in divorce and bitterness. However, when Kathryn discovers that she h... Read more
Love is the Devil (1998)
6.4/10
Director: John Maybury
Starring: Daniel Craig, Derek Jacobi, Karl Johnson, Tilda Swinton, Anne Lambton
This biography of painter Francis Bacon focuses on his relationship with his lover, George Dyer (Daniel Craig), a former small time crook. Amazingly r... Read more
Lovelace (2013)
6.2/10
Director: Jeffrey Friedman, Rob Epstein
Starring: Chloe Sevigny, Eric Roberts, Hank Azaria, Robert Patrick, Sharon Stone, Wes Bent...
In 1972 - before the internet, before the porn explosion - "Deep Throat" was a phenomenon: the first scripted pornographic theatrical feature film, fe... Read more
Loving (2016)
7/10
Director: Jeff Nichols
Starring: Marton Csokas, Joel Edgerton, Michael Shannon, Nick Kroll, Ruth Negga
From acclaimed writer/director Jeff Nichols ('Mud'), 'Loving' celebrates the real-life courage and commitment of an interracial couple, Richard and Mi... Read more
Lust For Life (1956)
7.4/10
Director: Vincente Minnelli
Starring: Kirk Douglas, Anthony Quinn, James Donald
A brilliant adaptation of Irving Stone's biography of artist Vincent Van Gogh, vividly portraying his anguished life, with Kirk Douglas offering one o... Read more
Luther (2003)
6.6/10
Director: Eric Till
Starring: Joseph Fiennes, Alfred Molina, Jonathan Firth, Claire Cox, Peter Ustinov, Bruno...
Joseph Fiennes delivers a fine performance in the title role of this affecting religious biodrama. When the Pope orders his priests to sell absolution... Read more
Luther (1974)
6.8/10
Director: Guy Green
Starring: Stacy Keach, Patrick Magee, Hugh Griffith, Judi Dench
It seems fitting that theatre's protesting, angry young man John Osborne ("Look Back in Anger", "The Entertainer") should write a play about one of hi... Read more
M Butterfly (1993)
6.8/10
Director: David Cronenberg
Starring: Barbara Sukowa, Jeremy Irons, John Lone, Ian Richardson
Inspired by the true story and based on the Tony Award-winning play by David Henry Hwang, about the bizarrely extended relationship between a French d... Read more