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'
Plunkett and Macleane (1999)
Director: Jake Scott
Starring: Robert Carlyle, Jonny Lee Miller, Liv Tyler
Set in the 18th century and based on the true story of Will Plunkett, a highwayman whose partner has been killed and who teams up with disgraced soldi... Read more
Pollock (2000)
7/10
Director: Ed Harris
Starring: Ed Harris, Marcia Gay Harden, Tom Bower, Jennifer Connelly, Bud Cort, John Heard...
Fellow artists and lovers Jackson Pollock (Ed Harris) and Lee Krasner (Marcia Gay Harden) are at the centre of New York's 1940s art scene, but as Kras... Read more
Portrait of a Marriage (1990)
7.7/10
Director: Stephen Whittaker
Starring: Janet McTeer, David Haig, Cathryn Harrison, Diana Fairfax, Peter Birch
British aristocrat and writer Vita Sackville-West and diplomat Harold Nicolson married in 1913, and their love endured and deepened over the course of... Read more
Postcards From The Edge (1990)
6.7/10
Director: Mike Nichols
Starring: Meryl Streep, Shirley MacLaine, Dennis Quaid
Based on Carrie Fisher's best selling autobiographical novel and revolving around the caustic relationship between a mother and daughter and satirisin... Read more
Prayers for Bobby (2009)
8.1/10
Director: Russell Mulcahy
Starring: Henry Czerny, Sigourney Weaver, Carly Schroeder, Ryan Kelley, Austin Nichols
Sigourney Weaver stars in the amazing true story of Mary Griffith, a mother torn between her loyalties, challenged by her faith, and moved by a traged... Read more
Prick Up Your Ears (1987)
7.4/10
Director: Stephen Frears
Starring: Gary Oldman, Alfred Molina, Vanessa Redgrave, Julie Walters, Wallace Shawn
The sexual life and personal relationships of English playwright Joe Orton are unflinchingly presented in this no-holds-barred dramatic account. Gary... Read more
Pride (2014)
7.8/10
Director: Matthew Warchus
Starring: Imelda Staunton, Bill Nighy, Dominic West
Based on the inspirational true story. Set in the summer of 1984 Margaret Thatcher is in power and the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) is on... Read more
Priest of Love (1981)
6.6/10
Director: Christopher Miles
Starring: Ava Gardner, Ian McKellen, Janet Suzman, John Gielgud
This biographical film provides insight into the life of renowned British author D.H. Lawrence (Ian McKellen), best known for his sexually explicit no... Read more
Prince Of Jutland (1996)
Director: Gabriel Axel
Starring: Christian Bale, Gabriel Byrne, Helen Mirren
This European historical saga presents the true tale of intrigue, regicide, incest and insanity on which Shakespeare based 'Hamlet'. Gabriel Byrne and... Read more
Professor Marston and the Wonder Women (2017)
7.1/10
Director: Angela Robinson
Starring: Oliver Platt, Connie Britton, Bella Heathcote, Rebecca Hall, Luke Evans
If behind every great man is a great woman, then Harvard psychologist and inventor Dr. William Moulton Marston has the good fortune of having two -- h... Read more