ACMI presents
A Matter of Life and Death (4K restoration)
Tickets
When
Fri 17 Jan - Sun 26 Jan 2025
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Join us in the cinema for the 4K restoration of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's adored fantasy-romance, direct from Venice.
Squadron Leader Peter Carter is alone in a blazing plane. As he prepares himself for death he confides his innermost secrets to a radio operator. After jumping out of the plane he miraculously survives, meets the woman he spoke to and they fall in love.
Although he appears to be unhurt, he has in fact suffered severe concussion which is accompanied by a series of strange – and stunningly cinematic – hallucinations.
Curator's Note
Powell and Pressburger's glorious fantasy-romance is a technical wonder and a visually arresting creative triumph.
It's surprising to realise that A Matter of Life and Death was produced only seven years after The Wizard of Oz, another technicolor marvel that juxtaposes two worlds, real and imagined in sepia tone and rich colour, respectively. Here, Powell and Pressburger, flip that around, giving the afterlife cool black and white and bathing the real world in vibrant colour, reminding us how beautiful life is.
– Reece Goodwin, Curator (Film & TV)
Its political outspokenness, visual audacity and mannered playing now make it one of the most fondly recalled of all British movies.
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