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Genevieve Roberts, Jean-Luc Godard and actress Sandrine Bonnaire

150 hours and counting: the world's longest film goes on

It began as 205 seconds of simplicity – and grew into a celluloid behemoth. Genevieve Roberts on the 'Cinematon'

Inside Arts & Entertainment

The Scarpetta Factor, By Patricia Cornwell

When interviewed by this newspaper, Patricia Cornwell demonstrated the qualities that have put her in pole position in crime fiction: a fierce intelligence and a determination to be the best at what she does – both characteristics of her forensic pathologist, Kay Scarpetta. But Cornwell shares another characteristic of her heroine's, which undercuts her rather fearsome reputation: a certain vulnerability. When asked about the pretenders whose books are routinely straplined with the phrase "the next Patricia Cornwell", she replied plaintively, "I want to be the next Patricia Cornwell!... I want to be one of those young guns again."

Paltrow joins Kidman for gender-bending 'Danish Girl'

Oscar-winners Gwyneth Paltrow and Nicole Kidman are to play husband and wife in an upcoming film about the world's first transsexual, it was reported Monday.

The Cinematic Orchestra, The Roundhouse, London (Rated 4/ 5 )

The Cinematic Orchestra defy classification. Is it jazz? Electronica? Hip-hop or trip-hop? Or movie soundtrack music? What is obvious, though, is that the shape-shifting outfit formed by John Swinscoe in the late 1990s does not lack musical conviction. Which other band could perform an hour-long instrumental accompaniment to an 80-year-old silent Soviet movie and be confident of a capacity crowd?

Lou Reed: Photographer
Wilco, Forum, London (Rated 5/ 5 )
Steve Martin with The Steep Canyon Rangers, Royal Festival Hall, London

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Free podcast: The Bernstein Project at Southbank Centre

Listen to the famed icon’s daughter Jamie Bernstein speak about her father, Leonard Bernstein, with Independent Classical correspondent Edward Seckerson in this podcast specially commissioned for Southbank Centre’s The Bernstein Project.