It's the human factor in Homeland that makes it thrilling

Simon McBurney brings dazzling technology to his Bulgakov adaptation but little clarity. A Sondheim evergreen, meanwhile, is as fresh as ever

Rebecca Hall's author, Florence, is a supernatural sceptic who debunks supposedly ghostly happenings in 1921 Britain.

Kubrick's dystopian 1972 vision sparked both moral outrage and admiration. Jonathan Romney, and those involved, look back on a monument of modern cinema

Borgen, a new thriller from the makers of The Killing, centres on a trailblazing female politician. Move over, Sarah Lund, says Gerard Gilbert

Move over, Sarah Lund, says Gerard Gilbert

She's back, sporting a new red jumper and tasked with solving another gruesome crime.

She's back, sporting a new red jumper and tasked with solving another gruesome crime.

A drama on the terrible issue of child trafficking deserves better than to have as its hero the most characterless TV character this side of Christine Bleakley

I've long been of the opinion that subtitles paper over the cracks in a foreign film or television series, making it seem marginally more sophisticated than it really is. That the dialogue was incomprehensible to English-speakers in Forbrydelsen (the original Danish version of The Killing), or in the excellent French crime thriller Spiral, disguised any potential bum notes. I'm convinced this is why critical consensus favours the Swedish series of Wallander over Kenneth Branagh's, rather than any genuine gulf in class. In fact, I can assure you with some conviction that there were shonky lines in Forbrydelsen, because I happen to live with a Danish screenwriter, and she told me so. (This is not a joke.) Still, the first episode of the American remake served only to remind me of the original's considerable qualities.

Readers review this week's big film

A terrified teenage girl runs for her life; a secretive detective finds herself lumbered with a difficult case as she prepares to leave for a new life; a devastated family struggle to come to terms with their daughter's murder.

Dr Strangelove, Kubrick's crowning achievement, is sadly missing but the seven films in this nicely packaged Blu-ray collection are still, well, awesome.

In what was an unusually strong Cannes competition, there were arguably two films that stood above the others – in terms of formal inventiveness and ambition: Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life and Michel Hazanavicius's black-and-white silent movie The Artist.