Fedora

A shamefully underrated film, Fedora is Wilder's testament and one of the most sublime achievements of the '70s. Only superficially does it resemble Sunset Blvd., since time has moved on; appropriately, Fedora is about a star's disastrous attempt to make time stop, and a washed-up producer's efforts to cope with Hollywood's inexorable new generation. Atmospherically set on Corfu, it explores the basis of cinema: realism, illusion, romance and tragedy - in a word, emotion. It's not a flashy film, let alone a cynical one, and it has a narrative assurance beyond the grasp of most directors nowadays: finely acted, mysterious, witty, moving and magnificent.