THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH (1955)
BBC Two, 1.40pm
Billy Wilder would later direct a superior collaboration with Marilyn Monroe in Some Like it Hot, but this snappy New York comedy is still something of a minor classic. Monroe plays the flirty model neighbour of Tom Ewell’s Manhattan writer, who sends his family off to cooler climes while he stays in the sweltering city with his bachelor fantasies. The Seven Year Itch began as a play, in which Ewell not only starred but got to seduce his female co-star. The film version settles for a tamer, family-friendly compromise. (105 min)
THE LAND GIRLS (1998)
Channel 4, 8pm
A familiar rural England of drizzly skies and muddy fields forms the backdrop to David Leland’s wartime rites-of-passage drama. Rachel Weisz, Anna Friel and Catherine McCormack play a mismatched trio of Second World War Land Army volunteers, bonding and bickering over their shared attraction to a local farmer’s son (Steven Mackintosh). The Land Girls is full of nostalgic charms, if somewhat pedestrian in execution. (112min)
MultiChannel
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RECONSTRUCTION (2003)
Artsworld, 10pm
This is a chic psychological puzzle from the the Danish writer-director Christoffer Boe. Nikolaj Lie Kaas stars as a jaded photographer who becomes romantically involved with two women, both played by Maria Bonnevie. With nods to David Lynch, Lars Von Trier and Bertholt Brecht, Boe plays confusing games with identity while constantly stressing the artificiality of cinema itself. The end result is a coolly impressive, prize-winning film noir. (91min)