Monty Python's The Meaning of Life - by Terry Jones, Terry Gilliam (1983)

Why are we here, what's it all about? The Monty Python-team is trying to sort out the most important question on Earth: what is the meaning of life? They do so by exploring the various stages of life, starting with birth. A doctor seems more interested in his equipment than in delivering the baby or caring for the mother, a Roman Catholic couple have quite a lot of children because 'every sperm is sacred'. In the growing and learning part of life, catholic schoolboys attend a rather strange church service and ditto sex education lesson.

Controsesso / Countersex - by Marco Ferreri, Franco Rossi, Renato Castellani (1964)

The Italians continue their penchant for gang-directed features in this sexploitation comedy. Part one is entitled "Cocaine On Sunday" in which a husband (Nino Manfredi) and wife (Annamaria Ferrero) start snorting the stuff after the friend who owned the bottle is arrested. In part two, Ugo Tognazzi plays a professor who feels he is becoming too much like his elderly maiden aunts. In the final episode, a businesswoman agrees to meet a street musician, but he is frustrated when she is delayed by her vocational priorities.

Mahler - by Ken Russell (1974)

Both trifles and structure are tossed out the door by director Ken Russell in this film. Here, historical content matters not so much as metaphors, feelings, emotions, and interpretations, and pay close attention, as every word and frame is intended to be important. The film takes place on a single train ride, in which the sickly composer Gustav Mahler and his wife, Alma, confront the reasons behind their faltered marriage and dying love.

Strohfeuer - by Volker Schlöndorff (1972)

Margarethe Von Trotta, who later became a well-known film director herself, stars in this film which is directed by her husband Volker Schlondorff. It tells the story of a woman whose divorce has just been finalized. At first, she is joyful and feels very free, but gradually the realities of trying to earn her living in what is still a man's world, and the gritty custody battle for her son, begin to wear her down.