Seen on Screen: Love Stories, Period Pieces and a Searing Moral Thriller

Not everyone rushes headlong into Valentine’s Day, so perhaps it’s appropriate that February’s cinematic and television programming has a bit of something for everyone. For the diehard romantics, you’ve got Heathcliff on the moors, Alexander Skarsgård in BDSM gear and Bridgerton House in full swing. For anyone craving a laugh, there’s a returning dramedy, a standalone Marvel property and a very messy takedown of modern vanity. And for the arthouse crowd, look out for movies that fared well at Cannes and beyond.

Here are our top picks for the best things to watch this month, at home or in the cinema.

For another look at vanity-driven body horror: The Beauty

Brace yourself for some major flashbacks to The Substance. Not only does this TV series centre on a beauty hack that has nightmarish side effects, it also features Ashton Kutcher, the former husband of The Substance star Demi Moore. You can also expect an equally campy tone, thanks to creator Ryan Murphy. But none of this should turn you off. Murphy is one of the most prolific and profitable creators in modern television, and this cast includes Murphy regular Evan Peters alongside Rebecca Hall, Anthony Ramos and – hopefully riffing on her, ahem, immortal role in Death Becomes Her – the one and only Isabella Rossellini. And, to be fair, the Fountain of Youth stand-in here is an STI, which makes for a fun extra layer of transmittable body horror. On Disney+ now.

For healing laughs drawn from life’s deepest pain: Shrinking S3

Already renewed for a fourth season, Shrinking expands its focus in its third outing. You’ve still got late-career Harrison Ford playing the assertive foil to an uncertain Jason Segel, a grieving widower who’s about to become an empty nester when his daughter leaves for college. Yet their central pair of chaotic therapists is bolstered by a deep ensemble cast, including Jessica Williams, Brett Goldstein and Michael Urie. Also in the fold now are high-profile guests Jeff Daniels and Candice Bergen, plus Michael J Fox, who bonds with Ford’s character as they each negotiate Parkinson’s disease. True to form for co-creator Bill Lawrence (Ted Lasso, Scrubs), this dramedy is about laughing through life’s deepest pain and finding happiness amid the minefield of mental health. On Apple TV now.

For a Marvel binge that doesn’t require homework: Wonder Man

As Marvel seeds the hype for fate-of-the-universe title Avengers: Doomsday, its TV shows are sticking to a more street-level vibe. And so we have this winking reinvention of Wonder Man, a B-tier character who’s also a Hollywood actor. Comic-book veteran Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (Watchmen, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom) plays Simon Williams, leaning into anxiety as he attends thankless auditions and tries to hide his superpowers. The tone is even more comedic than recent Marvel properties like Thunderbolts, with extra points given for casting Succession standout Arian Moayed as an agent of Damage Control, a government body tasked with cleaning up after destructive heroes. Dropped as an eight-episode binge, this series should function just as well as a light-hearted standalone as it does in the larger MCU framework. On Disney+ now.

For a Cinderella story within a familiar family: Bridgerton S4

Netflix’s blockbuster Regency romance has a fresh new love story in its fourth season. The focus shifts to Benedict Bridgerton (Luke Thompson), whose mother firmly instructs him to go out and find himself a wife. She even throws a lavish masquerade ball to aid the process, only for him to fall for a masked lady in silver who flees at midnight in Cinderella fashion. As Benedict searches for his tantalising match in the days that follow, he doesn’t know he’s looking for a maid named Sophie (Yerin Ha). Other fun, steamy plotlines are sure to orbit that main story, and Bridgerton can always be relied upon to upend stereotypes about period melodramas while ramping up the gossipy intrigue and behind-closed-doors sexuality of it all. On Netflix January 29 (Part 1) and February 26 (Part 2).

For a moral thriller filmed in secret: It Was Just an Accident

It Was Just an Accident took home the top honours at both Cannes and the Sydney Film Festival last year – and has since scooped up two Oscar nominations. It’s a searing moral thriller from Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, who has previously served prison terms for making movies criticising the Iranian regime. Panahi filmed this one in secret without official permits, only adding gravity to a story about former political prisoners determined to exact revenge on their erstwhile tormentor. The only problem? They can’t be sure that the man they’ve captured is actually him, a glaring point of uncertainty that plunges them into an ethical quagmire. As the group drive the man around Tehran in the back of a van, they must finally decide what to do with him. In cinemas January 29.

For a maximalist new take on a classic: Wuthering Heights

We read the novel in school. We know the Kate Bush song. Now we get a maximalist retelling of Emily Brontë’s tragic love story from Emerald Fennell, the provocative English writer-director of Saltburn and Promising Young Woman. What’s more, it stars two top-tier Australian actors in Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi. Other surefire selling points include a Valentine’s Day weekend release and a full soundtrack album from Charli XCX, whose brat-inspired mockumentary The Moment also comes to cinemas this month. We can always count on Fennell to deliver bold colours, lusty longing and barbed feminist commentary, which should only amplify this enduring period tale set among the moody West Yorkshire moors. Expect a lot of couples to show up for this one – and a lot of cathartic crying. In cinemas February 12.

For a self-aware heist saga on the streets of LA: Crime 101

Chris Hemsworth channels the Los Angeles crime classic Heat (with a touch of his own Blackhat) in Crime 101, a pulpy heist saga named after LA’s major north-south highway. Not only does he play a high-end thief guided by a firm set of rules, he also ends up sharing an intimate scene with the cop who’s doggedly pursuing him. That would be Mark Ruffalo, fresh off his similar role as an FBI agent in the HBO hit Task and who, of course, spent years playing Hulk to Hemsworth’s Thor. The supporting cast is Oscar calibre itself and includes Halle Berry, Barry Keoghan, Monica Barbaro, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Nick Nolte. Catch it on the big screen before it comes to Amazon Prime later this year. In cinemas February 12.

For a BDSM love story set in regional England: Pillion

If a film’s logline calls its lead “impossibly handsome”, that’s usually reason to be suspicious. But in the case of Pillion, which stars Alexander Skarsgård as a gay biker who finds a new submissive, it’s hard to argue. This sleeper A24 entry has quietly racked up a lot of awards, including Best Screenplay at Cannes for writer-director Harry Lighton. Named for the passenger position on a motorbike, the movie follows a shy young man (Harry Melling, best known as Dudley Dursley in the Harry Potter movies) who gets swept up in a passionate, often tender BDSM relationship that not everyone around him accepts. Boasting a 100 per cent score on Rotten Tomatoes as of this writing, the movie looks to be a kinky yet very English take on rom-com tropes. In cinemas February 19.