Pick of the weekThe Beast

Inspired by a Henry James novella, Bertrand Bonello’s anguished sci-fi romance crosses space and time to explore the loneliness, fear and desire that are all part of what makes us human. In 2044, Gabrielle (Léa Seydoux) is persuaded by the AI that controls the world to undergo a past-life regression to “purify” her DNA and rid herself of unacceptably complicated emotions. But in each existence she discovers a deep connection with George MacKay’s Louis. In 1910, she’s a bourgeois Parisian wife with an existential dread of disaster (“the beast”) attracted to his English gentleman. In 2014 Los Angeles, she’s an actor menaced by his incel stalker. Back in the future, could he be her soulmate?
Wednesday 19 August, 11.40pm, Film4

---

Signal OneLearning the language … Isabelle Fuhrman is tech prodigy Annika in Signal One. Photograph: Mark Kudel

One for fans of Denis Villeneuve’s film Arrival and the Netflix thriller 3 Body Problem, Jonathan Sobol’s science-fiction puzzler also digs into the complexities of first contact with extraterrestrials. Dennis Quaid’s tech billionaire Sam lures computer genius Annika (Isabelle Fuhrman) to his Caribbean island, where David Thewlis’s physicist Perry is on the verge of communicating with aliens. But how do you talk to them? And are they friendly or hostile? A sharp mystery in which scientific hubris vies with humanity.
Saturday 15 August, 3.05pm, 10.20pm, Sky Cinema Premiere

---

The BatmanMoody … Robert Pattinson in The Batman. Photograph: Landmark Media/Alamy

Probably the most brooding Batman on record, Robert Pattinson’s masked vigilante barely raises his voice above a whisper or his hopes above the despairing in Matt Reeves’s wonderfully dark take on the urban hero. In a crime-sodden Gotham, the murder of the mayor by a killer with a penchant for riddles plunges Bruce Wayne and his alter ego into a reckoning with widespread corruption and his own legacy. Zoë Kravitz, as the cat-like Selina Kyle, and Colin Farrell, unrecognisable as the Penguin, provide the zing as our implacable do-gooder battles chaos.
Saturday 15 August, 9pm, ITV2

---

The Wedding SingerPerfect harmony … Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler star in The Wedding Singer. Photograph: Moviestore/REX/Shutterstock

The first inkling that there was more to Adam Sandler than puerile physical comedy came with this 1998 romantic comedy set in 1985. A streak of melancholic sweetness runs through his portrayal of the titular musician, Robbie, who loses his way after being dumped at the altar. Will helping the ineffably lovely Julia (Drew Barrymore) plan her own nuptials cure him of his gloom? As weird as it may seem to make a film nostalgic for the previous decade, the wall-to-wall 80s bangers make it a pretty joyful experience.
Monday 17 August, 6.20pm, Sky Cinema Greats

---

Monkey ManTaking revenge … Dev Patel stars in Monkey Man. Photograph: NBC Universal/Universal Studios

You wouldn’t necessarily expect Dev Patel’s directorial debut to be an extremely violent action thriller. But this was a passion project for the actor, and he throws himself wholeheartedly into the tale of an Indian underground fighter who wears a monkey mask and is paid to take a beating. Then he sees the police chief (Sikandar Kher) who murdered his mother when he was a kid and vows revenge. Mixing social and political commentary in with the close-quarter fisticuffs, it’s an impressive first effort.
Wednesday 19 August, 11.30pm, BBC One

---

Novak Djokovic: The Wolf in WinterA different man … Cameras follow the tennis great in Novak Djokovic: The Wolf in Winter. Photograph: Amazon MGM Studios

“He’s soft and gentle … but he’s also angry.” Jelena Djokovic’s assessment of her husband is the knotty thread that runs through Jason Hehir’s documentary about a giant of tennis who has yet to be forgiven for surpassing the achievements of crowd favourites Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. His intensity and stubbornness (a Serbian national trait, we’re told) hasn’t endeared him to the public but, as we go behind the scenes at the 2025 Australian Open and meet an honest, engaging family man with a long history of tough choices, this film could go some way to changing minds.
Thursday 20 August, Prime Video

---

Les Yeux Sans VisageFace time … Edith Scob and Alida Valli in the unsettling Les Yeux Sans Visage. Photograph: Cinetext/The Criterion Collection/Allstar

Georges Franju’s arresting 1960 horror is as interested in dreamlike images as jump-scare moments of terror – and in Edith Scob’s Christiane has a monster with the pathos of Frankenstein’s creature. Disfigured after a car accident, she sports a lifelike but eerie facial mask and drifts around her country house like a pale white ghost. Meanwhile, her surgeon father, Dr Génessier (Pierre Brasseur), and his assistant Louise (Alida Vall) abduct young women to supply full-face skin grafts for her. It’s occasionally grisly but mostly unsettling.
Friday 21 August, 12.50am, Talking Pictures TV