Eurofile

The National's Christmas folie de grandeur is simply unforgivable

This adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s novel is funny, seditious, intelligent, courageous and beautiful

The Dane had a reputation as a vamp but in truth was as fragile as a gazelle

Why Pierre Choderlos de Laclos's novel remains a story for all eras

Jerzy Połomski, one of the most-loved entertainers in Polish history, has died at the age of 89

The painting made Pablo Picasso the most famous – or notorious – artist in the modern world

Why do the names of Messi and Pochettino sound like they hail from closer to Bologna than to Buenos Aires?

More than a century ago scholars and businessmen went to South America to build railways or set up colleges. They introduced Argentines and Brazilians to football

Duck is revered in Ukraine year-round, but it is particularly suited to winter

Reading the British press in the last few weeks and months, you get the impression there are only two kinds of migrants landing on these shores

Most authors and publishers would be sorry to see it collapse

The writing in Glory Ride – A New Musical feels raw and so do the lyrics, but this show has a fascinating yarn to tell

It is genuinely startling and shocking that this is the first Othello from a black director at a major venue

Jeanne Dielman, directed by Chantal Akerman in 1975, beats Citizen Kane to be voted the best movie ever in Sight and Sound magazine poll

You don’t need to be some sort of Victoriana re-enactment freak in order to appreciate the beauty of gas lamps

Even if the UK eats its normal fill of 11 million turkeys this Christmas, there’s always a place for lamb at the dinner table

Eric Cantona took to the screens in his second act. But even if his films are one day forgotten, the footage of his greatest role – as a footballer – will be replayed for a long, long time

Teenage exploits at the World Cup are once again making a mockery of the notion you can't win anything with kids

Thirty years ago, one writer captured the essence of the game like no one before him

ABBA’s back catalogue has found a new iteration thanks to a symphonic metal outfit from Finland

Classical music's challenge today is to revolutionise thinking and reinvigorate interest. A new, showy Messiah is one step

What attracts French film-makers to the DH Lawrence novel that scandalised Britain?

A new documentary explores the interlocking lives, work and collection of film-makers Jan Švankmajer and Eva Švankmajerová

In the 1980s Bilbao was on its knees. A hugely ambitious new art gallery changed all that

The German spent a lifetime seeking a creative place as far as possible from the vivid horrors of his past

The language survived until the mid-1800s, long after most other Romance dialects in the Balkans disappeared

No amount of effort can get over this dime-a-dozen children's show's innate tiredness

Over the years this enormously popular production has taken on a life of its own

The current and curious inversions of racial prejudice that have resulted in people pretending to be black or brown mirror those of snobbery that accompanied the cultural revolutions of my youth

The Italian's conducting was so intense a friend swore he'd seen a white glow around him

There is usually no link between how a word sounds and what it means. But there are some notable exceptions

Sardines are making more appearances on restaurant menus today, and we might heed their example