In the mid-17th, the court of Cosmo Medici gather to watch a play.

Quills begins in Paris during the Reign of Terror, with the incarcerated Marquis de Sade penning a story about the libidinous Mademoiselle Renard, a ravishing young aristocrat who meets the imprisoned preeminent sadist.

In Ireland, 1964, so-called "fallen" women are considered sinners who needed to be redeemed.

A Man for All Seasons is a 1988 American made-for-television drama film about St. Thomas More, directed by and starring Charlton Heston.

The film begins during a thunderstorm in 1505, as Luther is returning to his home.

In 1934, Winston Churchill is deep in his wilderness years, and struggling to complete his biography of his ancestor the Duke of Marlborough, which he hopes will revive his fortunes.

The film closely follows the "American" version of Brecht's play Galileo. In 1609 Galileo is a mathematics professor in Padua, Italy.

Following the death of her husband Francis II of France in 1560, Mary, Queen of Scots (Vanessa Redgrave) returns to her native land.

12 Years a Slave is a 2013 biographical period-drama film and an adaptation of the 1853 slave memoir Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup, a New York State-born free African-American man who was kidnapped in Washington, D.

Silence is a 2016 epic historical drama film directed by Martin Scorsese and with a screenplay by Jay Cocks and Scorsese, based on the 1966 novel of the same name by Shūsaku Endō.

In the Middle Ages, a Norwegian invasion of Scotland is suppressed by Macbeth, Thane of Glamis, and Banquo.

Elizabeth is a 1998 British biographical period drama film directed by Shekhar Kapur and written by Michael Hirst.

Early one morning in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692, a group of young village girls meet in the woods with a Barbadian slave named Tituba.

In 1792, Spain suffers amid upheaval from the French Revolution.

Pope Joan is a 1972 British historical drama film based on the story of Pope Joan.

Shooting Dogs, released in the United States as Beyond the Gates, is a 2005 film, directed by Michael Caton-Jones and starring John Hurt, Hugh Dancy and Clare-Hope Ashitey.

In 1932, after ten years in the United States, Jimmy Gralton returns to his native Ireland to help his mother run the family farm.

An English bon-vivant osteopath is enchanted with a young exotic dancer and invites her to live with him.

John Wilmot, Second Earl of Rochester (Depp), delivers a prologue of themes of his fondness for drink, his sexual proclivities, and his disdain for his audience.

The film opens with pub landlord and frequent holidaymaker Vic Flange (Sid James) openly flirting with the sassy saucepot widow Sadie Tompkins (Barbara Windsor) as his battleaxe wife, Cora (Joan Sims), looks on with disdain.