What to stream, visit and read this month: October 2025 cultural releases
A Guinness family drama, a bold look at American exceptionalism, and a surprising exhibition on unicorns — here are the culture picks worth your time this month.
Art
Unicorn: The Mythical Beast in Art
Museum Barberini, Potsdam
Religious icon, LGBTQIA+ symbol or pointy-horned horse with delusions of grandeur? Featuring artworks more than 4,000 years old, this collection explores our fascination with the unicorn.
‘Unicorn’ runs from 25 October to 1 February 2026
Maria Helena Vieira da Silva: Anatomy of Space
Guggenheim Bilbao, Bilbao
Looking at Lisbon-born French artist Maria Helena Vieira da Silva’s vast abstract canvases can feel like diving under a patchwork blanket. She has also worked in tapestry and stained glass, with an interest in cityscapes.
‘Anatomy of Space’ runs from 16 October to 22 February 2026
Television
House of Guinness
Netflix
Steven Knight, the creator of Peaky Blinders, is back to rifle through history’s grubbiest pages with the wild story behind Ireland’s most famous export. Set in 1860s Dublin and New York, when Guinness was one of the world’s largest breweries, the series follows siblings Arthur (Anthony Boyle), Edward (Louis Partridge), Benjamin (Fionn O’Shea) and Anne (Emily Fairn), saddled with the family legacy after the death of their father, Sir Benjamin Guinness.
‘House of Guinness’ is released on 25 September
The Savant
Apple TV+
“Is it possible to stop a mass shooting before it happens?” asked a 2019 Cosmopolitan article by Andrea Stanley that profiled an anonymous investigator tracking violent misogynists online. Known as “the Savant”, she had an uncanny instinct for knowing when evil words were about to spill into evil deeds. Her story has inspired this nail-biting series starring Jessica Chastain.
‘The Savant’ is released on 26 September
Mr Scorsese
Apple TV+
Martin Scorsese has contributed so much to cinema history that Rebecca Miller’s plan to shoot a single-part documentary ballooned into a five-part epic, shot over half a decade. How very Scorsese-esque. Miller, the director behind Greta Gerwig-fronted comedy Maggie’s Plan, was allowed unrestricted access to his private archives, plus the time and insights of the filmmaker and his closest collaborators.
‘Mr Scorsese’ is released on 17 October
Film
A House of Dynamite
Kathryn Bigelow
The Oscar-winning director of The Hurt Locker returns after an eight-year absence with another politically charged thriller, led by Idris Elba and Rebecca Ferguson. The White House scrambles to respond to a missile from an unknown source. Kathryn Bigelow’s clear-eyed lens on geopolitics and knack for action make for a complex look at American exceptionalism.
‘A House of Dynamite’ is released on 3 October
Souleymane’s Story
Boris Lojkine
This socio-realist drama delivers a raw, urgent glimpse into the precarious life of an undocumented immigrant bike courier in Paris faced with only two days to gather the funds for his asylum papers. The film exposes systemic exploitation and fragile hope within a flawed asylum process and an exploitative gig economy, anchored by Abou Sangaré’s breakthrough performance. Boris Lojkine’s unflinching direction expertly balances grit with sensitive humanity.
‘Souleymane’s Story’ is released on 17 October
After the Hunt
Luca Guadagnino
The prolific Luca Guadagnino follows last year’s Queer and Challengers with a psychological thriller. Julia Roberts plays a professor caught up in a scandal when her protégée Maggie (Ayo Edebiri) accuses her fellow professor Hank (Andrew Garfield) of assault. Edebiri holds her own against the two A-listers, as Garfield twists his charisma to create a mercurial, menacing presence.
After the Hunt’ is released on 20 October
Music
Tron: Ares (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Nine Inch Nails
Trent Reznor, vocalist of industrial-rock stalwarts Nine Inch Nails, has become a successful go-to for soundtracks. Last year, sexy electro beats drove his music for Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers. Now he returns with his first soundtrack with his band for the latest film in sci-fi franchise Tron. Lead single “As Alive as You Need Me to Be” is pure NIN, its rocky danceability nodding to the films’ futuristic themes.
‘Tron: Ares (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)’ is out now
Interior
Zimmer90
After creating a buzz on social media, German duo Zimmer90 have released their debut album. As its title suggests, the Freiburg-based duo are looking inward, via a selection of gentle songs with melancholic touches. Among the highlights are “Makes Me Wanna Dance”, a delightful piece of bubbly pop, and “Wait for You”, an enchanting 1990s-style electronica tune.
‘Interior’ is out now
The Art of Loving
Olivia Dean
Dean’s dulcet tones, easy-listening songs and warm persona have made her a big hit in her native UK. She has described her sophomore album as a deep dive into the different facets of love. “Nice to Each Other” is an uplifting track about kindness, while “Lady Lady” is a soulful coming-of-age anthem. Next year fans will experience that gorgeous voice on an extensive European tour.
‘The Art of Loving’ is released on 26 September
Photography
Erwin Olaf: Freedom
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
Working in photography but not confined by it, Dutch artist Erwin Olaf used his camera to challenge societal norms, advocate for marginalised groups and deliver provocative advertising campaigns while conjuring moments of pure, unadulterated beauty. This first major exhibition in his homeland since his death in 2023 will debut a poignant, unfinished video work.
‘Freedom’ runs from 11 October to 1 March 2026
Books
The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny
Kiran Desai
India-born US writer Kiran Desai chronicles generational sagas and post-Partition growing pains with cultural sensitivity. This tender epic, which depicts two young diasporic Indians at the start of their writing careers, contemplates the complexities of loving in an era of immigration, displacement and globalisation – and the resulting feelings of loneliness and fragmentation. Desai asks her protagonists whether solitude is necessarily a bad thing.
‘The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny’ is out now
It Girl: The Life and Legacy of Jane Birkin
Marisa Meltzer
When Sotheby’s made history this summer by selling a handbag for €8.6m, there was only one item that it could have been – the original Hermès Birkin. Jane Birkin has often been remembered more for the bag that she inspired and her famous relationships than her work as an actress and singer, but this new biography captures both her colourful life and extraordinary creative talents.
‘It Girl: The Life and Legacy of Jane Birkin’ is published on 6 November
Vaim
Jon Fosse, translated by Damion Searls
In his first novel since winning the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2023, Fosse navigates the dark waters of a coastal Norwegian town. Here, Jatgeir travels by boat to the city of Bjørgvin to procure needle and thread but returns with a woman – the long-lost love of his younger years. As the story unfolds, relationships become complicated and the stakes higher, and Fosse shows his mastery of the unnerving atmosphere and page-turning plot.
‘Vaim’ is published on 23 October
