Some of the biggest names in arthouse cinema have graced the 50th London Film Festival. Paul Verhoeven (Black Book), Lars Von Trier (The Boss of It All), Gianni Amelio (The Missing Star), Otar Iosseliani (Gardens in Autumn), Jan Svankmajer (Lunacy) and Aki Kaurismki (Lights in the Dusk) have all premiered new works. But the pick of the auteur previews have been Nanni Moretti's The Caiman and Claude Chabrol's A Comedy of Power.

The first centres on a conflicted film-maker, as Silvio Orlando tries to cling to the illusion of domestic contentment, while also struggling to raise the funds to shoot first-time scenarist Jasmine Trinca's crime thriller, which is little more than a thinly veiled expos of Silvio Berlusconi. With Moretti playing himself in a chilling climactic cameo, this is a scathing indictment of Italian politics that also manages to celebrate the commitment of the journeymen who devote themselves to cinema with the same commitment as the arthouse darlings.

The peerless Claude Chabrol marks his own half-century in cinema with his characteristically acerbic swipe at the French bourgeoisie, in which the ever-compelling Isabelle Huppert excels as an examining magistrate, whose sudden celebrity enhances her fearsome reputation, while also impinging on her personal life. With Franois Berland and Patrick Bruel lending astute support, this is another masterly blend of teasing satire and thrilling morality from Hitchcock's most devout disciple.

Laurent Achard's simmering study of rural dysfunction, Demented, and Christophe Honor's chic comedy, Dans Paris, also impressed, with the last's nouvelle vague aura recurring in Joachim Trier's Reprise, a compellingly melancholic exploration of creativity, literary celebrity and friendly rivalry. With Espen Klouman Hiner and Anders Danielsen Lie impacting as the Norwegian novelists whose ambition wreaks contrasting psychological consequences, this admirably adult drama finds echo in a handful of other Northern European titles, most notably Annette K Olesen's 1:1, Susanne Bier's After the Wedding and Pernille Fischer Christensen's A Soap. Grounded in an unassuming realism, this trio of superior melodramas raise discomforting questions about our complacent attitudes to acceptance.

The standard from Eastern Europe was also high, with Russian Pavel Longuine's The Island and Bosnian Jasmila Zbanic's Esma's Secret ranking alongside Gyrgy Plfi's extraordinary Taxidermia, which follows the fortunes of three generations of a Hungarian family that comprises a hapless wartime orderly, a champion speed eater and a taxidermist with an ambition to stuff himself.

Also noteworthy was the Italian duo, Romanzo Criminale and Across the Ridge, which respectively star Kim Rossi Stuart as a reluctant gangster and the short-fused father of a perceptive tweenage loner. Similarly affecting was Winky's Horse, Dutch director Mischa Kamp's enchanting tale of a small Chinese girl who finds the concept of Christmas highly confusing, until she discovers that it may be the best way of acquiring a replacement for her beloved pony. With Ebbie Tam winningly capturing the innocence, incertitude and excitement of childhood, this may err a touch on the sentimental side, but it's irresistible all the same.

The World Cinema selection was more compact than in previous years. But Malian Abderrahmane Sissako's courageously cinematic Bamako; Asghar Farhadi's intricate Iranian anti-thriller, Fireworks Wednesday; Dalia Hager and Vidi Bilu's revealing study of Israeli women security patrols, Close to Home; and Pablo Trapero's Patagonian saga, Born and Bred, all caught the eye. Here again, several luminaries unveiled new works, among them Taiwan's Tsai Ming-Liang (I Don't Want to Sleep Alone), India's Mira Nair (The Namesake) and Japan's Takashi Miike (Big Bang Love, Juvenile A). However, the standouts were Hirokazu Kore-eda's Hana - which brings a touch of Liberty Valance to the samurai movie - and Thai Pen-ek Ratanaruang's bleakly hilarious Invisible Waves, a minimalist noir that oozes cult class.