Every decade since 1952, the British film magazine Sight and Sound has quizzed critics, curators and filmmakers alike on what they consider to be the best movies ever made. This year, a coterie of directors were called upon to make their suggestions. Amongst them: Barry Jenkins, Luca Guadagnino, Ari Aster, The Safdie Brothers and, our king, Wes Anderson.
Directors compile a list of — and often comment upon — their choices, and Sight & Sound tally up the votes. This year, Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey was number one on the director’s list, in a top five rounded out by Citizen Kane, The Godfather, Tokyo Story and — this year’s winner amongst critics and curators — Chantal Akerman’s Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles.
But none of these movies made Wes Anderson’s top 10 choices. In fact, his entire list was comprised of French cinema — fitting, perhaps, considering so many of his films capture the country’s filmic whimsy and decadence. But his choices weren’t really reflective of the work he makes. They were murky and depressing; dealing in murder, betrayal and forced sex work.
They were, according to Sight & Sound’s poll:
1. La Grande Illusion (Jean Renoir, 1937)
A film about a group of soldiers being held as prisoners of war during World War I, and how the class dynamics crack between them in that period.
2. Quai des Orfèvres (Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1947)
A man who performs in a music hall with his wife plans to kill a businessman he’s spotted flirting with her. But when he stalks the man on his way home, and arrives there to find the businessman already dead inside. His story unravels as the investigation takes place.
3. The Earrings of Madame de… (Max Ophüls, 1953)
A woman of Belle Epoque aristocracy in France sells a pair of earrings gifted to her by her husband in order to pay off a debt, but the straightforward act forces her into a financial and sexual spiral.
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4. Vivre Sa Vie (Jean-Luc Godard, 1962)
An X-rated story, split into chapters, of a French woman becoming a sex worker.
5. The Man Who Loved Women (François Truffaut, 1977)
A chronicling of a man’s life told through the tales of the many women he fell for.
6. Loulou (Maurice Pialat, 1980)
Isabelle Huppert plays a housewife who escapes the monotony of everyday life, running away with a petty criminal played by Gérard Depardieu.
7. Vagabond (Agnès Varda, 1985)
The legendary French filmmaker’s story of the moments leading up to a woman’s cold murder.
8. Olivier, Olivier (Agnieszka Holland, 1992)
A nine-year-old vanishes one day on his way to his grandmother’s house, forcing his family into a deep state of grief and confusion. But when someone purporting to be him comes out of the woodwork, having spent the years he was missing being sexually abused by strangers and sold as a sex worker, he struggles to reintegrate into their framework.
9. It All Starts Today (Bertrand Tavernier, 1999)
After a coal mine closes in his town, a kindergarten teacher observes it fall into a state of poverty and deterioration. A local mother abandons her children, unable to care for them, so the kindergarten teacher takes them in and plots a path of salvation for their community.
10. Kings and Queen (Arnaud Desplechin, 2004)
A tale of two parallel lives, both revolving around the idea of attachment. Nora is forced to care for her terminally ill father and her kids as a single parent. Meanwhile, a musician called Ismael is stuck in a mental institution, plotting his escape.
The lists of all filmmakers and critics are laid out in the ‘Greatest Films of All Time’ issue, which you can buy here.