re: Sight and Sound 2022 Greatest Films of All Time

Jeanne Dielman is neither French nor contemporaneous with the French New Wave. Chantal Akerman is Belgian.

The choice is surprising, but logical. The most prominent film from Akerman, whose star rose throughout the decade, with her suicide in 2015 inviting reappraisals of her oeuvre; the expanded voting poll and cultural climate were obviously going to catapult women directors into the spotlight, but she’s a major talent and a deserving beneficiary. Crucially, for the sake of consensus, Akerman isn’t going to split votes across her filmography, but she has other great works. If I were introducing someone from this board I would begin with her Conrad adaptation, Almayer’s Folly. I think her follow-ups to Dielman, Rendezvous with Anna and Toute une Nuit, are my favorites.

Without getting bogged down in the underrated/overrated game, some general observations. A dearth of studio era; no Hawks, Lubitsch, or Sternberg, each likely splitting votes amongst their masterworks (but three Wilder’s?!). The individual lists, next week, will tell the tale. Along with Dielman, the appearance of Mulholland Dr, Beau Travail, and In the Mood for Love in the top 10, and the continued persistence of Ozu, Vertov, and Donen, with the slippage of Coppola, Ford, and Kurosawa, suggests a sort of (pop) formalism winning the decade.