Jeanne Dielman surpasses Citizen Kane and Vertigo as critics' choice for best movie ever
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Critics have reached a new consensus about the greatest films of all time.
Every 10 years the British Film Institute, via its magazine Sight & Sound, organizes an international poll of critics to list the 100 best movies ever made. The first winner was Bicycle Thieves in 1952. For the next several decades, Orson Welles' masterpiece Citizen Kane reigned as the undisputed top pick, only to be finally surpassed by Alfred Hitchock's Vertigo in 2012. Those two films are still among the top three finishers on the 2022 list, which finally arrived this week, but a new favorite has shot past them to the No. 1 spot.
Cinephiles, say hello to the newly crowned greatest film of all time: Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles.
Everett Collection Delphine Seyrig in 'Jeanne Dielman, 23, Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles'
The 1975 drama was directed by Belgian filmmaker Chantal Akerman, and this marks the first time that a female director's film has topped the Sight & Sound ranking. (Akerman died in 2015, at 65.) Jeanne Dielman also clocks in at 201 minutes, making it the longest film to ever top the list.
Delphine Seyrig plays the title character, a single mother, and the film portrays three days in her life as she goes about her daily routine. She cooks, cleans, and cares for her son — which includes sex work to pay for their subsistence. All these activities are portrayed at length, with repetition building until things start to go awry.
Jeanne Dielman, which ranked 35th in the 2012 poll, wasn't the only film by a female director to rise dramatically in 2022. Claire Denis' Beau Travail also jumped into the top 10 after previously coming in at No. 78. Agnes Varda's Cléo From 5 to 7 just missed the top 10, coming in at No. 14.
Also shocking was the performance of Celine Sciamma's Portrait of a Lady on Fire, which now ranks 30th despite premiering in 2019. It is by far the highest-ranked film of the past decade, although Moonlight (tied at 60) and Get Out (tied at 95) also made the list.
In addition to a critics' poll, Sight & Sound also polls directors on the greatest films of all time. Jeanne Dielman performed well there too, coming in at No. 4. But the overall winner of that list was Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, unseating 2012 winner Tokyo Story.
Jeanne Dielman is currently available to stream on the Criterion Channel, along with many other films on the list.
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