The magazine’s prestigious awards Sight and Soundpublished every ten years by the British Film Institute, surprised many a few weeks ago by crowning a new “best film of all time”: Jeanne Dielman, 23, Quai du Commerce, 1080 Brussels. This radical, feminist and hyperrealist film of 3 hours 20, directed at the age of 25 by the Belgian Chantal Akerman, occupied in 2012 the 36e rank.
Vertigo by Alfred Hitchcock, who topped the charts in 2012, now holds second place, while Citizen Kane, directed at age 26 by Orson Welles, placed third. The false biography of tycoon William Randolph Hearst had throned at the top of the list of Sight and Sound for 50 years. In the first edition of the prize list, in 1952, it was The bicycle thief by Vittorio De Sica, a masterpiece of Italian neorealism, which won.
What has changed since 2012 is that there are many more critics, programmers, historians and film professionals who have been consulted by the British Film Institute. The 2012 ranking was compiled by 846 people, while the 2022 ranking took into account the opinions of 1,639 critics, academics, distributors, writers, curators, archivists and festival programmers. In 2002, the sample was only 145 people.
Jeanne Dielman, a masterpiece produced and scripted in 1975 by Chantal Akerman, features Delphine Seyrig in the role of a widow, a stay-at-home mother who prostitutes herself in the afternoons, at home between her household chores, to support herself. her needs and those of her adolescent. It is the fascinating portrait of a woman and the monotony of her daily life, but also of the feminist revolt that bubbles up inside her.
There is no “greatest movie of all time”, of course. Awards like that of Sight and Sound exist to spark discussion about film. They testify to the evolution of the way we look at certain works.
When it was released in 1958, Vertigo had been snubbed by critics. This elegant psychological thriller has been gradually rehabilitated, like Hitchcock, whose unique style and technical innovation were recognized only belatedly (notably thanks to the efforts of young critics of the Cinema notebooksincluding François Truffaut).
Charts are made to be challenged – Journey to Italie by Roberto Rossellini is in that of Sight and Soundbut not Rome, open city – and above all, to make you want to see or watch films again. Thanks to digital platforms, most of the hundred titles chosen by the British Film Institute are readily available. Everything you need to concoct an enticing holiday movie-lover’s menu.
Where can we see or review these classics? Some are currently only available for sale or rental in digital format. Vertigo for instance, The Searchers by John Ford, The good life by Federico Fellini Cheetah by Luchino Visconti or even Portrait of the girl on fire by Celine Sciamma.
On the other hand, several titles are part of the basic packages of subscriptions to popular digital platforms. For example, Citizen Kane, Moonlight by Barry Jenkins, Once Upon a Time in the West by Sergio Leone, as well as The Godfather and Apocalypse Now by Francis Ford Coppola can be found on Prime Video.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY MGM
A scene from Singin’ in the Rain
Among the three films by Stanley Kubrick on the list of Sight and Sound, 2001: A Space Odyssey is on the menu of Prime Video, just like The Shining (which is also on Crave), but not Barry Lyndon. Mullholland Drive by David Lynch is on Crave, but not blue-velvet. blade runner by Ridley Scott Do The Right ThingSpike Lee’s masterpiece, as well as Singin’ in the Rain by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen can be found on Prime Video and Crave.
On the Netflix side, there is less choice: what’s new Parasite by Bong Joon-ho and get-out by Jordan Peele (also on Prime Video), Taxi Driver and Goodfellas by Martin Scorsese (also on Crave), as well as the only two animated films on the list, Spirited away and My Neighbor Totoro by Japanese grandmaster Hayao Miyazaki.
The most cinephiles will turn to more specialized platforms like Criterion Channel, a veritable cave of Ali Baba, where you can see Jeanne Dielman as well as 55 other titles from the charts of Sight and Soundin addition to interviews and archival documents that often accompany them.
Among these is the magnificent Good work by Claire Denis, with a disturbing and magnetic Denis Lavant, Tokyo Storymasterful family chronicle of Yasujirô Ozu, the irresistible Rule of the game by Jean Renoir, the fascinating study of manners by Robert Bresson Random balthazarthe seductive Adventure by Michelangelo Antonioni, with his incandescent muse Monica Vitti, who died at the beginning of the year.
There are three Godards (Pierrot le fou, Breathless and Contempt), two Chaplins (City Lights and Modern Times) and a Truffaut (The 400 blows), close up of Kiarostami and 8 1/2 by Fellini, the essentials Rashomon and The Seven Samurai by Akira Kurosawa, the intriguing personas by Ingmar Bergman The Passion of Joan of Arc by Carl Dreyer, with his unforgettable close-ups, the charming Yi Yi of Edward Yang, the monumental Metropolis by Fritz Lang, and two splendors by Wong Kar-wai, In the Mood for Love and Chungking Express (a novelty on the list).
Among the other newcomers to the charts of Sight and Soundwe finally find Cleo from 5 to 7one of the masterpieces of the New Wave, also available on Criterion Channel (as well as The gleaners and the gleaner by Agnes Varda), The Black of… by Ousmane Sembène, who takes a look at colonialism and racism, through the eyes of a young Senegalese exploited by a French couple.
Meshes of the Afternoon, directed in 1943 by Maya Deren and Alexander Hammid, is a 14-minute silent short film depicting the unconscious, fear and female desire. It is an experimental work so avant-garde that it could have been shot in 2022. Maya Deren, born in Ukraine, raised in Syracuse, New York, has redefined the codes of cinema – influencing in particular that of David Lynch – and it is gratifying that the voters of the list Sight and Sound recognize its impact.
Some films on the list were, at the time of writing, harder to find on digital platforms in Quebec. This is the case of The Piano, a masterpiece by another great director, Jane Campion. Fortunately, I have a DVD copy…