Since 1952, the "Sight & Sound" magazine sponsored by the British Film Institute has published a list of the best films in film history every ten years, and the top ten of them naturally receive special attention. It is one of the ten best films in film history. On December 1, local time, after ten years, the latest list was released (see the end of the article for the detailed film list). As a result, Belgian director Chantel Ackermann's "Jeanne Dielman" came out on top, much to the surprise of many.
Stills from "Jeanne Dielman"
The process of making this list is as follows: Firstly, "Sight and Sound" magazine invites well-known film critics, curators, scholars, etc. from all over the world to select their own top ten films in film history; According to the number of votes received, a list of 100 films was finally obtained. If the two works have the same number of votes, the rankings will be tied, but the number of digits occupied will be skipped, and so on. Therefore, this year's 100 films ended up with 95 rankings.
In the first voting in 1952, Italian director De Sica's "The Bicycle Thief" topped the list. This year, the film ranked 41st, tied with Japanese director Akira Kurosawa's "Rashomon". For several editions after that, Orson Welles' "Citizen Kane" held the top spot on the list. Until the last session in 2012, "Sight and Sound" issued invitations to 1,000 people, and finally received 846 answers. As a result, "Vertigo" won the championship with 191 votes, breaking the half-century monopoly of "Citizen Kane" (157 votes).
This year, "Sight and Sound" expanded the number of invitations again, and finally received 1,639 answers, which is the most in the selection's 80-year history. It was originally expected that the battle for the top spot this year would also be between "Vertigo" and "Citizen Kane", but "Jeanne Dillman" broke out as a dark horse. Ten years ago, "Jeanne Dillman" only ranked 35th. Peter Bradshaw, chief film critic of The Guardian, took "She Worth It" as the headline and emphasized that this is the first time a female filmmaker has won the list.
"Jeanne Dillman" is a work completed in 1975 by Shantel Ackermann, who passed away in 2015. The film is three and a half hours long, and in the form of long shots, it shows in great detail the daily life and means of livelihood of a middle-aged widow for three days, as well as her final shocking and shocking life choices. Since the film came out until now, no matter in content, form, style or its feminist core, it has been regarded as a pioneering and revolutionary work. It can be ranked first in the "Sight and Sound" magazine's top 100 film history selections, which fully demonstrates that people's understanding of films will make great strides forward with the changes of the spirit of the times.
Stills from "Jeanne Dielman"
It is not only "Jeanne Dillman" that has greatly improved its ranking. Wong Kar-wai's "In the Mood for Love" jumped from the 24th place in the previous year to the fifth place, which is the highest ranking among all Chinese films. French director Claire Denis's same-sex work "Forbidden Love in the Military" suddenly jumped from No. 78 to No. 7, which should be the fastest-rising film.
Stills of "In the Mood for Love"
In addition, four recent works born in this decade were also shortlisted. They are "Portrait of a Woman on Burning" at No. 30, "Moonlight Boy" at No. 60, "Parasite" at No. 90 and "Get Out" at No. 95.
The famous film critic Roger Ebert once commented that the list released by "Sight and Sound" every ten years is "the only best list in film history that can be taken seriously by most serious filmmakers." However, when the last list came out, he also said when he was still alive: "All movie lists, even this most respected "Sight and Sound" list, are basically meaningless. If it is valuable, it is only to provide some guidance for movie fans.”
"Sight and Sound" Top Ten Films in History (in alphabetical order)
1. Jeanne Dillman (1975)
2. Vertigo (1958)
3. Citizen Kane (1941)
4. "Tokyo Story" (1953)
5. "In the Mood for Love" (2000)
6. "2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968)
7. "Forbidden Love in the Army" (1999)
8. "Mulholland Drive" (2001)
9. The Man with the Camera (1929)
10. Singin' in the Rain (1952)
Full version playlist (reverse order)↓↓
