The results are in for Sight and Sound’s annual poll on cinema, with tastemakers in the industry putting forth their picks for the best films ever made.
This year, the Sight and Sound poll — conducted by the British magazine annually since 1952 — enlisted a slew of starry directors, each of whom compiled lists and shared notes on their top ten movies before the magazine tallied the votes.
Sight and Sound’s 2022 participants included big-name directors like Ari Aster (Hereditary), Luca Guadagnino (Call Me By Your Name) and The Safdie Brothers (Uncut Gems). Perhaps the starriest participant in this year’s poll was filmmaker Wes Anderson. Together with his fellow directors, the cohort selected Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey as the number one best movie ever made.
Followed by Citizen Kane, The Godfather, and Tokyo Story. The group’s fifth pick was agreed upon by critic participants and bestowed upon the 1975 film, Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles.
According to World of Reel, the list also included much newer films, including horror titles like Jordan Peele’s Get Out and animated features like Spirited Away. Meanwhile, the much-lauded 2019 thriller Parasite was also reported to have been featured on the Sight and Sound list.
While each director contributed to the tallied winners, Anderson also submitted his personal choices for the ten best movies ever made, and the results are — perhaps unsurprisingly given his visual palette — completely French. While Anderson’s list no doubt reflects his affinity for French whimsy and decadence, the movies are decidedly depressing, with almost all of them dealing in murder, betrayal, and forced sex work.
The newest movie of Anderson’s picks is Kings and Queen, which premiered in 2004. The oldest movie, La Grande Illusion, was released in 1937, and follows a group of soldiers being held as prisoners of war during World War I. Scroll down for the complete list of Anderson’s picks for the ten best movies ever made, and head here to see Happy Mag’s choices for 2022.
- La Grande Illusion (Jean Renoir, 1937)
- Quai des Orfèvres (Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1947)
- The Earrings of Madame de… (Max Ophüls, 1953)
- Vivre Sa Vie (Jean-Luc Godard, 1962)
- The Man Who Loved Women (François Truffaut, 1977)
- Loulou (Maurice Pialat, 1980)
- Vagabond (Agnès Varda, 1985)
- Olivier, Olivier (Agnieszka Holland, 1992)
- It All Starts Today (Bertrand Tavernier, 1999)
- Kings and Queen (Arnaud Desplechin, 2004)
