Jeanne Dielman Crowned 2022 Most Famous Movie in Historic Poll

The highly anticipated and globally renowned Sight and Sound magazine’s Greatest Films of All Time Critics’ poll has announced its results for 2022, crowning Chantal Akerman’s Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975) as the 2022 Most Famous Movie among critics. This marks a historic moment, as it is the first time a film by a female director has reached the number one spot since the poll began in 1952.

Jeanne Dielman made a significant leap, climbing from 36th place in the 2012 poll to take the top position a decade later. This eighth edition of Sight and Sound’s prestigious once-a-decade poll was the most ambitious to date, featuring votes from over 1,600 influential international film critics, academics, distributors, writers, curators, archivists, and programmers – nearly double the number of participants from 2012. The results highlight a shifting landscape in what experts consider the greatest cinematic achievements, influencing discussions around the most famous movies in 2022.

The film that previously held the top spot in 2012, Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo (1958), moved to second place. Orson Welles’s iconic Citizen Kane (1941), which dominated the number one position for 50 years, is now in third place. Yasujiro Ozu’s revered Tokyo Story (1953) secured the fourth spot.

Vertigo movie poster from 1958 on a magazine cover

Three other films also entered the top 10 for the first time this year: Wong Kar-wai’s visually stunning In the Mood for Love (2001) rose from 24th place in 2012 to fifth; Claire Denis’s acclaimed Beau travail (1998) jumped dramatically from 78th to seventh; and David Lynch’s surreal masterpiece Mulholland Dr. (2001) moved from 28th to eighth. These shifts reflect evolving perspectives on which films are considered among the most famous movies of 2022 in terms of critical significance. The top 20 list, provided below, showcases a diverse array of films from around the world, spanning various eras and genres. The full results and in-depth commentary on the 100 Greatest Films of All Time are featured in the Winter double issue of Sight and Sound magazine.

Heralded by Le Monde in January 1976 as “the first masterpiece of the feminine in the history of the cinema”, Chantal Akerman’s Jeanne Dielman is a mesmerising and hypnotic film that meticulously follows the daily routine of a middle-aged widow, played by Delphine Seyrig, over three days. Akerman was just 25 years old when she created this experimental and groundbreaking work in 1975, and it has continued to provoke analysis and debate over the decades.

Delphine Seyrig as Jeanne Dielman inspecting a potato in the 1975 film

Mike Williams, editor in chief of Sight and Sound, stated that “Jeanne Dielman challenged the status quo when it was released in 1975 and continues to do so today.” He added that “It’s a landmark feminist film, and its position at the top of list is emblematic of better representation in the top 100 for women filmmakers.” Williams also highlighted the importance of discovering “under-seen and under-appreciated gems” and the role of repertory cinemas and distributors.

Jason Wood, the BFI’s executive director of public programmes and audiences, commented on the results, saying, “As well as being a compelling list, one of the most important elements is that it shakes a fist at the established order.” He emphasized that “Canons should be challenged and interrogated” and praised the list’s “radical sense of diversity and inclusion.”

Filmmaker Joanna Hogg shared her perspective: “It’s incredible news that Jeanne Dielman has topped the Critics’ poll, knocking Hitchcock off his perch.” She reflected on Akerman’s own complex relationship with the film’s success and underscored the film’s “incredibly influential” nature, filling university curriculums and inspiring countless audiences and filmmakers. Hogg noted, “In a way this film winning represents not just specifically the importance of Jeanne Dielman but the importance of Chantal Akerman as a filmmaker. Her influence is irrefutable…”

Laura Mulvey, Professor of Film Studies, Birkbeck, University of London, described Jeanne Dielman as “a supreme cinematic achievement” that stood out as “completely new and unexpected” upon its initial release. She highlighted Akerman’s “unwavering and completely luminous adherence to a female perspective” combined with her “uncompromising and completely coherent cinema,” resulting in a film that was “both feminist and cinematically radical.” Mulvey concluded, “One might say that it felt as though there was a before and an after Jeanne Dielman, just as there had once been a before and after Citizen Kane.” These expert opinions solidify Jeanne Dielman‘s place among films now considered the most famous movie 2022.

Increased Diversity in the Top 100

The 2022 poll saw a notable increase in the diversity of films and filmmakers represented in the top 100, reflecting the broader and more diverse group of voters and increased access to international cinema.

In 2012, only two films by female filmmakers were in the top 100: Chantal Akerman’s Jeanne Dielman and Claire Denis’s Beau travail. The 2022 poll features 11 films by female filmmakers in the top 100, with four making it into the top 20. New entries include Akerman’s second film, News from Home (1977), at number 52; Agnès Varda’s Cléo from 5 to 7 (1962) at number 14 and The Gleaners and I (2000) at number 67; Maya Deren’s Meshes of the Afternoon (1943), co-directed with Alexander Hammid, in 16th place; Vera Chytilová’s Daisies (1966) at number 28; Céline Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019) in 30th place; Barbara Loden’s Wanda (1970) at number 48; Jane Campion’s The Piano (1993) at number 50; and Julie Dash’s Daughters of the Dust (1991) in 60th place.

Representation of Black filmmakers also increased significantly. In 2012, only one film by a Black filmmaker, Djibril Diop Mambéty’s Touki Bouki (1973), was in the top 100 (at number 93). In 2022, there are seven titles by prominent Black filmmakers. Touki Bouki climbed to 67th place, with new entries including Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing (1989) in 24th place; Charles Burnett’s Killer of Sheep (1978) at number 43; Julie Dash’s Daughters of the Dust (1991) and Barry Jenkins’s Academy Award-winning Moonlight (2016) sharing 60th place; and Jordan Peele’s Get Out (2017) and Ousmane Sembène’s Black Girl (1966) jointly at number 95.

Still from the 2016 movie Moonlight showing characters Juan and Little swimming

The 2022 top 100 also features more recent films compared to 2012, when only In the Mood for Love and Mulholland Dr. from the previous two decades made the cut. This year, nine films from the last 20 years are included, with new entries like Bong Joon Ho’s Oscar-winning Parasite (2019) at number 90, Hayao Miyazaki’s Oscar-winning Spirited Away (2001) in 75th place, and Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Tropical Malady (2004) at number 95. The Gleaners and I, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Moonlight, and Get Out are also recent additions.

Silent films continue to hold significant weight in the canon. Two silent films are in the top 20: F.W. Murnau’s Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927) and Dziga Vertov’s Man with a Movie Camera (1929), the latter being the only documentary in the top 20. Nine silent films are in the top 100, including classics like Carl Theodor Dreyer’s The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928), Charlie Chaplin’s City Lights (1931) and Modern Times (1936), Buster Keaton’s Sherlock Jr. (1924) and The General (1926), Sergei Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin (1925), and Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927).

Still from the 1927 movie Sunrise showing actors George O'Brien and Margaret Livingston

Several notable films that were in the top 100 in 2012 have been replaced in 2022, reflecting the evolving critical landscape. These include Erich von Stroheim’s Greed, D.W. Griffith’s Intolerance, Luis Buñuel’s Un chien andalou, films by Jean Renoir (Partie de campagne, La Grande Illusion), Orson Welles (The Magnificent Ambersons, Touch of Evil), Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger (The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp), Marcel Carné’s Les Enfants du paradis, David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia, Michelangelo Antonioni’s L’eclisse, Sam Peckinpah’s The Wild Bunch, Werner Herzog’s Aguirre, Wrath of God, Roman Polanski’s Chinatown, Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather Part II, Robert Altman’s Nashville, and Martin Scorsese’s Raging Bull.

The Critics’ Top 20 Greatest Films of All Time

Here is the complete list of films ranked in the top 20 of the 2022 Sight and Sound Critics’ Poll:

1. Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (Chantal Akerman, 1975)
2. Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock, 1958)
3. Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 1941)
4. Tokyo Story (Yasujiro Ozu, 1953)
5. In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar-wai, 2001)
6. 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968)
7. Beau travail (Claire Denis, 1998)
8. Mulholland Dr. (David Lynch, 2001)
9. Man with a Movie Camera (Dziga Vertov, 1929)
10. Singin’ in the Rain (Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly, 1951)
11. Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (F.W. Murnau, 1927)
12. The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972)
13. La Règle du jeu (Jean Renoir, 1939)
14. Cléo from 5 to 7 (Agnès Varda, 1962)
15. The Searchers (John Ford, 1956)
16. Meshes of the Afternoon (Maya Deren and Alexander Hammid, 1943)
17. Close-Up (Abbas Kiarostami, 1989)
18. Persona (Ingmar Bergman, 1966)
19. Apocalypse Now (Francis Ford Coppola, 1979)
20. Seven Samurai (Akira Kurosawa, 1954)

The Directors’ Poll

In addition to the Critics’ Poll, a record 480 filmmakers from around the globe, including prominent names like Martin Scorsese, Barry Jenkins, Sofia Coppola, Bong Joon Ho, Lynne Ramsay, and Mike Leigh, also cast their votes for their greatest films. In the Directors’ Poll, Stanley Kubrick’s science fiction epic 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) was voted the Greatest Film of All Time.

Still from the 1968 movie 2001 A Space Odyssey showing an astronaut and a pod in space

Orson Welles’s Citizen Kane secured the number 2 spot in the Directors’ Poll, followed by Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather (1972) at number 3. The Critics’ Poll winner, Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles, ranked at number 4, tied with the 2012 Directors’ Poll leader, Tokyo Story. Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo polled at number 6 alongside Federico Fellini’s 8½ (1963). The directors’ top ten is completed by Andrei Tarkovsky’s Mirror (1975), Wong Kar-wai’s In the Mood for Love, Ingmar Bergman’s Persona, and Abbas Kiarostami’s Close-Up sharing the ninth position. This separate ranking provides another fascinating perspective on the top 10 movies in the world 2022 according to filmmakers themselves.

Accessing the Full Results and Films

Sight and Sound, the BFI’s internationally renowned film magazine, has been publishing film commentary since 1932. The magazine provides a platform for film lovers to connect with leading film writers. The full results and details of the poll are available in the Winter double issue, accessible in print and digital formats.

For those wanting to experience these acclaimed films, BFI Southbank announced plans to screen the full 100 Greatest Films of All Time throughout January, February, and March. Additionally, Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles became available exclusively on BFI Player Subscription from December 1st, marking its first streaming availability in the UK. Over 40 other titles from the Critics’ top 100 poll, including nine of the top 10 films, are also available for viewing at home on BFI Player via rental or subscription. Exploring these lists can help identify films that are considered among the most popular romantic movies in the world or other genres, as determined by experts.

Conclusion

The results of the 2022 Sight and Sound poll represent a significant moment in film criticism, crowning Jeanne Dielman as the top film and showcasing increased recognition for diverse voices and perspectives in cinematic history. The shift away from long-held classics like Citizen Kane and Vertigo signifies an evolving understanding of what constitutes the “greatest” and most influential films. This definitive ranking offers a valuable guide for anyone interested in exploring the rich history of cinema and discovering films celebrated by leading critics and filmmakers in 2022. You can delve deeper into the poll results and the films themselves to explore the list of the most famous movie 2022 and beyond.