Sight and Sound’s Greatest Films of All Time list unveiled; new champion crowned, only one Indian film makes the cut

Other films in Sight and Sound's top 10 list include Vertigo, Citizen Kane, In the Mood for Love and 2001: A Space Odyssey.

The Sight and Sound list of the greatest films of all time is published once a decade.

British magazine Sight and Sound has unveiled its once-in-a-decade poll of the greatest films of all time. 1,639 participating critics, programmers, curators, archivists and academics sent in their top 10 lists, which resulted in a new winner being crowned. For the first time in the history of the poll, Belgian filmmaker Chantal Akerman’s 1975 drama Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles was declared as the greatest film of all time.

The Sight and Sound Poll of the Greatest Films of All Time began in the year 1952, with Bicycle Thieves topping the list. Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane topped the list in 1962, 1972, 1982, 1992, and 2002, before being replaced by Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo in 2012. Indian maestro Satyajit Ray’s Pather Panchali came in at the 35th spot. It is the only Indian film on the list.

The votes are in. Find out what critics have voted the Greatest Film of All Time #SightAndSoundPoll pic.twitter.com/F3cf5PcBb4

— Sight and Sound magazine (@SightSoundmag) December 1, 2022

Here is the top 10 list for 2022:

1. Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles
2. Vertigo
3. Citizen Kane
4. Tokyo Story
5. In the Mood for Love
6. 2001: A Space Odyssey
7. Beau Travail
8. Mulholland Drive
9. Man with a Movie Camera
10. Singin’ in the Rain

Sight and Sound also conducts a directors’ poll every decade. For the 2022 edition, 480 filmmakers from around the world, including Martin Scorsese, Joanna Hogg, Bong Joon Ho, Mia Hansen-Løve and Barry Jenkins submitted their 10 favourite films. Here are the results of the directors’ poll:

1. 2001: A Space Odyssey
2. Citizen Kane
3. The Godfather
4. Tokyo Story
5. Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles
6. Vertigo
7. 8½
8. Mirror
9. Persona
10 In the Mood for Love

Also read |The 7 most underrated films of November, from Nadav Lapid’s latest to a criminally overlooked Hindi gem

Akerman has become the first female director to top the poll in its 70-year history. In 2012, the film finished at the 36th spot. Widely hailed as a feminist masterpiece, it follows the daily life of a single mother who works as a prostitute. The 2022 poll includes 9 films from the past two decades, with the most recent additions being Celine Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019) at 30, Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight (2016) at 60, Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite (2019) at 90, and Jordan Peele’s Get Out at 95.

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Two films by Orson Welles — The Magnificent Ambersons and Touch of Evil — were knocked out entirely from the top 100, in addition to Roman Polanski’s Chinatown, Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather Part II, David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia and Martin Scorsese’s Raging Bull.

First published on: 02-12-2022 at 09:50 IST