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The surprise winner of the 2022 critics’ poll is this breakthrough feature from Belgian filmmaker Chantal Akerman.

The slow-paced and almost wordless film stars Delphine Seyrig (Last Year at Marienbad) in a microscopic examination of one woman’s daily life that forces us to see the world (and cinema) in a different way.

Its hypnotic rhythms create a blend of feminism, modernism and the avant-garde.

In French with English subtitles. (Belgium/France 1975) 201 min.

The 2022 poll is the largest yet, with more than 1,600 participants. Jeanne Dielman first made the list in 2012, when an expanding roster of critics ranked it at number 35. The rapid ascent of this film on the list signals that this year’s results originate from a substantially more diverse pool of participants.

Sight and Sound - Greatest Films of All Time

‘Tis the season for “10-Best” lists, as virtually every critic and pundit in the country has assembled an annual honor roll of film releases from 2022. But the “top-ten” list that has captured the imagination of the international film community this particular year is one that appears only once a decade, assembled by Sight and Sound, the venerable periodical of film criticism published by the British Film Institute.

In 1952 Sight and Sound published their first poll of film critics, and these polls have continued every ten years since. Each invited participant submits a personal top-ten list of “The Greatest Films of All Time,” and over the years the list of participants has expanded dramatically. Each list can stand as a bellwether of trends and fashions in criticism. This short series highlights the number one film polled from every decade: Bicycle Thieves, Citizen Kane (multiple years), Vertigo, Jeanne Dielman.

Visit the BFI website to see the ranking of 250 films in the latest poll.

While it’s difficult to say what these results may ultimately prove, the ranking of film classics can present an irresistible exercise for cinephiles. If nothing else, film lists provide meaty topics for discussion and debate.