'Sight & Sound' Has Just Released Their Decennial List of the 100 Best Films of All Time, and There's a New No. 1

Film lovers can debate their favorite choices any day of the year, but it’s only once every decade that they can really get into it. Since 1952, British film magazine Sight & Sound has printed a list of the greatest movies of all time. The films come courtesy of a poll surveying more than 1600 respected critics and film historians. Citizen Kane reigned for decades, topping the list from 1962 to 2002 before Vertigo took over the top spot in 2012, bumping Orson Welles’s masterpiece to the number two slot.

The magazine has just released their most recent list, which makes films of the 2010s eligible and offers a new chart-topper: Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975), which isn’t just the first woman-directed film to top the list, but the first film directed by a woman to ever make it into the top 10. In the film, helmed by Chantal Akerman, a Belgian woman (Delphine Seyrig) struggles with identity and self-liberation as both a prostitute and a mother.

Contemporary movies new to the list include Jordan Peele’s Get Out (2017), Bong Joon-ho's Parasite (2019), Barry Jenkins’s Moonlight (2016), and Céline Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019). Seven Black directors are represented, up from one (Djibril Diop Mambéty’s Touki Bouki) in 2012. Another first? Two animated movies, both directed by Hayao Miyazaki, are included: Spirited Away (2001) and My Neighbor Totoro (1988).

You can check out the complete list below.

1. Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (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. Beau Travail (1999)
8. Mulholland Drive (2001)
9. Man With a Movie Camera (1929)
10. Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
11. Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927)
12. The Godfather (1972)
13. The Rules of the Game (1939)
14. Cléo From 5 to 7 (1962)
15. The Searchers (1956)
16. Meshes of the Afternoon (1943)
17. Close-Up (1990)
18. Persona (1966)
19. Apocalypse Now (1979)
20. Seven Samurai (1954)
21. (Tied for 21st) The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)
22. (Tied for 21st) Late Spring (1949)
23. Playtime (1967)
24. Do the Right Thing (1989)
25. (Tied for 25th) Au Hasard Balthazar (1966)
26. (Tied for 25th) The Night of the Hunter (1955)
27. Shoah (1985)
28. Daisies (1966)
29. Taxi Driver (1976)
30. Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)
31. (Tied for 31st) 8 1/2 (1963)
32. (Tied for 31st) Mirror (1975)
33. (Tied for 31st) Psycho (1960)
34. L’Atalante (1934)
35. Panther Panchali (1955)
36. (Tied for 36th) City Lights (1931)
37. (Tied for 36th) M (1931)
38. (Tied for 38th) Breathless (1960)
39. (Tied for 38th) Some Like It Hot (1959)
40. (Tied for 38th) Rear Window (1954)
41. (Tied for 41st) Bicycle Thieves (1948)
42. (Tied for 41st) Rashomon (1950)
43. (Tied for 43rd) Stalker (1979)
44. (Tied for 43rd) Killer of Sheep (1978)
45. (Tied for 45th) Barry Lyndon (1975)
46. (Tied for 45th) The Battle of Algiers (1966)
47. (Tied for 45th) North by Northwest (1959)
48. (Tied for 48th) Ordet (1955)
49. (Tied for 48th) Wanda (1970)
50. (Tied for 50th) The 400 Blows (1959)
51. (Tied for 50th) The Piano (1993)
52. (Tied for 52nd) Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974)
53. (Tied for 52nd) News From Home (1977)
54. (Tied for 54th) Contempt (1963)
55. (Tied for 54th) Blade Runner (1982)
56. (Tied for 54th) Battleship Potemkin (1925)
57. (Tied for 54th) The Apartment (1960)
58. (Tied for 54th) Sherlock Jr. (1924)
59. Sans Soleil (1983)
60. (Tied for 60th) La Dolce Vita (1960)
61. (Tied for 60th) Moonlight (2016)
62. (Tied for 60th) Daughters of the Dust (1991)
63. (Tied for 63rd) Goodfellas (1990)
64. (Tied for 63rd) The Third Man (1949)
65. (Tied for 63rd) Casablanca (1942)
66. Touki Bouki (1973)
67. (Tied for 67th) Andrei Rublev (1966)
68. (Tied for 67th) La Jetée (1962)
69. (Tied for 67th) The Red Shoes (1948)
70. (Tied for 67th) The Gleaners and I (2000)
71. (Tied for 67th) Metropolis (1927)
72. (Tied for 72nd) L’Avventura (1960)
73. (Tied for 72nd) Journey to Italy (1954)
74. (Tied for 72nd) My Neighbor Totoro (1988)
75. (Tied for 75th) Spirited Away (2001)
76. (Tied for 75th) Imitation of Life (1959)
77. (Tied for 75th) Sansho the Bailiff (1954)
78. (Tied for 78th) Sunset Boulevard (1950)
79. (Tied for 78th) Sátántangó (1994)
80. (Tied for 78th) A Brighter Summer Day (1991)
81. (Tied for 78th) Modern Times (1936)
82. (Tied for 78th) A Matter of Life and Death (1946)
83. (Tied for 78th) Céline and Julie Go Boating (1974)
84. (Tied for 84th) Blue Velvet (1986)
85. (Tied for 84th) The Spirit of the Beehive (1973)
86. (Tied for 84th) Pierrot le Fou (1965)
87. (Tied for 84th) Histoire(s) du Cinéma (1988)
88. (Tied for 88th) The Shining (1980)
89. (Tied for 88th) Chungking Express (1994)
90. (Tied for 90th) Parasite (2019)
91. (Tied for 90th) Yi Yi (2000)
92. (Tied for 90th) Ugetsu Monogatari (1953)
93. (Tied for 90th) The Leopard (1963)
94. (Tied for 90th) The Earrings of Madame de... (1953)
95. (Tied for 95th) A Man Escaped (1956)
96. (Tied for 95th) Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
97. (Tied for 95th) Tropical Malady (2004)
98. (Tied for 95th) Black Girl (1966)
99. (Tied for 95th) The General (1926)
100. (Tied for 95th) Get Out (2017)

Sight &Sound also polls directors. This year, those respondents selected 2001: A Space Odyssey as the top film of all time.

Looking for a new movie to watch, or at least a movie that’s new to you? Mental Floss’s new book, The Curious Movie Buff: A Miscellany of Fantastic Films from the Past 50 Years, offers behind-the-scenes details and amazing facts about some of the greatest movies of the past half-century. And it’s available now at your favorite place to buy books, or online right here.