To look at Denis Villeneuve's entire filmography is to take a journey with a director who is constantly on the move. A person who often changes his personal appearance and adapts what he wants to say. From initially surreal experiments, through genre films to commercial blockbusters, there has emerged an auteur known primarily for the seriousness with which he approaches the narrative task, whatever it may be. A director who is confident in his abilities and puts them at the service of the cinematic machine. His research aims to maximize ideas, construction and aesthetic care. His voice fits the story, not the other way around. However, its themes concern the matter of which we are composed, the visible or invisible structures that organize people's existence, and the traumas and madness that make us human.
We have watched and collected here all the 11 films he has directed so far. We've ranked them from worst to best. You can find it below.
whirlpool
Denis Villeneuve's second film is a typical product of a young man full of talent, but very aware of his abilities. Maelstrom is proud of his ideas, but all he is doing is getting close to himself in a secret speech. Fish in the Slaughter tells this story. A woman runs over a person and kills him. Guilt leads her to meet the victim's son, with whom she falls in love. Between clumsy attempts to hide the evidence and intense tension to confess to the crime, Villeneuve finds himself an interesting plot that he cannot develop with the necessary clarity. Too many poorly mixed ideas
Polytechnic
the elephant By Denis Villeneuve. A reflection on the brutality that enters ordinary daily life and on the trauma that has begun since the 1989 massacre at the École Polytechnique de Montréal. The director shows his ability to work with the geometry of images (a short scene with mirrors in the bathroom is noteworthy), to build tension and to represent violence with severity and realism. However, the whole process is a very superficial, well-executed task that adds little to the way in which cinema can investigate the causes of these atrocities. A link between acceptance of patriarchal society and misogyny has been reported with the triggering of death psychosis. The film takes very few minutes to develop satisfactorily.
A October 32 on Earth
A surreal, satirical and existential comedy. A car accident changes the course of time and Simon's life. Thus begins an endless summer as the days continue beyond August 31, while the woman's obstetric desire grows in parallel. She will find a boyfriend who loves her, and the two will escape into the desert to get pregnant (in a hurry to respect their ovulation dates). With this first work, Villeneuve shows a truly mature outlook, and a truly remarkable ability to draw a line between reality and pure cinematic abstraction.
Blade Runner 2049
Mission Impossible sequel to Blade Runer is the madness of the director who seemed to want to end his career like this, in 2017, with a film that, if it were a mistake, no one would forgive. Only Denis Villeneuve can escape unscathed. This alone speaks volumes about the ability of an author who has managed to save himself and create a well-crafted, thoughtful, and creative work. A fatal blow narrowly escaped Blade Runner 2049 However, it is one of the worst films he has directed. It's a film full of stunning ideas and images, but it's a bit suffocating. More precise and controlled than the original, it struggles to find the subversive charge of Ridley Scott's masterpiece. Unfortunately, the ideal images of Villeneuve's version only survive in the film without being able to influence what came after as the 1982 masterpiece did.
the enemy
the enemy It is Denis Villeneuve's most mysterious film. It is also what has made him popular with those who feel that films should be explained and analyzed as if they were coded text to then arrive at a secret meaning. Luckily the enemy And so on and so on. It is first and foremost the experience of getting lost in the tangle of the mind (and our cities). It has an exciting jump scare, even though it's not a horror film, and if you can understand its logic it keeps you captivated until the end. His psychological ambition is so high that it unbalances the film a bit, making it cold and overly theoretical.
Sand Dunes – Part Two
I'm going against the flow. Sand Dunes: Part Two It's less successful than the first film, because it has to do simpler things (the story gets to the heart of the action) and does them too much and too little. The themes are thanks to Herbert's pen, while Villeneuve deserves praise for dividing the division into two parts correctly. The first talks about political authority, and the second talks about religious authority. They work great together, however Sand dunes – The second part I must thank the work done since the first chapter which puts it in the best position to combine undeniable splendor with the depth of the author's vision.
Sand dunes
However, it was very difficult to start well Sand Dunes – Part One It works some wonders: it manages to be a watchable first act, despite having its dramatic heart at the center and a suspenseful ending that interrupts the story at its most beautiful. He manages to make a very complex world understandable and avoid laughter when entire dialogues are uttered by listing words that only exist in that world. The fact that we understand them and are affected by their political entanglements is thanks to the first film. It is less convenient for viewers and less exciting than The second partBut they are solid foundations that neither Jodorowsky nor Lynch were able to provide. It's not a little!
Prisoners
A thriller like many others it seems. But from the first shot, this tale of kidnapping and desperate parents becomes an exercise in sheer tension. Villeneuve shows that he knows how to be tough and cruel to his morally ambiguous characters in a way that most films of this caliber don't dare to do. The result is a profound experience that sticks with you and never lets go. Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Paul Dano deliver great numbers and the ending feels like it was written by Christopher Nolan. Prisoners“How and when it arrives is proof of Denis Villeneuve’s ability to move between experimental films (those originals and films).” the enemy) and qualitative works. Two different types of freedom, and the director knows how to benefit from them in both cases.
Assassin
greatness Assassin It comes with some sequences that are more worthy of an anthology than a complete one. Assassin Reflect first and foremost on spaces. From the great battle in the tunnels to the guerrilla war on the border, the color of this exciting film is constantly changing: it takes on the appearance of Western cinema, war cinema, but only to reach its depths, becoming a men's drama. (And women) from captivity, power, and death. An exceptional example of cinema that, by depicting a story so specific, seems able to encompass the full range of great narratives of every genre.
The Woman Who Sings (The Burner)
Mathematical text. Which has been organized to perfection without us realizing it, even one step away from the end. The Lady Who Sings is Denis Villeneuve's most profound film to the point that it takes your breath away with one of the best twists ever. He managed to combine the coolness of scientific procedure with the gradual discovery of human drama. It's a twin search for the father they never knew and the brother they never had. The mother's last will and testament triggers a historical reconstruction in the two that gradually reshapes parts of their identity. Villeneuve succeeds in alternating chilling moments with others where tenderness and the abandonment of emotional justice shine through in violence. A study film for anyone who wants to make cinema.
Access
Access It is the high point of Denis Villeneuve's career and also one of the most important films of the 2000s, a film that restored science fiction to its highest status, a philosophical cinema that reflects the eternal and cosmic patterns that organize our lives. Existence. Images become concepts, without becoming hermetic. In fact, the most difficult ideas, the most difficult hypotheses that can be imagined at the center of the plot, are felt on the skin. with Access We experience a strange language, really far from our own, but plausible. It is believed that if you have time to study it, you can learn it.
Those marks that aliens place on a white screen (which are nothing but a representation of our relationship with cinema itself) contain in their forms a way of perceiving the forces of the universe. Time is circular, and ideas are delivered through this model. The film's structure bends, as if written and directed by an alien, to try to change our perception. It is cinema's greatest power.
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