It’s nothing new to say that the Cannes Film Festival is one of the most influential forces in cinema, for better and for worse. Like its eviler twin, the Oscars, it is almost choked by its glamor and prestige: its putative brethren Berlin and even, to a certain degree, Venice, are able to escape an over-abundance of notice, with off years or low-key line-ups largely going unnoticed (at least among the trades and the Hollywood industry). No such recourse is available to Cannes, who always stands as a bellwether for the health of the festival landscape, despite its well-established reliance on pet auteurs and a reluctance to stray too far out of its comfort zone.

I actually don’t mind this tendency too much, and to unpack that more would take something much longer/more formal, but I wanted to focus in on something much less consequential but equally fascinating: the Screen International Cannes Jury Grid. One of the best pieces of film festival ephemera, it is run by the British film magazine and prompts typically 10 or 11 critics from different publications around the world to rate each film in the Official Competition from zero to four stars. What appeals to me about this concept — aside from giving me access to the thoughts of some of my favorite critics, Dennis Lim and Justin Chang chief among them — is the snapshot nature of it, the way it embodies the in-the-moment feeling about a film in the same way that any ratings scale or list does. Obviously, the makeup of names from year to year varies a great deal, and I may not put an enormous amount of truck in a good number of people involved, but it is as good a portrait of the thoughts of a certain semi-mainstream stripe of critic as there is in any place. People can hedge or try to make themselves look better in retrospective reviews, top-ten lists, and the like, but with such iron-clad parameters (five points with no decimals) and limited options — the aggregate ranking of only about 20 films is entirely dependent on the votes of a few people, which leads to both consensus and chaos, as one dissenter in either direction can tip the scales wildly — leads to some lovely, often infuriating, always surprising results. It’d be great, for instance, if films in other sections, even in the functionally separate Directors’ Fortnight, where many of the best films have premiered, were included, or if something similar was consistently established for even just Berlin and Venice, but there’s a perverse purity to the grid, as there is to the competition, that truly compels me.

Cannes 2023 is currently underway, and this lovely Screen Daily piece by Nikki Baughan that my friend/presumed grid contributor this year (one of the few enormous gripes I have is the refusal to name the Screen International respondent for the year) Tim Grierson tweeted out made me want to go back and look at how the ad hoc rankings formed by each of the grids have shaken out; it’s easy and fun to rag on the often dunderheaded choices by the Cannes juries, for Palme d’Or winners and other jury awards alike, but what about the on-the-ground opinions of (hopefully) well-meaning critics?

From a very quick look online, I’ve been able to find the full grids from 2009-2022 — the article’s inclusion of the highest and lowest rated titles from almost every edition is fascinating in its own right but doesn’t offer enough information; I might do a second edition if I can find some others and/or if I decide to delve into some of these grids a bit deeper — and sorted each film by their rating, with alphabetical order controlling for ties. I’ve then sought to rank the films by a very loose but still considered series of criteria, including my own personal liking of the film and/or director (when applicable), the thoughts on both of my own circles, and, for a lack of a better descriptor, the enduring appeal, renown, and importance of the film. These should not be taken as strict rankings, and the former will often outweigh the latter (which is subjective in and of itself), but it’s a start to considering just how these odd (in multiple senses of the word) opinions have evolved over the years.

* will indicate a film I have seen.

2009

1. A Prophet (Jacques Audiard) – 3.4
2. Bright Star (Jane Campion) – 3.3
The White Ribbon (Michael Haneke) – 3.3
4. Broken Embraces (Pedro Almodóvar) – 3.2
5. Looking for Eric (Ken Loach) – 2.9
Vincere (Marco Bellocchio) – 2.9
7. The Time That Remains (Elia Suleiman) – 2.6
8. Wild Grass (Alain Resnais) – 2.5
9. Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino) – 2.4
Thirst (Park Chan-wook) – 2.4
11. Fish Tank (Andrea Arnold) – 2.3
12. Vengeance (Johnnie To) – 2.1
13. Taking Woodstock (Ang Lee) – 2
14. In the Beginning (Xavier Giannoli) – 1.9
15. Antichrist (Lars von Trier) – 1.6
Enter the Void (Gaspar Noé) – 1.6
Spring Fever (Lou Ye) – 1.6
18. Face (Tsai Ming-liang) – 1.3
Map of the Sounds of Tokyo (Isabel Coixet) – 1.3
20. Kinatay (Brillante Mendoza) – 1.2

1. *Inglourious Basterds
2. Wild Grass
3. Bright Star
4. Broken Embraces
5. *Face
6. The White Ribbon
7. Vengeance
8. Vincere
9. Thirst
10. Antichrist
11. A Prophet
12. *Fish Tank
13. The Time That Remains
14. Enter the Void
15. Taking Woodstock
16. Looking for Eric
17. Spring Fever
18. Kinatay
19. In the Beginning
20. Map of the Sounds of Tokyo

2010

1. Another Year (Mike Leigh) – 3.4
2. Of Gods and Men (Xavier Beauvois) – 3.1
3. Poetry (Lee Chang-dong) – 2.7
4. Outside the Law (Rachid Bouchareb) – 2.6
5. The Princess of Montpensier (Bertrand Tavernier) – 2.4
Route Irish (Ken Loach) – 2.4
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Apichatpong Weerasethakul) – 2.4
8. Certified Copy (Abbas Kiarostami) – 2.3
A Screaming Man (Mahamat-Saleh Haroun) – 2.3
10. Chongqing Blues (Wang Xiaoshuai) – 2.2
Fair Game (Doug Liman) – 2.2
The Housemaid (Im Sang-soo) – 2.2
My Joy (Sergei Loznitsa) – 2.2
14. Tender Son: The Frankenstein Project (Mundruczó Kornél) – 2.1
15. Biutiful (Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu) – 2
On Tour (Mathieu Amalric) – 2
17. Our Life (Daniele Luchetti) – 1.6
18. Burnt by the Sun 2: Exodus (Nikita Mikhalkov) – 1.3
19. Outrage (Kitano Takeshi) – 0.9

1. *Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives
2. Poetry
3. *Certified Copy
4. Another Year
5. Of Gods and Men
6. My Joy
7. Outrage
8. The Housemaid
9. A Screaming Man
10. Chongqing Blues
11. Biutiful
12. On Tour
13. The Princess of Montpensier
14. Route Irish
15. Outside the Law
16. Our Life
17. Burnt by the Sun 2: Exodus
18. Fair Game
19. Tender Son: The Frankenstein Project

2011

1. Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (Nuri Bilge Ceylan) – 3.3
2. Le Havre (Aki Kaurismäki) – 3.2
3. The Kid With a Bike (Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne) – 3.1
4. The Artist (Michel Hazanavicius) – 2.8
The Skin I Live In (Pedro Almodóvar) – 2.8
This Must Be the Place (Paolo Sorrentino) – 2.8
The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick) – 2.8
8. We Need to Talk About Kevin (Lynne Ramsay) – 2.5
9. Drive (Nicolas Winding Refn) – 2.4
Melancholia (Lars von Trier) – 2.4
11. We Have a Pope (Nanni Moretti) – 2.3
12. Footnote (Joseph Cedar) – 2
Michael (Markus Schleinzer) – 2
14. Father (Alain Cavalier) – 1.9
15. Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai (Miike Takashi) – 1.7
Polisse (Maïwenn) – 1.7
The Source (Radu Mihǎileanu) – 1.7
18. Hanezu (Kawase Naomi) – 1.6
19. Sleeping Beauty (Julia Leigh) – 1.5
20. House of Tolerance (Bertrand Bonello) – 1.1

1. *The Tree of Life
2. *The Kid With a Bike
3. *Melancholia
4. *House of Tolerance
5. Once Upon a Time in Anatolia
6. Le Havre
7. The Skin I Live In
8. Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai
9. Sleeping Beauty
10. We Have a Pope
11. Footnote
12. Michael
13. Polisse
14. Father
15. *Drive
16. We Need to Talk About Kevin
17. *The Artist
18. Hanezu
19. This Must Be the Place
20. The Source

2012

1. Amour (Michael Haneke) – 3.3
Beyond the Hills (Cristian Mungiu) – 3.3
3. The Hunt (Thomas Vinterberg) – 2.9
In the Fog (Sergei Loznitsa) – 2.9
Killing Them Softly (Andrew Dominik) – 2.9
Rust & Bone (Jacques Audiard) – 2.9
7. The Angels’ Share (Ken Loach) – 2.8
Mud (Jeff Nichols) – 2.8
9. On the Road (Walter Salles) – 2.7
10. Moonrise Kingdom (Wes Anderson) – 2.6
You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet (Alain Resnais) – 2.6
12. Like Someone in Love (Abbas Kiarostami) – 2.4
13. Cosmopolis (David Cronenberg) – 2.2
14. In Another Country (Hong Sang-soo) – 2.1
15. Holy Motors (Leos Carax) – 2
Post Tenebras Lux (Carlos Reygadas) – 2
17. Reality (Matteo Garrone) – 1.9
18. Lawless (John Hillcoat) – 1.7
19. The Paperboy (Lee Daniels) – 1.6
20. After the Battle (Yousry Nasrallah) – 1.5
Paradise: Love (Ulrich Seidl) – 1.5
22. The Taste of Money (Im Sang-soo) – 1.4

1. *Holy Motors
2. *Like Someone in Love
3. *Moonrise Kingdom
4. *You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet
5. *In Another Country
6. *Cosmopolis
7. Amour
8. Post Tenebras Lux
9. Beyond the Hills
10. In the Fog
11. The Hunt
12. Killing Them Softly
13. Paradise: Love
14. Rust & Bone
15. Reality
16. The Angels’ Share
17. Mud
18. On the Road
19. Lawless
20. The Paperboy
21. The Taste of Money
22. After the Battle

2013

1. Blue Is the Warmest Color – Abdellatif Kechiche) – 3.4
2. Inside Llewyn Davis (Joel & Ethan Coen) – 3.3
3. Nebraska (Alexander Payne) – 3.1
4. A Touch of Sin (Jia Zhangke) – 3
5. The Past (Asghar Farhadi) – 2.8
Venus in Fur (Roman Polański) – 2.8
7. The Great Beauty (Paolo Sorrentino) – 2.7
8. Only Lovers Left Alive (Jim Jarmusch) – 2.6
9. Behind the Candelabra (Steven Soderbergh) – 2.5
Like Father, Like Son (Koreeda Hirokazu) – 2.5
11. The Immigrant (James Gray) – 2.4
Young & Beautiful (François Ozon) – 2.4
13. Borgman (Alex Van Warmerdam) – 2.1
Jimmy P: Psychotherapy of a Plains Indian (Arnaud Desplechin) – 2.1
15. Grigris (Mahamat-Saleh Haroun) – 1.8
16. Heli (Amat Escalante) – 1.6
Michael Kohlhaas (Arnaud des Pallières) – 1.6
18. A Castle in Italy (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi) – 1.5
Only God Forgives (Nicolas Winding Refn) – 1.5
20. Shield of Straw (Miike Takashi) – 1.3

1. *Inside Llewyn Davis
2. *The Immigrant
3. *A Touch of Sin
4. Only Lovers Left Alive
5. Blue Is the Warmest Color
6. Behind the Candelabra
7. Nebraska
8. Like Father, Like Son
9. Jimmy P: Psychotherapy of a Plains Indian
10. The Past
11. The Great Beauty
12. Heli
13. Grigris
14. Shield of Straw
15. Young & Beautiful
16. Venus in Fur
17. Borgman
18. Michael Kohlhaas
19. A Castle in Italy
20. *Only God Forgives

2014

1. Mr. Turner (Mike Leigh) – 3.6
2. Leviathan (Andrey Zvyagintsev) – 3.5
3. Winter Sleep (Nuri Bilge Ceylan) – 3.4
4. Two Days, One Night (Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne) – 3.1
5. Clouds of Sils Maria (Olivier Assayas) – 2.9
6. Foxcatcher (Bennett Miller) – 2.8
7. Maps to the Stars (David Cronenberg) – 2.7
8. The Homesman (Tommy Lee Jones) – 2.6
Mommy (Xavier Dolan) – 2.6
Timbuktu (Abderrahmane Sissako) – 2.6
The Wonders (Alice Rohrwacher) – 2.6
12. Goodbye to Language (Jean-Luc Godard) – 2.5
Jimmy’s Hall (Ken Loach) – 2.5
14. Still the Water (Kawase Naomi) – 2.2
Wild Tales (Damian Szifron) – 2.2
16. Saint Laurent (Bertrand Bonello) – 1.7
17. The Captive (Atom Egoyan) – 1.6
18. The Search (Michel Hazanavicius) – 1.2

1. *Goodbye to Language
2. *Two Days, One Night
3. *Clouds of Sils Maria
4. Timbuktu
5. Mr. Turner
6. The Wonders
7. *Saint Laurent
8. Winter Sleep
9. Maps to the Stars
10. The Homesman
11. *Foxcatcher
12. Leviathan
13. Wild Tales
14. Jimmy’s Hall
15. Mommy
16. Still the Water
17. The Captive
18. The Search

2015

1. The Assassin (Hou Hsiao-hsien) – 3.5
Carol (Todd Haynes) – 3.5
3. Mountains May Depart (Jia Zhangke) – 2.8
Son of Saul (Nemes László) – 2.8
5. Mia madre (Nanni Moretti) – 2.7
6. Dheepan (Jacques Audiard) – 2.5
Our Little Sister (Koreeda Hirokazu) – 2.5
8. The Lobster (Yorgos Lanthimos) – 2.4
Youth (Paolo Sorrentino) – 2.4
10. The Measure of a Man (Stéphane Brizé) – 2.3
Sicario (Denis Villeneuve) – 2.3
12. Louder Than Bombs (Joachim Trier) – 2.2
13. Chronic (Michel Franco) – 2
Tale of Tales (Matteo Garrone) – 2
15. Macbeth (Justin Kurzel) – 1.8
16. Valley of Love (Guillaume Nicloux) – 1.7
17. Mon roi (Maïwenn) – 1.5
18. Marguerite and Julien (Valérie Donzelli) – 0.9
19. The Sea of Trees (Gus Van Sant) – 0.6

1. *The Assassin
2. *Carol
3. *Mountains May Depart
4. *Sicario
5. *Our Little Sister
6. *The Lobster
7. *Son of Saul
8. Mia madre
9. The Measure of a Man
10. *Valley of Love
11. Dheepan
12. Macbeth
13. Louder Than Bombs
14. Tale of Tales
15. Marguerite and Julien
16. Chronic
17. Youth
18. Mon roi
19. The Sea of Trees

2016

1. Toni Erdmann (Maren Ade) – 3.7
2. Paterson (Jim Jarmusch) – 3.5
3. Elle (Paul Verhoeven) – 3.1
4. Graduation (Cristian Mungiu) – 3
Sieranevada (Cristi Puiu) – 3
6. Aquarius (Kleber Mendonça Filho) – 2.9
7. Loving (Jeff Nichols) – 2.5
The Unknown Girl (Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne) – 2.5
9. American Honey (Andrea Arnold) – 2.4
I, Daniel Blake (Ken Loach) – 2.4
Julieta (Pedro Almodóvar) – 2.4
The Salesman (Asghar Farhadi) – 2.4
13. Personal Shopper (Olivier Assayas) – 2.3
Slack Bay (Bruno Dumont) – 2.3
15. Ma’ Rosa (Brillante Mendoza) – 2.2
Staying Vertical (Alain Guiraudie) – 2.2
17. The Handmaiden (Park Chan-wook) – 2.1
18. From the Land of the Moon (Nicole Garcia) – 2
19. The Neon Demon (Nicolas Winding Refn) – 1.5
20. It’s Only the End of the World (Xavier Dolan) – 1.4
21. The Last Face (Sean Penn) – 0.2

1. *Toni Erdmann
2. *Elle
3. *Sieranevada
4. *Personal Shopper
5. *Aquarius
6. *The Handmaiden
7. *Paterson
8. *Julieta
9. *The Unknown Girl
10. *Staying Vertical
11. The Salesman
12. *Graduation
13. Slack Bay
14. *I, Daniel Blake
15. Loving
16. *American Honey
17. *Ma’ Rosa
18. From the Land of the Moon
19. *The Neon Demon
20. It’s Only the End of the World
21. The Last Face

2017

1. Loveless (Andrey Zvyagintsaev) – 3.2
You Were Never Really Here (Lynne Ramsay) – 3.2
3. The Square (Ruben Östlund) – 2.7
Wonderstruck (Todd Haynes) – 2.7
5. The Day After (Hong Sang-soo) – 2.5
Good Time (Josh & Benny Safdie) – 2.5
120 BPM (Beats per Minute) (Robin Campillo) – 2.5
8. The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) (Noah Baumbach) – 2.4
9. The Beguiled (Sofia Coppola) – 2.3
Double Lover (François Ozon) – 2.3
Okja (Bong Joon-ho) – 2.3
12. A Gentle Creature (Sergei Loznitsa) – 2.2
Happy End (Michael Haneke) – 2.2
14. The Killing of a Sacred Deer (Yorgos Lanthimos) – 1.9
15. Jupiter’s Moon (Mundruczó Kornél) – 1.6
Radiance (Kawase Naomi) – 1.6
17. In the Fade (Fatih Akın) – 1.5
Le Redoutable (Michel Hazanavicius) – 1.5
19. Rodin (Jacques Doillon) – 1

1. *The Day After
2. *Good Time
3. *120 BPM (Beats per Minute)
4. *Wonderstruck
5. *The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)
6. A Gentle Creature
7. *The Square
8. *The Beguiled
9. *Okja
10. Happy End
11. Rodin
12. *You Were Never Really Here
13. Loveless
14. *The Killing of a Sacred Deer
15. Double Lover
16. In the Fade
17. Radiance
18. *Le Redoutable
19. Jupiter’s Moon

2018

1. Burning (Lee Chang-dong) – 3.8
2. Shoplifters (Koreeda Hirokazu) – 3.2
3. The Image Book (Jean-Luc Godard) – 3
4. Ash Is Purest White (Jia Zhangke) – 2.9
Cold War (Paweł Pawlikowski) – 2.9
Happy as Lazzaro (Alice Rohrwacher) – 2.9
The Wild Pear Tree (Nuri Bilge Ceylan) – 2.9
8. 3 Faces (Jafar Panahi) – 2.6
9. BlacKkKlansman (Spike Lee) – 2.5
10. Asako I & II (Hamaguchi Ryusuke) – 2.4
Leto (Kirill Serebrennikov) – 2.4
12. Dogman (Matteo Garrone) – 2.3
Sorry Angel (Christophe Honoré) – 2.3
14. At War (Stéphane Brizé) – 2.1
Ayka (Sergei Dvortsevoy) – 2.1
16. Under the Silver Lake (David Robert Mitchell) – 2
17. Capernaum (Nadine Labaki) – 1.9
18. Everybody Knows (Asghar Farhadi) – 1.8
Yomeddine (Abu Bakr Shawky) – 1.8
20. Knife + Heart (Yann Gonzalez) – 1.6
21. Girls of the Sun (Eva Husson) – 1

1. *Burning
2. *The Image Book
3. *Ash Is Purest White
4. *Happy as Lazzaro
5. *Asako I & II
6. *3 Faces
7. *Shoplifters
8. *BlacKkKlansman
9. *Cold War
10. The Wild Pear Tree
11. *Knife + Heart
12. Sorry Angel
13. *Under the Silver Lake
14. Leto
15. Dogman
16. At War
17. Ayka
18. Girls of the Sun
19. Capernaum
20. Everybody Knows
21. Yomeddine

2019

1. Parasite (Bong Joon-ho) – 3.5
2. Pain and Glory (Pedro Almodóvar) – 3.3
Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Céline Sciamma) – 3.3
4. Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood (Quentin Tarantino) – 3
5. Atlantics (Mati Diop) – 2.8
6. The Wild Goose Lake (Diao Yinan) – 2.7
7. Bacurau (Kleber Mendonça Filho & Juliano Dornelles) – 2.6
It Must Be Heaven (Elia Suleiman) – 2.6
The Traitor (Marco Bellocchio) – 2.6
10. A Hidden Life (Terrence Malick) – 2.5
Sorry We Missed You (Ken Loach) – 2.5
The Whistlers (Corneliu Porumboiu) – 2.5
13. Les Misérables (Ladj Ly) – 2.4
Oh Mercy! (Arnaud Desplechin) – 2.4
Young Ahmed (Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne) – 2.4
16. Little Joe (Jessica Hausner) – 2.3
17. The Dead Don’t Die (Jim Jarmusch) – 2.2
18. Sibyl (Justine Triet) – 1.8
19. Matthias & Maxime (Xavier Dolan) – 1.7
20. Frankie (Ira Sachs) – 1.6
21. Mektoub, My Love: Intermezzo (Abdellatif Kechiche) – 1.5

1. *Parasite
2. *Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood
3. *Portrait of a Lady on Fire
4. *Bacurau
5. *Pain and Glory
6. *The Traitor
7. *Atlantics
8. *A Hidden Life
9. *Young Ahmed
10. *Sibyl
11. *The Wild Goose Lake
12. *The Whistlers
13. Oh Mercy!
14. Little Joe
15. *The Dead Don’t Die
16. Mektoub, My Love: Intermezzo
17. Les Misérables
18. Frankie
19. Sorry We Missed You
20. Matthias & Maxime
21. It Must Be Heaven

2021

1. Drive My Car (Hamaguchi Ryusuke) – 3.5
2. Memoria (Apichatpong Weerasethakul) – 3.4
3. Annette (Leos Carax) – 3
4. Benedetta (Paul Verhoeven) – 2.7
5. Compartment No. 6 (Juho Kuosmanen) – 2.6
A Hero (Asghar Farhadi) – 2.6
Paris, 13th District (Jacques Audiard) – 2.6
8. The Worst Person in the World (Joachim Trier) – 2.4
9. The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun (Wes Anderson) – 2.3
Petrov’s Flu (Kirill Serebrennikov) – 2.3
11. Bergman Island (Mia Hansen-Løve) – 2.2
Everything Went Fine (François Ozon) – 2.2
Red Rocket (Sean Baker) – 2.2
14. Ahed’s Knee (Nadav Lapid) – 2.1
15. France (Bruno Dumont) – 2
16. The Restless (Joachim Lafosse) – 1.9
17. Lingui, the Sacred Bonds (Mahamat-Saleh Haroun) – 1.8
Nitram (Justin Kurzel) – 1.8
The Story of My Wife (Enyedi Ildikó) – 1.8
20. Casablanca Beats (Nabil Ayouch) – 1.6
Titane (Julia Ducournau) – 1.6
22. Three Floors (Nanni Moretti) – 1.5
23. The Divide (Catherine Corsini) – 1.4
24. Flag Day (Sean Penn) – 1.1

1. *Drive My Car
2. *Memoria
3. *Annette
4. *The Worst Person in the World
5. *France
6. *Benedetta
7. *The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun
8. *Bergman Island
9. *Red Rocket
10. *Ahed’s Knee
11. *Titane
12. A Hero
13. Compartment No. 6
14. Lingui, the Sacred Bonds
15. Petrov’s Flu
16. Nitram
17. Paris, 13th District
18. Three Floors
19. The Restless
20. Everything Went Fine
21. The Divide
22. Casablanca Beats
23. Flag Day
24. The Story of My Wife

2022

1. Decision to Leave (Park Chan-wook) – 3.2
2. Armageddon Time (James Gray) – 2.8
3. EO (Jerzy Skolimowski) – 2.7
Showing Up (Kelly Reichardt) – 2.7
Tori and Lokita (Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne) – 2.7
6. Crimes of the Future (David Cronenberg) – 2.6
Pacifiction (Albert Serra) – 2.6
8. Nostalgia (Mario Martone) – 2.5
R.M.N. (Cristian Mungiu) – 2.5
Triangle of Sadness (Ruben Östlund) – 2.5
11. Close (Lukas Dhont) – 2.4
Mother and Son (Léonor Serraille) – 2.4
13. Boy From Heaven (Tarik Saleh) – 2.3
Leila’s Brothers (Saeed Roustaee) – 2.3
Tchaikovsky’s Wife (Kirill Serebrennikov) – 2.3
16. Brother and Sister (Arnaud Desplechin) – 2
The Eight Mountains (Felix van Groeningen & Charlotte Vandermeersch) – 2
Holy Spider (Ali Abbasi) – 2
19. Broker (Koreeda Hirokazu) – 1.9
Stars at Noon (Claire Denis) – 1.9
21. Forever Young (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi) – 1.8

1. *Pacifiction
2. *Showing Up
3. *EO
4. *Crimes of the Future
5. *Stars at Noon
6. *Decision to Leave
7. *Armageddon Time
8. *Triangle of Sadness
9. R.M.N.
10. Tori and Lokita
11. Brother and Sister
12. The Eight Mountains
13. Broker
14. *Close
15. Holy Spider
16. Forever Young
17. Boy From Heaven
18. Nostalgia
19. Mother and Son
20. Leila’s Brothers
21. Tchaikovsky’s Wife

2009-2013

Obviously, during this early stretch of festivals I wasn’t aware of films as all, so there are plenty more films collected at the bottom that I’m ranking more haphazardly, so a few notes from this period should suffice:

– The stars of Loach, Lou, Mundruczó, Ozon, Suleiman, Nichols, and Sorrentino (among numerous others, including perhaps Farhadi) have all fallen at least for now, especially for these films of the former’s that I’ve never heard of before (consistent top 5/10 finishes seems ridiculous from my current vantage) and these are intended to reflect that.

– Controversy at the time of the release matters a lot less than whether the films are controversial now, as the illustrative, well-distributed rankings of Tarantino, Trier, and Noé in 2009 illustrate.

– It is insane that Tsai was third-to-last in 2009.

– So many high films in 2010 that I’ve never heard of before (including a Tavernier?), meanwhile Uncle Boonmee and Certified Copy struggle to remain in the top 10.

– Fair Game might be the most ludicrous selection in this whole era, which includes two Sean Penn films.

– Some of the more revisionist rankings I’m taking on faith, but also there’s no way that Outrage is not more notable than <emBiutiful.

– Fascinating to see The Artist and This Must Be the Place so high in 2011; House of Tolerance in last remains a Colossal Youth-in-last level embarrassment.

– I’ll probably be mildly appreciative of some of these films when I see them but that 2012 run of Killing Them Softly through On the Road when stacked up immediately against the run from Moonrise Kingdom to Holy Motors(???) is… unbelievable.

– Definitely plenty of films that are still plenty talked about that I chose to rank lower because I personally can’t stand them; Refn’s films are prime contenders.

2014

Not the first Cannes I was really conscious of (that’s next year) but somehow I’m at least vaguely familiar with every film here. This is the first year that presents the Zvyagintsev conundrum, wherein his films have done extraordinarily well despite seemingly no one I’m especially aligned with caring for his work, or at least this late output. Plenty of films that I still haven’t seen but have ranked decently high based on their reputations and my appreciation for their directors’ later work, like The Wonders. I remember reading Dennis Lim dissenting with the on-the-ground feeling that this was a weak year for Cannes, and this new top 5 feels like a great argument for his view.

2015

The Screen jury got it *exactly* right, though it can’t have been difficult with just three true standouts. I’m frankly shocked that Mountains May Depart, my second-favorite film of the decade but which has proved enduringly divisive (and a turning point in Jia’s reputation I feel), managed to tie for third. Populating the list below the top three was somewhat difficult, and having Sicario, a film I used to love but have mixed feelings about now, in fourth doesn’t feel great. But displacing Nemes, a once firebrand director that now 90% of new cinephiles probably haven’t even heard of, does.

2016

Maybe the single best edition of Cannes on this list, which makes the fact that the bottom three films in both rankings screened back-to-back-to-back all the funnier. I feel that Paterson‘s gotten lost in the cracks in recent years which accounts for its much lower placing, while slightly more divisive films at the time like Personal Shopper and The Handmaiden have soared. I am surprised that the previously twice-shellacked Mendoza managed to get away with an above-average rating for a truly crummy film.

2017

Speaking of crummy, what a truly awful year for Cannes; it’s a nice coincidence that the three best films all somehow tied for fifth. Kind of a surprise to see 120 BPM so low and Wonderstruck, which I love but has been derided, tied for third. Ramsay gets the Refn treatment, while I know enough people that didn’t mind Rodin to put it up above a bunch of what looks like dreck.

2018

Not totally sure about how to rank the top three here, each has its own very different, summative late-period merits, but they help buttress a Cannes where the gap between great/noteworthy films and ones that everybody does *not* know is vast. Under the Silver Lake has stuck around but I’m not keen on it, so in the bottom half it goes.

2019

Another year so stuffed with both films I love and extremely noteworthy films that the former can be a bit shortchanged (e.g. the mystifyingly disregarded Sibyl and the pleasingly well-received The Wild Goose Lake); my antipathy for Portrait is well known but it’s endured at least for now, though I didn’t choose to follow those insane Sight & Sound rankings; The Traitor might be too high but it’s that great.

2021

Forgot how massive this year was, and yet the top three was very clear; once again a huge divide between the great films and the fine-at-best films. Chose to spare Sean Penn and give last place to the Enyedi for seemingly being such a disappointment (I’ll probably watch both someday); forgot Titane did so poorly, while I don’t love the film it’s still worthwhile. I’ve gone back and forth on Worst Person but feels like a decent spot for it; plenty of films that have sunk slightly because of their general lack of profile *despite* getting US distribution, the Kuosmanen is a clear example.

2022

Probably not a coincidence that the two worst years for Cannes since I started more-or-less actively following along had the best film top out at 3.2; thankfully the one here is much better. Shocking number of films I forgot despite being just one year old (Mother and Son, Leila’s Brothers); Serebrennikov gets the Enyedi treatment after a string of solid films. And it felt like a right and good thing to massively bump up Stars at Noon, a now beloved film at least among my circles, the exact kind of reclamation impossible at Cannes that hindsight can make all the richer.