François Lévesque delivers his cinematic favorites of the year. Note that only films having received a theatrical release in 2024 were eligible, regardless of their festival premiere date.
1.
The Substance
(La substance)
by Coralie Fargeat
Bloody, irreverent, completely crazy and very relevant: The Substance is all that. In this die-hard allegory of female ageism and internalized misogyny by Coralie Fargeat (Revenge), a fabulous Demi Moore seems to comment on her own Hollywood journey. Between explosions of gore and grand-guignol flashes, this subversive work does not fear to shock, proudly exhibiting its splendid monstrosity (September).
2. Dune: Part Two (Dune, part two), by Denis Villeneuve
After dazzling with Dune: Part One (Dune), Denis Villeneuve was almost expected as the messiah: concept of circumstances. The filmmaker did not disappoint. Following the adventures of Paul (Timothée Chalamet) and Chani (Zendaya), this second part brilliantly deconstructs the political, warlike and religious machines, all motivated by a thirst for power. The ride of a giant sandworm is already one of the great pieces of bravery in the history of cinema (February).
3. Evil does not existde Ryūsuke Hamaguchi
Popular for Drive My Car (Drive my tank), Ryūsuke Hamaguchi was back this year with Evil does not exist : a poetic reminder that nature will always have the last word. Against the backdrop of the upcoming destruction of a forest by promoters of luxury campsites for influencers, Hamaguchi offers a choral story with hypnotic recurrences. The more the film progresses, the more the atmosphere becomes dreamlike. Announced from the outset by a falsely innocuous reply, the outcome haunts for a long time (May).
4. The Zone of Interest (The area of interest), by Jonathan Glazer
With striking formal brilliance, Jonathan Glazer’s film features an unusual nouveau riche family: the man is a high-ranking Nazi official, and the installation next to his opulent home is a concentration camp. Deliberately positioning this horror off-camera, Glazer shows the frightening detachment that humans are capable of during genocides. The carelessness of these privileged people is all the more chilling as they find a way to be dissatisfied with their lot (January).
5. Longlegsd’Osgood Perkins
At one point in Osgood Perkins’ film, a character says he feels like he’s in a “dark dream, a long dark dream.” This line serves as a clue, since it is a perfect description of this offbeat supernatural thriller. We follow a novice FBI agent (excellent Maika Monroe) on the trail of a mysterious serial killer (unbelievable Nicolas Cage). In this closed universe, the logic of the nightmare prevails (July).
6.
Perfect Days (The perfect days)
the Wim Wenders
With the luminous and modestly moving Perfect DaysWim Wenders returned to fiction this year, after thirty years of shining especially in documentaries. A Tokyo public toilet cleaner, the protagonist leads a life made up of routines of which the filmmaker offers many revealing variations. Sense of detail and ephemeral beauty, love of music, literature and photography: everything contributes to a great vintage. Kōji Yakusho is extraordinary (February).
7. Emilia Perezby Jacques Audiard
Despite flamboyant appearances, with this Spanish-language musical thriller centered on an ambitious lawyer (Zoe Saldaña) and her wealthy trans client (Karla Sofía Gascón) whose fortune comes, in her former life, from drug trafficking, Jacques Audiard continues to be Jacques Audiard. In this that the director ofA prophet (2009) continues to focus on criminal environments, while popping up where you least expect it. Colorful and stunningly virtuosic, Emilia Pérez wins and capsizes (November).
8. Dahomeyby Mati Diop
In this hybrid documentary dealing with the repatriation by Benin of “26 royal treasures”, fragments of a cultural heritage plundered during the period of colonization, Mati Diop gives the floor to local museum experts and students invited to debate the question of their cultural heritage, as well as to the public. Varied, the points of view expressed are framed in a form that is both authentic and sought-after, often imbued with poetry. A unique proposition (October).
9. Mariaby Pablo Larraín
Sensing the final curtain falling, Maria Callas wanders around Paris, plagued by reminiscences. Will she be able to sing one last time? Poignant biographical elegy, this third part of Pablo Larraín’s trilogy on the notable women of the 20th centurye century sees Angelina Jolie inhabit the role of Maria Callas as if it were a second skin. In an interview, the star told us that he had discovered an unsuspected kinship with the diva: this explains it (November).
10. Equally: Civil War (Civil war), d’Alex Garland, et A Complete Unknown (A complete stranger)by James Mangold
Disturbing upon its release, the anticipation Civil War (Civil war), where the odyssey of a photojournalist (remarkable Kirsten Dunst) in an America torn by civil war, has become downright terrifying in view of recent news (April). A Complete Unknown (A complete stranger) surrounds its subject, Bob Dylan, while preserving its mystery. The direction of James Mangold and the incredible performance of Timothée Chalamet create the impression of living History live (December).
11. Shepherdsby Sophie Deraspe
With ShepherdsSophie Deraspe reaches — appropriate image — heights. Between idealism and the shock of reality, we follow a young Montreal advertising executive (Félix-Antoine Duval, vibrant) who reinvents himself as a shepherd in Provence. With a civil servant whom he won through the pastoral way of life (Solène Rigot, sunny), the neophyte will be put to the test, particularly in the mountain pastures, where the gaze sensitive to the ambient splendor, but lucid nonetheless, of the filmmaker , works wonders (November).
12. Love Lies Bleeding (Of love and blood), the Rose Glass
Violent, erotic and grating neo-noir, Love Lies Bleeding is especially stripping. In a small, remote town, it’s love at first sight between the manager of a seedy training center (captivating Kristen Stewart) and a passing weightlifter (unpredictable Katy O’Brian). Except that around the lovers, corpses pile up. Deploying an energetic and stylized staging, glamour filthy, Rose Glass (Saint Maud) confirms his singular gifts (March).
13. Babygirlthe Halina Reijn
Babygirl is part of the movement of the erotic thriller reinvented through the female gaze (“ female gaze ), long excluded from the genre (see In the Cut). As a fifty-year-old business manager plunged into a sadomasochistic affair with a twenty-year-old intern, Nicole Kidman delivers a performance that is as complex as it is uninhibited. Filmmaker Halina Reijn explores her heroine’s secret garden without judgment, but without blindness. A heroine no longer an object, but a subject (December).
14. Queerby Luca Guadagnino
With Queeraccording to William S. Burroughs, Luca Guadagnino continues his exploration of the feeling of love. This, while continuing to vary the figures and environments visited. As a fifty-year-old expatriate and drug addict swooning over a young sailor who allows himself to be seduced as much as desired, Daniel Craig delivers a feverish performance. In this sublimely idealized Mexico of the 1950s, reality becomes a dream, a fantasy… It’s not just erotic, it’s carnal (December).
15. Equally: Olfa’s daughtersby Kaouther Ben Hania, and Atikamekw Sunsby Chloé Leriche
In Olfa’s daughtersa woman tries to understand why her two eldest daughters left Tunisia to join the Islamic State armed group in Libya. Bold choice: filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania casts two actresses in the roles of radicalized teenage girls (January). With tact and empathy, Atikamekw Suns returns to the more than suspicious death of five Attikameks from Manawan, in the summer of 1977. In collaboration with the community, Chloé Leriche created a painful, but luminous film (April).
