As 2023 draws to a close and the Oscar race begins to heat up, film publications around the world continue to roll out their lists of the year’s top films. IndieWire recently named Celine Song’s “Past Lives” the best film of the year, topping a list that also included “Barbie,” “Oppenheimer,” “Asteroid City,” and “Killers of the Flower Moon.” Now Cahiers du Cinema has gotten in on the action, selecting Laura Citarella’s “Trenque Lauquen” as its top pick.
The legendary French film publication, which served as an intellectual hub for the French New Wave after launching the careers of Jean-Luc Godard and Francois Truffaut, and famously named “Twin Peaks: The Return” the best film of the 2010s, revealed its top 10 films of 2023 on Friday, December 1. The list only includes movies that opened theatrically in France in 2023, so many films that had American theatrical runs or festival premieres in past years made the cut.
“Trenque Lauquen,” Citarella’s four-hour mystery about the search for a missing botanist in Argentina, landed in the top spot after premiering at the 2022 Venice International Film Festival. Other notable selections included “The Spirit of the Beehive” director Victor Erice’s “Close Your Eyes,” Justine Triet’s Palme d’Or winner “Anatomy of a Fall,” Aki Kaurismaki’s “Fallen Leaves,” and Steven Spielberg’s 2022 origin story “The Fabelmans.” In the U.S., that was obviously a film from last year — but again, it only opened in France in 2023.
Cahiers du Cinema’s list comes after a tumultuous period that saw mass resignations from the publication in 2022 amid disputes over its ownership and editorial direction. It previously selected Albert Serra’s “Pacification” as the best film of 2022, which, because it only opened in the U.S. this year, made IndieWire’s list of the best films of 2023.
Read Cahiers du Cinema’s entire ranking below.
- “Trenque Lauquen” dir. Laura Citarella
- “Close Your Eyes” dir. Victor Erice
- “Anatomy of a Fall” dir. Justine Triet
- “The Fabelmans” dir. Steven Spielberg
- “Fallen Leaves” dir. Aki Kaurismaki
- “Désordres” dir. Cyril Schaublin
- “Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World” dir. Radu Jude
- “The Temple Woods Gang” dir. Rabah Ameur-Zaimeche
- “Last Summer” dir. Catherine Breillat
- “A Prince’ dir. Pierre Creton, “Showing Up” dir. Kelly Reichardt
