One reader Miran Terzic did some serious work breaking down gender votes in the Sight and Sound Top 50 film poll. If the 197 (I had 196) voted three women would make the top 50, not just one. The ones that would make it would be: Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles directed by Chantal Akerman; Meshes of the Afternoon directed by Maya Deren/Alexander Hammid and Beau Travail directed by Claire Denis. Neither Meshes of the Afternoon nor Beau Travail made it onto the full top 50 list.
Here’s what Mirna said about his research:
Out of 197 women and 1970 possible films selected by them, 131 were directed/co-directed by women or 6.65% of all films selected by women were directed or co/directed by women.
Using only the female ballots the top 50 (actually 58 films due to ties) would look like this.
Vertigo — 37
Tokyo Story — 26
Citizen Kane — 25
Passion of Joan of Arc — 20
Sunrise — 20
Man with a Movie Camera — 18
Atalante, L’ — 17
Singin’ in the Rain — 17
Règle du jeu, La — 16
Godfather: Part I, The — 15
Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles — 15
Au Hasard Balthazar — 14
Breathless — 14
In The Mood For Love — 14
Searchers, The — 14
8½–13
Andrei Rublev — 13
Battleship Potemkin — 13
2001: A Space Odyssey — 12
Godfather: Part II, The — 12
mépris, Le — 12
Touki Bouki — 12
Late Spring — 11
Leopard, The — 11
Metropolis — 11
Mulholland Dr — 11
Seven Samurai — 11
Meshes of the Afternoon — 10
Rear Window — 10
Some Like It Hot 10
Battle of Algiers, The — 9
Blade Runner — 9
Mirror — 9
Persona — 9
Shoah — 9
Stalker — 9
400 Blows, The — 8
Apocalypse Now — 8
Beau Travail — 8
Bicycle Thieves, The — 8
Close-Up — 8
General, The — 8
Jetée, La — 8
Wild Strawberries — 8
Amarcord — 7
Avventura, L’ — 7
chien andalou, Un — 7
Imitation of Life — 7
Lady Eve, The — 7
Lawrence of Arabia — 7
One and a Two, A — 7
Playtime — 7
Rashomon -7
Sans Soleil — 7
Seventh Seal, The — 7
Solaris — 7
Spirit of the Beehive, The — 7
Sunset Blvd. — 7
A bit thank to Miran for taking the time to do this. It is much appreciated.
Gender Matters: The Sight and Sound Top 50 Films Of All Time List (WaH)
