19/12/2024 - The results are in for the poll of Cineuropa’s journalists. Which are the best European works of the year?

We really have something to celebrate this year. It's not very often that utter cinematic sensations come to us from the European industry (from French helmers, as it happens). Granted, they might be respectively set in Hollywood and Mexico, and the lack of big US productions owing to the results of the Hollywood strikes might have helped, but their unparalleled level of creativity is undeniable and is the special ingredient that has made them what they are. Last year, European cinema saw resounding success (as proven by the top three films in Cineuropa's Best of 2023 - see here) by looking inwards, and this year, it's once again proving its ability to examine every part of the world and draw inspiration from it. Concurrently, it's also this very continent that keeps trying to give back what it has been given (and has taken) throughout history by contributing to the creation of films about the rest of the world - movies about Palestine, Benin, DR Congo, Brazil and India, to name but a few of the countries we have got to know a little better through this year's crop of titles.

The results are in for the poll of Cineuropa’s journalists. Which European (co-)produced works world-premiered this year are the best, according to our team?

25 Souleymane's Story [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Boris Lojkine
film profile], Boris Lojkine (France)

"Souleymane's Story manages to deal very aptly with all the facets of the exile's psychologically trying situation. It's a dazzling, touching and fascinating piece, in which Lojkine's powerful documentary style is transformed into a humanist fiction that moves at 100 km an hour and is worthy of praise." (Fabien Lemercier)

(Read full review)
(Read interview with Boris Lojkine)

24 Afternoons of Solitude [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Albert Serra
film profile], Albert Serra (Spain/France/Portugal)

"The end result is a film that is steeped in a kind of spontaneous atmosphere and becomes a sensorial immersion – with a slightly psychedelic and epic tone – in this world of bullfighting, in the truth and the solitude of the matador. It’s a singular documentary (able to transcend its most common genres and codes) with a poetic, personal and daring gaze, steering clear of political correctness, which, over and above any moralism or reflection (don’t bother looking for any kind of message, as there isn’t one), seeks out and finds that latent hypnotism." (Júlia Olmo)

(Read full review)
(Read interview with Albert Serra)

22 Armand [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel
interview: Renate Reinsve
film profile], Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel (Norway/Netherlands/Germany/ Sweden)

"The first half plays out as skilfully as they come, and the second half decides to escape from its claustrophobic chamber-play premise – a move that will puzzle some viewers. That said, some of the best moments of any Cannes 2024 entry are surely to be found in Armand. Both Grandma Liv and Grandpa Ingmar would heartily approve." (Jan Lumholdt)

(Read full review)
(Read interview with Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel)

= The Devil's Bath [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Veronika Franz, Severin Fiala
film profile], Veronika Franz & Severin Fiala (Austria/Germany)

"The Devil’s Bath is a movie that will stick with the viewer for a while. It’s a drama drawing on the rich horror background of Franz and Fiala, while also emancipating itself from the genre they became famous for. The sheer extent of female history is still a blank, a century-long erased trauma, and this film intends to shine a light on one meaningful fraction of it." (Susanne Gottlieb)

(Read full review)
(Read interview with Veronika Franz & Severin Fiala)

21 Queer [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], Luca Guadagnino (Italy/USA)

"This might be too weird for Oscar voters. Not just because of the sexuality, but because it swerves from an elegant, erotic drama about a man falling for a younger stranger into a madhouse in the jungle. Suddenly, it’s not about fedoras and stolen glances. Unknown drugs are taken, exotic animals pop up from just about every corner, and people choke on their own beating hearts. What a weird, sweaty, tender love story this film is." (Marta Bałaga)

(Read full review)

20 A Fidai Film [+see also:
film review
interview: Kamal Aljafari
film profile], Kamal Aljafari (Palestine/Germany/Qatar/Brazil/France)

"Aljafari has managed to retrieve some of this archive material, which is still in Israeli hands, and assemble it in such a way as to tell a story about Palestine which belongs to the Palestinian people, highlighting how the Israeli state twisted this footage for propagandistic purposes. This hijacked meaning is blown to smithereens by the film, whose title alone suggests a film of resistance and struggle (fidāʾī means “they who sacrifice themselves”, as well as being the title of Palestine’s national anthem)." (Roberto Oggiano)

(Read full review)
(Read interview with Kamal Aljafari)

19 Querer [+see also:
series review
trailer
interview: Alauda Ruiz de Azúa
series profile], Alauda Ruiz de Azúa (Spain) (series)

"Waves of doubt crash down on those affected by the bombshell disrupting the fragile balance of this family, and also on the viewer, who will wonder: “How would I behave?”, “What would become of my life if I were to be in a similar situation?”, and even “To what extent have I tolerated psychological abuse in my most private circles?” All of this emotional tension is part and parcel of this resoundingly mature, courageous and intense series, featuring a cast directed outstandingly by Ruiz de Azúa, who once again dares to rummage around in the most intimate nooks and crannies of the family." (Alfonso Rivera)

(Read full review)
(Read interview with Alauda Ruiz de Azúa)

18 The Room Next Door [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], Pedro Almodóvar (Spain)

"Almodóvar's eagerly awaited first English-language film turned out not to be a grand, sparkling studio production, but rather what is likely his most intimate, calm and thoughtful movie, a feature tackling the big questions of life (and death) that recalls those of the European maestros that made a splash in the US scene before him. It's as if classic cinema were back: there are no innovative settings, no entertaining plot twists, no explosive moments able to do the rounds on the social networks; instead, it is a masterfully empathetic work, still strongly linked to the current era, that can teach a great deal to anyone willing to embrace the feelings it conveys." (David González)

16 Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Johan Grimonprez
film profile], Johan Grimonprez (Belgium/France/Netherlands)

"Neatly formatted and aligned capitalised text; stuttering newsreel footage; the rollicking snare hits of a drum fill – Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat is an immersion in history, yet it also doesn’t forgo being an experience to savour as a viewer. The film’s “how” is as important as the “what” and the “why”, making it as memorable an aesthetic experience as it is a rigorous accounting of the Congo Crisis and the wider Cold War." (David Katz)

(Read full review)
(Read interview with Johan Grimonprez)

= Bird [+see also:
film review
film profile], Andrea Arnold (UK/France)

"Bird is deeply rooted in the harsh reality of violent words and cycles of familial trauma, as well as in the mystical bonds that bind humans to animals: in these crossovers, the film finds salvation. That synergy is precisely what makes the work a wonder of contemporary European cinema." (Savina Petkova)

(Read full review)

15 Dahomey [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], Mati Diop (France/Senegal/Benin)

"Diop’s documentary, which follows the return of works of art stolen in colonial times, is a precious little gem – little in terms of length, but not artistic expression. The film is a delightful exercise in mixing reality with creativity, as much as it is important in presenting how the colonial past still influences the present, and how complicated and multilayered that heritage is." (Ola Salwa)

(Read full review)

14 Misericordia [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alain Guiraudie
film profile], Alain Guiraudie (France/Spain/Portugal)

"Misericordia sees Guiraudie once again demonstrating his delightful singularity, which is meticulously revealed through an incredible screenplay which fully sets the scene before taking a succession of sharp narrative bends and arriving at the heart of a constellation of small and discrete forest roads and narrow human streets where all kinds of comical surprises are possible." (Fabien Lemercier)

(Read full review)
(Read interview with Alain Guiraudie)

13 The Sparrow in the Chimney [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ramon and Silvan Zürcher
film profile], Ramon Zürcher (Switzerland)

"A kind of dystopic fairy tale with horror film overtones, the movie transports the audience to a cruel but sincere world where people have freed themselves from the dictates of a society intent on assigning roles to each of us at birth, and are finally discovering their true, wild, defiant, animal nature." (Giorgia Del Don)

(Read full review)
(Read interview with Ramon & Silvan Zürcher)

12 The Seed of the Sacred Fig [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mohammad Rasoulof
film profile], Mohammad Rasoulof (Germany/France/Iran)

"By dissecting this family microcosm at the heart of the ambient chaos, with a consummate art for twists and turns, the filmmaker masterfully delivers a fascinating film and a whole set of pieces of information and evidence in mirror, about a theocracy drifting towards authoritarianism that feels the ground collapsing under its feet when women unite to defend themselves." (Fabien Lemercier)

(Read full review)
(Read interview with Mohammad Rasoulof)

11 The Girl with the Needle [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Magnus von Horn
film profile], Magnus von Horn (Denmark/Poland/Sweden)

"Tom Waits once famously said, “I like beautiful melodies telling me terrible things.” This quote perfectly fits The Girl with the Needle, which tells its macabre and disturbing period story based on real events through exquisite black-and-white cinematography, music and sound design, meticulous mise-en-scène, costumes and make-up, but above all, through unforgettable performances by Vic Carmen Sonne and Trine Dyrholm. Rarely has such devastating material been handled with such elegance, merging aesthetic finesse and gritty brutality in a unique way." (Vladan Petkovic)

10 Vermiglio [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Maura Delpero
film profile], Maura Delpero (Italy/France/Belgium)

"Delpero once again broaches the topic of motherhood, setting her new story in a small mountain community at the end of World War II. Under Delpero's contemplative direction, defined by the aesthetic rigour of her historical reconstruction and her indispensable dialogue, the young protagonist represents an already-evolving female figure, who starts out as a person repressed by a male-chauvinist society, before becoming a woman who, in the following years, will dismantle obsolete and sexist discrimination and ideologies.” (Camillo De Marco)

(Read full review)
(Read interview with Maura Delpero)

9 Toxic [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Saulė Bliuvaitė
film profile], Saulė Bliuvaitė (Lithuania)

"It is rare for a film with an even narrative to hold viewers' attention from beginning to end. With Toxic, this happens miraculously, perhaps thanks to the genuine close-up portrayals of both female protagonists – each of whom is a narrative in herself – and the growing affectionate relationship between them, as well as the film's poetic way of capturing the attempts to dream in an era meant for dreaming, but in a place devoid of departure points." (Mariana Hristova)

(Read full review)
(Read interview with Saulė Bliuvaitė)

8 The Substance [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Coralie Fargeat
film profile], Coralie Fargeat (UK/USA/France)

"An ultra-physical, sci-fi re-reading of the classic act of stepping through the looking glass and of our dangerous thirst for immortality, this post-modern, female, Dorian Gray avatar excels in its excesses. Flesh bursts, blood trickles and everything is over the top. This certainly isn’t a new thing on the big screen, but it’s never been shown in such head-on, visceral fashion in the guise of entertainment." (Fabien Lemercier)

(Read full review)

7 Grand Tour [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Marta Donzelli, Gregorio Pa…
interview: Miguel Gomes
film profile], Miguel Gomes (Portugal/Italy/France/Germany/Japan/China)

"All in all, Gomes crafts a memorable cinematic experience. Grand Tour is a mind-blowing travelogue drama that encapsulates – at least to some extent, without being pretentious or too “highbrow” – elements of past and present colonialism, social divides, love and human fear. It’s a brave film that doesn’t crave audience approval, remaining loyal to its core from start to finish and striking a good balance between being “stylish” and staying intelligible. It’s a rare feat, these days." (Davide Abbatescianni)

(Read full review)
(Watch interview with Miguel Gomes)

6 I'm Still Here [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], Walter Salles (Brazil/France)

"Salles decides to take a gamble on Fernanda Torres and her complex portrayal of Eunice. It’s a very successful choice, as the actress manages to play her over the course of 25 years with great depth, delivering a highly credible performance. The finely tuned script, in which the dialogues are dry and never overdramatic, enhance this aspect. I’m Still Here is a solid family drama shedding light on a shameful page of Brazilian history, and its unflinching lead makes it a powerful cinematic experience." (Davide Abbatescianni)

(Read full review)

5 All We Imagine as Light [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], Payal Kapadia (France/India/Netherlands/Luxembourg/Italy)

"Realism and poetry are masterfully woven together in this first fiction film, which confirms the birth of a unique filmmaker. Kapadia's skills in capturing the light in the darkness are unparalleled in this delightful tale of sisterhood devoid of preachiness, and of love for oneself and for the other beyond the strict limits imposed by society. It's a tale in the tradition of South Asian cinema, in which the cities are jungles and the jungles are cities, and humans are but a small part of it all, which leads up to one of the most uncomplicated, heart-warming endings in recent cinema. All we need is love, without boundaries, without prejudice, without hate." (David González)

4 The Brutalist [+see also:
film review
film profile], Brady Corbet (USA/UK/Hungary)

"A period drama with recognisable celebs? A film about architecture – and designer furniture? A love story? Is it about trauma, hope, obsession or maybe war? Who cares. It’s pretty damn impressive. In short, Corbet went big, and he went dark - and he also treated the audience to an actual intermission, separating the two halves of the film. For that alone, thank you. It’s still unclear what The Brutalist really is, but it’s one of a kind." (Marta Bałaga)

(Read full review)

3 No Other Land [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
film profile], Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham & Rachel Szor (Palestine/Norway)

"The pen is mightier than the sword, they say — but whether this translates in today’s world is another question. No Other Land becomes a gut punch that keeps on giving, where the haunting imagery never loses its power. It is even so overwhelming at times that it instills in the viewer a sense of utter futility — are we really all so powerless? The film is at its best when it achieves cinematographic mobility, the camera acting as an extension of this activist interrogation of violent Israeli occupation and not as a detached observer. By the end of it, the extent of powerlessness is palpable, but the filmmakers offer a shred of hope in this transnational act of solidarity and resistance." (Olivia Popp)

(Read full review)
(Read interview with Basel Adra & Yuval Abraham)

2 Flow [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Gints Zilbalodis
film profile], Gints Zilbalodis (Latvia/France/Belgium)

"The story of this beautiful animated picture is as simple as it is engaging. The world seems to be coming to an end – or, at least, we realise that mankind and civilisation have been wiped out. The vestiges of a human presence are still visible, but animals and nature are ruling our planet again. Without mincing words, Flow is the real true hidden gem of this year’s Cannes. It’s a tale focusing on animals, yet is so relatable and “human” that it’s touching and heart-warming, and it tugs at the heartstrings, for both children and adults alike. It has the potential to sell worldwide, perhaps marking the start of a brand-new chapter for European animation." (Davide Abbatescianni)

(Read full review)
(Read interview with Gints Zilbalodis)

1 Emilia Pérez [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], Jacques Audiard (France)

"Audiard has opted to effect his latest cinematic metamorphosis – this time getting stuck into a musical comedy, an extremely risky genre – by approaching it from a place of moral judgement, rather than setting it in the courtrooms, plagued by the potential corruption of those in power and the spectre of unpunished crimes. Add to that a story revolving around a powerful Latino drug dealer with a profound desire to change sex (and his entire life), and one gets a sense of how difficult it is to pull off on paper, with a good chance of the project careening down the stairs with no handrail to grab onto. And yet, he’s hit the jackpot." (Fabien Lemercier)

(Read full review)

Want to see our journalists' individual tops? Click here!