What do you get when you ask 60 film historians, festival programmers and archivists from around the world to rank the top 30 films of the decade? A number of tied votes, for starters. As for subject matter, the list below covers off aching love, brutal violence, bizarre comedy and every conceivable taboo.
Herewith, the final results of a poll conducted by TIFF Cinematheque, the year-round screening program connected with the Toronto International Film Festival. Film titles and countries of origin are followed by the number of votes each film received.
1. Syndromes and a Century (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Thailand) - 53 votes
2. Platform (Jia Zhang-ke, Hong Kong, China/China/Japan/France) - 49 votes
3. Still Life (Jia Zhang-ke, China) - 48 votes
4. Beau travail (Claire Denis, France) - 46 votes
5. In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar-wai, Hong Kong, China) - 43 votes
6. Tropical Malady (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, France/Thailand/Germany/Italy) - 38 votes
7. The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (Cristi Puiu, Romania) - 35 votes
Werckmeister Harmonies (Bela Tarr, Hungary) - 35 votes
8. Éloge de l'amour ( In Praise of Love ) (Jean-Luc Godard, Switzerland/ France) - 34 votes
9. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (Cristian Mungiu, Romania) - 33 votes
10. Silent Light (Carlos Reygadas, Mexico/France/Netherlands) - 32 votes
11. Russian Ark (Alexander Sokurov, Russia/Germany) - 31 votes
12. The New World (Terrence Malick, USA) - 30 votes
13. Blissfully Yours (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, France/Thailand) - 29 votes
14. Le Fils ( The Son ) (Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne, Belgium/France) - 27 votes
15. Colossal Youth (Pedro Costa, Portugal/France/Switzerland) - 25 votes
16. Les Glaneurs et la glaneuse ( The Cleaners and I ) (Agnès Varda, France) - 24 votes
In Vanda's Room (Pedro Costa, Portugal/Germany/Italy/Switzerland) - 24 votes
Songs from the Second Floor (Roy Andersson, Sweden/Denmark/Norway) - 24 votes
17 . Caché ( Hidden ) (Michael Haneke, France/Austria/Germany/Italy) - 23 votes
A History of Violence (David Cronenberg, USA) - 23 votes
Mulholland Drive (David Lynch, France/USA) - 23 votes
Three Times (Hou Hsiao-hsien, Taiwan) - 23 votes
18. Rois et reine ( Kings & Queen ) (Arnaud Desplechin, France) - 21 votes
19. Elephant (Gus Van Sant, USA) - 20 votes
20. Talk to Her (Pedro Almodovar, Spain) - 19 votes
21. The Wind Will Carry Us (Abbas Kiarostami, Iran/France) 18 votes
YI YI (A One and a Two) (Edward Yang, Taiwan/Japan) - 18 votes
22. Pan's Labyrinth (Guillermo del Toro, Spain) - 17 votes
23. L'Enfant ( The Child ) (Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne, Belgium/France) - 16 votes
The Heart of the World (Guy Maddin, Canada) - 16 votes
I Don't Want to Sleep Alone (Tsai Ming-liang, Taiwan/France/Austria) - 16 votes
Star Spangled to Death (Ken Jacobs, USA) - 16 votes
24. The World (Jia Zhang-ke, China/Japan/France) - 14 votes
25. Café Lumière (Hou Hsiao-hsien, Japan) - 13 votes
The Headless Woman (Lucrecia Martel, Argentina/Spain/France/Italy) - 13 votes
L'Intrus ( The Intruder ) (Claire Denis, France) - 13 votes
Millennium Mambo (Hou Hsiao-hsien, Taiwan/France) - 13 votes
My Winnipeg (Guy Maddin, Canada) - 13 votes
Saraband (Ingmar Bergman, Sweden) - 13 votes
Spirited Away (Hiyao Miyazaki, Japan) - 13 votes
I'm Not There (Todd Haynes, USA) - 13 votes
26. Gerry (Gus Van Sant, USA) - 12 votes
27. Distant (Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Turkey) - 11 votes
Dogville (Lars von Trier, Denmark/Sweden/UK/France/Germany) - 11 votes
The Royal Tenenbaums (Wes Anderson, USA) - 11 votes
28. Alexandra (Alexander Sokurov, Russia/France) - 9 votes
demonlover (Olivier Assayas, France) - 9 votes
29. Atanarjuat, The Fast Runner (Zacharias Kunuk, Canada) - 8 votes
Goodbye, Dragon Inn (Tsai Ming-liang, Taiwan) - 8 votes
30. Longing (Valeska Grisebach, Germany) - 7 votes
Secret Sunshine (Lee Chang-dong, South Korea) - 7 votes
Vai e Vem ( Come and Go ) Joao Cesar Monteiro, Portugal) - 7 votes
Far From Heaven (Todd Haynes, USA/France) - 7 votes