Denis Villeneuve's Movies Ranked From Worst to Best

The French-Canadian film director Denis Villeneuve has quickly become one of the most acclaimed, sought-after craftsmen for his ability to tell stories big and small. He is a meticulous filmmaker, known for recently delving into more emotionally vast science fiction stories that explore the complexities of the human condition and the genre itself in equal measure. With what is his biggest and most ambitious film yet, Dune: Part Two, now in theaters ,it is worth taking a look back on all the films he has made up until this point to see how his career has grown over the decades.

Whether you have just begun to make your way through Villeneuve's filmography or are a longtime follower, this trip down his eclectic works will bring to light some of the director's work you may not have known about. Some of these are for good reason, others are hidden gems. Crossing a variety of genres, his work is tough to rank as he brings a praiseworthy commitment to his craft every time he gets the chance to put his talents to work. However, no matter the high watermark some of his work has left, no one is perfect. Thus, here is a list of his films that are ranked from worst to best.

11 'Maelström' (2000)

If you haven’t heard about this film, strap in because a lot is going on here. In a most literal sense, it follows Bibiane Champagne (Marie-Josée Croze) who finds herself drawn to and soon romantically involved with the son of a man she killed with her car. This is all in the aftermath after she has an abortion and is all narrated by a giant fish as it is being slaughtered. No, this is not a joke and is actually a key part of the entire narrative as it is through this fish’s telling of the story that we enter into the film. The fish, brought to life with some unique animatronics, is cut into pieces multiple times in a manner that almost becomes humorous the more it happens as he struggles to get his monologues out. It is a strange narrative choice and, much like the film on the whole, not a wholly successful one.

It was Villeneuve’s second film and his least confident, taking itself to places that it never quite knows how to get out of. Such framing could be interesting, as it almost becomes a strange parable, though at key moments it seems to be more interested in making fun of the audience rather than offering a well-told story. Case in point, towards the conclusion, the fish is about to offer a statement about the meaning of life. After all, what would this story be even if not for the fish to offer us some sort of insight into “the great secret of your existence.” Right as he is about to utter this big piece of information, he is killed just before he can get it out. This is done with a clear desire to offer a humorous ending amidst all the tragedy and darkness of the film, which elicited a small chuckle from me when I first saw it. However, it feels like an ending that only Villeneuve is fully in on the joke about. The film largely flounders about like the fish that led us along this muddled journey.

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10 'August 32nd on Earth (Un 32 août sur terre)' (1998)

A meandering story where Villeneuve was just starting to find his voice, August 32nd on Earth is a film that is worth admiring even when it falls short of its greatest aspirations. His debut feature which was released back in 1998, it centers on model Simone (Pascale Bussières) who begins to re-evaluate her life after a serious car accident where she emerges remarkably unscathed. With everything put in perspective, she attempts to convince her best friend Philippe (Alexis Martin) to have a child with her. After a lengthy yet haphazardly edited discussion where the two walk down an alley, he agrees though says they must conceive in a desert. It sets in motion a strange road trip where the destination comes secondary to the people they grow into along the way. The film has moments of visual splendor, though is never quite able to find its footing.

It is still easy to see why the film was selected as the Canadian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 71st Academy Awards. There is a compelling and moving center about realizing how life is far shorter than we initially can appreciate. The fleeting nature of existence is such that we will never be able to do, say, and experience all that we want. The road trip that Philippe and Simone go on initially seems silly, like a couple of kids running away to have sex, though it ends up being much more than that. With the beautifully vast scope of the salt flats in Salt Lake City serving as a backdrop, the film is grasping at an emotionally meaningful destination that it never quite arrives at. Still, the journey along the way offers some interesting developments that begin to shift into darkness. As they attempt to hitchhike out of the salt flats, the observation is offered that the passing drivers are “still ignoring us, we might as well be ghosts.” They also discover the remains of a body, offering a hint at how the world is more fraught than one may realize. By the time it reaches its conclusion, the feeling of a loss of innocence is profound, even if the rest of the film is not.

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9 'Polytechnique' (2009)

A painful cinematic recreation of the 1989 Montréal Massacre, Polytechnique is a film that captures the terror and fear of the real-life shooting with a committed authenticity. Faithful to a fault, it takes us through every moment of what happened on the day a man entered the Polytechnique Montréal engineering school specifically to target and murder as many women as he could. It is a harrowing and devastating experience to watch a frank portrayal of the depraved hatred of violent misogyny. Drawing comparisons in approach to Gus Van Sant’s 2003 film Elephant, it follows the moments leading up to the horrible day and beat by horrifying beat as the killing played out. Shot in black and white, there is a feeling of dread that permeates every frame as it becomes clear how the characters of the film, just thinking they were going through another day at school, were doomed to a horrible death. It may be rather one note, though that note rings rich and true in how it is all put together.

The realism and sounds of the shooting portrayed as it all happens is often a tough pill to swallow with Villeneuve not allowing us to look away in even the most violent moments. It is not a film that you can just pop on as it takes a lot out of you emotionally. It never hides this, most centrally being about the truth of how such an atrocity can happen and what scars it leaves in its aftermath. Just as it shows the depths of violence and inhumanity, it is not without compassion for its characters. It makes use of its short time incredibly well, offering a glimpse of who these people were. Their aspirations, their fears, and their lives are laid before us just to see them dashed. It is a film that is not easy to recommend to anyone, though it is as honest and true of a look at a violent incident as ever put to screen. There is some peace found in the end, though it proves to be only a small glimpse of our better natures in the face of such senseless tragedy.

Polytechnique

A dramatization of the 1989 Montréal Massacre, during which several female engineering students were murdered by an unstable misogynist.

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8 'Sicario' (2015)

What could have all too easily been a reductive thriller that reduced its violence down to spectacle, Sicario is a gorgeously brutal film that excavates the terrors and harm that is found just outside of view. It follows Emily Blunt’s Kate Macer, an FBI agent who gets caught up in the dark world of the United States war on drugs and the cartels that run them across the border. To reflect on this film is to look frankly at the violence on and around the border with the powers that use it for their own ends. There is always a concern such a film bites off more than it can chew and there are certainly moments that could have benefitted from more nuance. However, it still keeps a proper focus on the impacts of violence, be it inflicted by the state or other actors. It doesn’t pull any punches. Benicio Del Toro as the mysterious and menacing Alejandro gives the most standout performance, serving as the point of the narrative spear that cuts deeply with every blow.

Even as it all feels like it has been somewhat cheapened by a woefully out-of-place sequel that inexplicably continued without Blunt or Villeneuve, the original film still offers much to admire. The vast beauty of the visual settings is brilliantly captured even as it masks the ugliness underneath it all. Tying this all together is the score of the late Jóhann Jóhannsson, a frequent collaborator of Villeneuve who was lost far too soon. The track ‘Beast’ in particular is the frightening yet still outstanding beating heart of the film, rattling you to your core as you look upon the nightmares and brutality on display. It leaves you constantly on edge, aware of the ease with which this world can easily tip into the void of violence at the call of those who operate immense power over it. The people who get unknowingly caught up in this world are merely pawns, collateral damage. The final frames make this dynamic clear: leaving you with a profound sense of how tenuous life is for those deemed expendable in an ongoing, bloody power struggle.

Sicario

An idealistic FBI agent is enlisted by a government task force to aid in the escalating war against drugs at the border area between the U.S. and Mexico.

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7 'Enemy' (2013)

A flawed yet engaging look at the inner psyche of its central characters, both played by Jake Gyllenhaal, Enemy is all about the lies we tell ourselves and others about who we are. It centers on a professor who discovers he appears to have some sort of identical twin who is an actor. It becomes increasingly clear that this is not entirely meant to be taken literally as much as it is a look at the warring impulses within one man struggling to find his path. It is loosely based on the novel The Double by Jose Saramago, though it goes in its own direction with the source material to create something that is all Villeneuve’s own. The best part is how the director makes use of spider imagery, from webs cracking in the window of an overturned car to the alarming sight of a woman with the head of an arachnid, layering on visuals that begin to quite clearly build out what it is getting at. It ends up being quite explicit, though not in a way that holds your hand. Villeneuve trusts us to follow and connect with the tapestry he is weaving.

This includes the final scene where a character makes a key discovery that upends everything he thought he knew. In these and other moments, Gyllenhaal gives one of his best performances. Understated and subtle, he even plays against himself in specific scenes that let him chew up the scenery. This isn’t done in an over-the-top fashion, as some of the actor's more recent work has been, as he instead approaches the material with a commitment to the story his director is trying to tell. As the worlds of the two men begin to blur and their lives become increasingly intertwined, it makes you question the trustworthiness of their perspectives. Committed to throwing you off at every chance it gets, the film shows how the inner turmoil within us can consume us, leaving a new person in its wake.

Enemy

A man seeks out his exact look-alike after spotting him in a movie.

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6 'Prisoners' (2013)

When Prisoners was released in 2013, I made the ill-advised decision to see it opening night before I had an important test early the next morning. I did not get a single wink of sleep that night. The film gutted me with its brutally bleak vision of the dark underside of polite society. It centers on Hugh Jackman’s Keller Dover, a man whose life has become completely upended when his daughter goes missing. As he feels abandoned by the police and with no hope for any sort of resolution that doesn’t end with his daughter dead, he decides to take extreme measures in an attempt to get her back. He is joined by his wife Grace Dover (Maria Bello) as well as his family friends Nancy Birch (Viola Davis) and Franklin Birch (Terrence Howard) whose daughter has also gone missing. The cast (also including Melissa Leo and Paul Dano) is all pitch perfect, giving the film an aching sense of loss and uncertainty as they face the unthinkable.

Also appearing is Gyllenhaal as Detective Loki, a traumatized and generally chaotic man who realizes how the system is failing this family, though he finds himself largely powerless to stop it. If you feel like subjecting yourself to a generally soul-crushing experience of a film, which is meant as a compliment, then it is best to go in with as little foresight as possible. With every scene, Villeneuve draws us further and further into the darkness that has come to define the lives of these families. It doesn’t offer any easy answers, showing us the reality of the world that can be defined by misery. As the characters get more desperate, resorting to despicable acts where the means are justified by the ends, it doesn't absolve or let them off the hook. Instead, it leaves you to sit with them in the moments where they teeter on the edge of oblivion, coming so close to being beyond redemption. It is an unflinching and expansive look at the excruciating existence of being alive when trauma takes over your life. It offers a small sliver of hope in its final moments, though it only just breaks through the cacophony of agonizing truth that threatens to overwhelm you in every moment.

Prisoners

When Keller Dover's daughter and her friend go missing, he takes matters into his own hands as the police pursue multiple leads and the pressure mounts.

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5 'Incendies' (2010)

A film that may be more controversial to be this high on the list, Incendies is a film that deserves more praise than it typically gets. An epic about a family's long journey to healing, it follows the two siblings, Jeanne (Mélissa Désormeaux-Poulin) and Simon (Maxim Gaudette) who must do one last thing for their departed mother to find peace after her death. Going back through time and place into the traumas she endured in an unnamed Middle Eastern country before immigrating to Canada, they uncover more than they could have ever expected. Nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film in 2010, it was criticized for what some considered melodramatic elements and certain revelations that arise in the film’s final act that recontextualizes everything.

However, it is this ending and the way the story tells it that makes it what it is. It is certainly messy, though in a manner that truthfully and authentically captures the chaos of life. The final pieces that all fall into place only add complexity, making it an inevitably devastating journey the characters go on that is made more catastrophic by how the answer was right in front of them the whole time. Making frequent use of music from Radiohead that both complement and expand the scenes they are in, it is an experience that defies easy categorization. There is an abundance of peril, with a bus confrontation proving to be especially harrowing, though it all connects back to being a simple yet effective story of one family. It leaves you with your heart completely torn out and pondering how we can ever find tranquility in a world where it feels perpetually out of reach.

Incendies (2010)

Twins journey to the Middle East to discover their family history and fulfill their mother's last wishes.

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4 'Blade Runner 2049' (2017)

To be honest, it surprised even me how high this film ended up being on my list. When it first came out in 2017, Blade Runner 2049 left me with mixed feelings. It was a visually stunning and evocative piece of work, though there were some moments where I found myself losing connection with Ryan Gosling’s K. As the new lead and next generation of Blade Runner tasked with hunting down rogue replicants that attempt to break free of being slave labor, he played the character with such a reserved nature that it was almost impenetrable. On subsequent viewings, it became clear that this was exactly the point. It was the only way he could justify such cruelty and lack of empathy for himself.

K’s initial shell of ambivalence and coldness with which he carried himself was necessary to establish how he would grow when it breaks. It set the stage for his discoveries of not just the mysteries left buried in his world, but also how he desired more for his life. The path he takes is made all the more impactful because of how his character was so shut off from the world. He found purpose beyond his orders in life. The way the film all ends up playing out, with the discovery of Harrison Ford's Deckard playing a key role, is a tale of visual splendor and emotional resonance. The precision with which it is all directed is top-notch, with every single scene exuding confidence in how it is executed with the help of cinematographer, Roger Deakins. The violence it shows is grim, though it is juxtaposed with the beauty of the film’s quiet moments. As K lays back on the stairs with snow falling down upon him in some of the film’s final moments, it leaves you with a sense of grace that he has found value in his life. It is a fitting end that marks it as one of the most unexpectedly arresting extensions of an old story that one could ever hope for.

Blade Runner 2049

Young Blade Runner K's discovery of a long-buried secret leads him to track down former Blade Runner Rick Deckard, who's been missing for thirty years.

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3 'Dune' (2021)

About as perfect of an adaptation of author Frank Herbert’s world as one could hope to get, Dune is a remarkable piece of work that is awe-inspiring in its vision. With a world of buildings and structures that resemble Brutalist architecture, it creates a darkly breathtaking experience to take in. Even as someone who didn’t hate David Lynch’s film, something he has referred to as a "heartache," it is clear that Villeneuve has created something truly special here. It does end about halfway through, leaving a feeling that there is much left incomplete, though this makes sense for the story to ensure nothing is rushed or breezed past. Therefore, any exposition that it does hit you with gets communicated naturally and without having to be forced in. The strategic decision to cut the book in half, a tactic that has been used with many adaptations of novels, really does make sense here.

There is just so much to the world of Dune and the ecological landscape of the film’s setting, the desert planet of Arrakis, that is brought to life with an emphasis on Herbert’s concerns about our own environment. It serves as an analogous and critical work of science fiction where the problems facing the stewards of Arrakis, the Fremen, are not unlike the ones facing us. Even as the story is made up of giant sandworms and the ability to travel to distant galaxies, it brings us close to home with its concerns about finding a way to bring salvation to a hostile world. Villeneuve never misses out on a chance to remind the audience of the importance of this setting, ensuring he captures the heart of Herbert’s writings better than anyone has before him. The battles and destruction the film expertly portrays show how the vast power of the forces that seek to conquer Arrakis is a tough challenge to overcome. Dune is worth celebrating as one of the director’s best works.

Dune

A noble family becomes embroiled in a war for control over the galaxy's most valuable asset while its heir becomes troubled by visions of a dark future.

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2 'Dune: Part Two' (2024)

Though the prior film was itself a remarkable work, Dune: Part Two expands on everything that was being set up there in incredible fashion. While they perhaps should be considered one enormous film for those wanting to take it all in at once over several hours, this is still the part that works best. There is such a scale and wonder that it creates as we return to Arrakis even as you get the sense that danger waits around every corner. Where the first film only gave us brief glimpses into the full reaches of the harsh desert that makes up most of the planet, this one immerses us in it. As we come to learn more about the lives of the Fremen and how they’ve built a life for themselves while battling against the forces of the galaxy that come to mine the planet’s resources, we also begin to see how many of them are waiting for a figure who is prophesied to bring salvation. The most devout believe that he will bring peace to the planet and transform it into a paradise, though some are more skeptical. As we come to see the topographical and ideological textures taking shape, it all hits home in a more emotional sense with the emergence of Zendaya’s Chani as a major character just as the world expands.

Though it could lose some who aren’t as familiar with the books in the amount of moving pieces and players it introduces as part of this expansion, the core of it remains exactly what Herbert explored all those decades ago. On top of that, it just looks spectacular on the big screen. While he took a bit of flack for it recently, Villeneuve is right in that so much can be communicated with just visuals. This is both in regards to the battles, be they in the confines of a gladiatorial arena in beautiful black and white or the vast reaches of the deserts of Arrakis, as well as the more personal moments that come in between these moments. In this film, the expression of Chani as she observes her world coming apart before her very eyes holds just as much weight as the biggest sandworm that the characters will ride into the climactic battle. The result is a film that raises the bar for itself and all other films of this scale. Even as there is still more to come that it is setting up for, the journey this one takes us is brilliant to behold.

Dune: Part Two

Paul Atreides unites with Chani and the Fremen while seeking revenge against the conspirators who destroyed his family.

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1 'Arrival' (2016)

However much Dune is an impressive achievement, the top spot in Villenevue’s filmography could only have been Arrival. A science fiction film that flaunts convention to tell a story about connection with what draws us together even amid great strife, it is the best work of not just the director but of cinema broadly in the 21st century. Based on the equally magnificent 1998 short story “Story of Your Life” by Ted Chiang, it follows linguistics professor Louise Banks as she is called to help communicate with mysterious life forms that have landed in a spacecraft hovering above Montana. Played by the perpetually underrated Amy Adams in one of her best performances to date, Banks will have to find a way to build a connection with not just the aliens but also with her fellow people across the world who are on a razor’s edge as they deal with their spacecraft hovering above them. Tensions are high and fear begins to take hold as existing conflicts are exacerbated, threatening to send the world into war over what to do with the first contact of this kind. The delicately emotional manner in which the story grounds itself, looking through time at love and loss, makes this one of the most deeply affecting films of all time. It reveals who we are underneath it all when faced with the unimaginable.

Rendering the beautifully shot scenes of both wondrous science fiction and the people living through it even more impactful is the score by Jóhannsson, one of his last. Both the tracks ‘Arrival’ and ‘Heptapod B’ create an all-encompassing emotional soundscape that takes your breath away when you hear them for the first time. Making use of a unique variety of vocals over droning tones to create an eerie yet beautiful effect, it is impossible to imagine a more creative score for an equally creative film. There also is the perfectly placed use of ‘On the Nature of Daylight,’ from composer Max Richter's 2004 album The Blue Notebooks that brings it all home in the final moments. It all comes together in a film about language and communication by speaking with a powerful voice that is all its own. There is nothing that has been quite like it and there may never be. However, the mere fact that we have it and get to experience it is itself a gift. As I return to this film every few years, with new eyes as I grow older myself, my appreciation only grows tenfold. It still blows me away as it grabs hold of something both fundamentally otherworldly yet deeply human. It will forever be a masterpiece of modern cinema that only gets better with time.

Arrival

Linguistics professor Louise Banks (Amy Adams) leads an elite team of investigators when gigantic spaceships touch down in 12 locations around the world. As nations teeter on the verge of global war, Banks and her crew must race against time to find a way to communicate with the extraterrestrial visitors. Hoping to unravel the mystery, she takes a chance that could threaten her life and quite possibly all of mankind.

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