The shot Denis Villeneuve called “the most powerful” of the last decade
Arrival, Sicario, Dune: French Canadian director Denis Villeneuve has released some of the most potent and nuanced blockbusters of the last 20 years. Capable of combining visual grandeur with thematic sensitivity without compromising either, he’s demonstrated that mainstream success doesn’t have to mean submitting to mediocrity. Here, he discusses “the most powerful” cinematic moment of the 2010s.
After the success of his Oscar-nominated 2010 film Incendies, Villeneuve made his Hollywood feature debut with 2013’s Prisoners, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Hugh Jackman and Paul Dano. His star continued to rise with 2015’s Sicario, a hard-boiled interrogation of Bush’s “War on Drugs”. Then came Arrival, his first foray into science fiction but one that completely redefined the parameters of the genre. He’s since come to dominate the science-fiction scene, having directed Blade Runner: 2049 and 2021’s Dune, starring Timothée Chalamet.
With the second instalment of the Dune franchise slated for release in 2023, now’s the perfect time to revisit some of Villeneuve’s film suggestions. Naming some films worthy of more respect in an article for The New York Times, the director took the time to highlight Jacques Audiard’s 2010 film A Prophet. Starring Tahar Rahim, this gritty prison drama won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival and has since been described by Villeneuve as one of the best films of the 21st century. “The deer being killed in slow motion by a car in ‘A Prophet’ remains one of the most powerful cinematic shots of the last decade,” he wrote.
The director went on to question whether A Prophet, which stars Rahim as a petty criminal turned assassin and drug trafficker, is better than Jonathan Glazer’s powerfully eerie Under the Skin, which he also selected as one of his all-time favourites. “Apples and oranges,” Villeneuve wrote. “Lists are for grocery stores.
You can check out the trailer for A Prophet below.
