Terry Gilliam names cinema’s only perfectly made movie: “He did everything right”
It’s rare for a film to be deemed perfect, yet in the instance of one particular classic, Terry Gilliam is willing to assert that the director indeed did everything right. It’s high praise from a man who is not afraid of being outspoken when he thinks movies, people, or politics are falling short.
Terrence ‘Terry’ Gilliam is a household name for many, especially in the UK. A British-American filmmaker, comedian, and actor, he shot to fame as a member of the comedy troupe Monty Python, alongside John Cleese, Michael Palin, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Graham Chapman. He began his director career by co-directing Monty Python and the Holy Grail with Terry Jones, and later collaborated on further comedy classics including Life of Brian and The Meaning of Life. Throughout this time, he gained a reputation for wit, invention, and irreverence.
Gilliam later shifted to directing more serious works. His own films tend to be far darker than those he created with Monty Python, being sometimes set in dystopian worlds, and frequently containing anti-authoritarianism and anti-bureaucracy themes.
Highlights from his directing career include Time Bandits, The Fisher King, 12 Monkeys, and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. In an interview with Rotten Tomatoes, Gilliam was asked about his favourite films. He had high praise for several, including Pinocchio, Paths of Glory, The Seventh Seal, Seven Samurai, and 8½.
It was of Citizen Kane, however, that he spoke most highly. Of the film’s director, Orson Welles, however, Gilliam said: “He got it right. He did everything right. Then, when you think he was only, what, 25 years old at that time? Extraordinary.”
Gilliam also commented on the film that “once you see [Citizen Kane], either you want to be a movie director, or you just want to give up, one of the two.” Indeed, it was watching Citizen Kane that made Gilliam “obsessed” with wide angles and deep focus in filming. “That was a new world for me,” he adds.
Citizen Kane is widely considered to be one of the greatest films of all time. Directed, produced by, and starring Orson Welles, the 1941 American drama examines the life and legacy of Charles Foster Kane, a character based quasi-biographically on various American media tycoons. The film is a haunting one, exploring the inability of material wealth to offer lasting happiness, as well as examining the corrupting influence of power and wealth more broadly.
Citizen Kane has been lauded ever since its release. It is also often considered a lodestar by many directors seeking to uncover what makes a good film, being especially highly regarded for its narrative structure, for instance, which was extraordinarily innovative at the time and has influenced countless movies since.
Gilliam is not alone in recognising the talents of Orson Welles and deeming Citizen Kane one of the movies that made him wish to enter filmmaking in the first place. Not all films stand the test of time, but this particular classic shows no sign of vanishing from memory anytime soon.
