Bela Tarr – Satantango (Even though Damnation is better)
Akira Kurosawa – Seven Samurai (even though Rashomon is better)
Steven Spielberg – Schindler’s List (even though Jaws, Close Encounters, and A.I. are better).
Kubrick- 2001
Kurosawa- Seven Samurai
Welles- Citizen Kane
Kobayashi- The Human Condition
Gance- Napoleon
Carné- Les Enfants du Paradis
Peckinpah- The Wild Bunch
Scorsese- Raging Bull
Spielberg- Schindler’s List
Ray- Apu trilogy
with some like Leone, Rivette, Angelopoulos in terms of length there are a few magnum opuses (my latin’s gone to pot), but i presume we’re talking epic quality as well as epic length. For Mizoguchi i’d say Sansho the Bailiff, and for Tarkovsky a toss-up between Andrei Rublev and Mirror. Coppola, well Godfather 1+2 v Apocalypse Now, it’s not that clear. The latter took a lot out of him. For Ozu, probably Tokyo Story, for Antonioni, L’Avventura, for Resnais perhaps Hiroshima mon Amour
or should we be prizing the art of greatness in miniature, the universe condensed into a snooker ball
Chaplin- City Lights.
Charles Laughton – The Night of the Hunter.
Alfred Hitchcock — Vertigo
Herzog – Fitzcarraldo
Coppola – Apocalypse Now
Scorcese – GoodFellas
Spielberg – Schindler’s List
Fellini – 8 1/2
Huston – The Dead
Preminger – Laura
Visconti – The Leopard
Malles – Au Revoir les Enfants
Chaplin – Modern Times
Ford – Grapes of Wrath
Hitchcock – Vertigo (gotta agree with Harry on that one, though I find NbyNorthwest and Psycho to be more entertaining)
Kieslowski : The double life of veronique
Truffaut : Jules Et Jim
Gilliam – Brazil
Kieslowski – The Decalogue
Renoir – The Rules of the Game
Paul Thomas Anderson – There Will Be Blood (I know, he’s not even 40, I just have a very hard time believing that he’ll ever top this one)
I would consider a director’s magnum opus as a showcase of the most of their talent contained in one film/the broadest spectrum of their technique, which is why I list The Trial as Welles’ magnum opus instead of Citizen Kane (which is definitely his most influential film).
Gilliam – Brazil
Welles – The Trial
Kurosawa – Seven Samurai
Kubrick – 2001
Ford – Grapes of Wrath
Herzog – Aguirre
Coppola – Apocalypse Now
Hitchcock – Rear Window
Godard – Vivre Sa Vie
Huston – Night of the Iguana
Micheal Haneke – Time of the Wolf:
The style is less important as a style and more as a storytelling tool, and although it borrows from earlier films of his, it’s one of his strongest, and dynamic in terms of characterization and emotion.
Andrei Tarkovsky – Nostalghia:
Has a scene that no one else would have the balls to shoot
Mike Leigh – Naked (a genius streak with this and Secrets and Lies)
It is a masterpiece, the ending crescendo makes this point very clear.
Godard – Pierrot le Fou:
The work of art that most directors wish they could create in their careers.
Kevin Smith – Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back:
The final dot on his artistic merits as a funny man before delving into sentimental ridden film hell
Fellni-La Dolce Vita
Kurosawa- Ran
Bergman- Fanny och Alexander
Carne- Children of Paradise
Visconti- Rocco and his Brothers
Ang Lee- Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Kubrick- 2001
Welles- Chimes at Midnight
Psycho
8 1/2
Seventh Seal
Breathless
400 Blows
M
Solaris
2001
Citizen Kane
Ashes and Diamonds
Godfather
Rules of the Game
Rosemary’s Baby
Blue Velvet
Goodfellas
Seven Samurai
Scarface
Not many of these are my favorites, but they are the biggest classics by these directors.
Malick – Days of Heaven
Davies – The Long Day Closes
Ozu – Tokyo Story
Mizoguchi – Ugetsu Monogatari
Anderson – If
Antonioni – The Passenger
Kubrick – Barry Lyndon
Leone – Once Upon a Time in America
Murnau – Sunrise
Bergman – Cries and Whispers
Wenders – Paris, Texas
Tarkovsky – The Sacrifice
Hitchcock – Marnie
Kieslowski – Three Colours Red
Kurosawa – Ran
Powell – The Red Shoes
Roeg – Don’t Look Now
Loach – Kes
Richardson – Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner
Sturges – Sullivan’s Travels
Bunuel – Exterminating Angel
Polanski – The Tenant
Renoir – The River
Egoyan – The Sweet Hereafter
Houston – Treasue of the Sierra Madre
Watkins – Edvard Munch
De Sica – Umberto D
Rosselini – Flowers of St Francis
Godard – Histoires du Cinema
Tarr – Werckmeister Harmoniak
Bay – Pearl Harbour!!!!!! (Oops!)
Robert Bresson – Au Hassard Balthazar
Werner Herzog – Stroszek
Bela Tarr – Werkmeister Harmonies
Yilmaz Guney – Yol
Victor Erice – The Quince Sun Tree (A better film than Spirit of the Beehive)
Louis Malle – Au Revoir Les Enfants
Theo Angelopoulos – Eternity and a Day
Guy Maddin – My Winnipeg
Aki Kaurismaki – Drifting Clouds
Krzysztof Kieślowski – Camera Buff
Emir Kusturica – Underground
Larisa Shepitko – The Ascent
The way I see it (and many of you’ve pointed out) is that sometimes there’s the influential, critically aclaimed, well-known film from a director and then there’s the alternative masterpiece, which isn’t mentioned as often but probably tells us more about his/her auteur.
For example:
Solaris vs Zerkalo
Breathless vs Pierrot Le fou
Psycho vs Vertigo
Rosemary’s Baby vs Repulsion
La Dolce Vita vs 8 1/2
Spirited Away vs. My neighbor Totoro …
Well, Zerkalo, Vertigo and 81/2 are (rightly) more critically acclaimed- if not necessarily more famous with the public- or certainly appear more often in international top 10s than the alternatives you mention, and i also prefer Pierrot to the still more famous Breathless, and Totoro to Spirited Away
I guess you have a point regarding the specialized critic reaction. It’s just that normally in media intended for broader audiences or when I ask people if they know any of the movies from those directors, most of the times I would get the first option as the answer. So, yeah I think was mixing popularity with influence.
I like the Stroszek choice for Herzog as mentioned earlier, that may beat out my choice of Aguirre. It’s difficult for me to decide on a magnum opus for Herzog because I’ve seen his films multiple times and am probably seriously biased on certain ones.
I agree with Kenji also, Pierrot is a much better (though quite different) film than Breathless which, while having its inspired moments, always struck me as trying too hard to be artsy instead of just letting the creativity flow like mad with Pierrot.
Until this morning i hadn’t realised Terence Davies was a great director, but Of Time and the City is a Magnum Opus by any standards
Sergio Leone’s magnum opus has got to be either The Good, the Bad and the Ugly or Once Upon A Time In The West. I choose these two films because they are both excellent films and because they are both films that are in the genre that Leone is known for.
Now which is better? Well that depends on personal taste. If you simply like a fun ride, go with GBU. But if you want something more dramatic. More serious. And more meditative on the nature of the Western heroes and villains and on the West itself, then there’s West.
As for me? I simply cannot choose. I love them both.
Agreed KENJI. The weekend I realized Terrence Davies was a brilliant auteur I watched The Terrence Davies Trilogy and Distant Voices Still Lives back-to-back, and then Of Time and the City the following day. It was a Terence Davies special at my local arthouse.
Yeah, Once Upon a Time in the West would be Leone’s magnum opus I believe. GBU loses its appeal for me after repeated viewings. Its still a good film – a great film, but very few westerns come close to the masterful Once Upon a Time in the West.
allotrope sans
How much one likes a film is extremely subjective and depends on many factors. However, taking one’s enjoyment out of account in place of influence, legacy and reception, is it possible to label a single work as the “greatest” work by a director?
For example, although one may enjoy Touch of Evil more than Citizen Kane, Citizen Kane is undeniably Orson Welles’ most influential, well-regarded and memorable work thus qualifies as his magnum opus.
Off the top of my head, I have:
Orson Welles – Citizen Kane
Satyajit Ray – Pather Panchali
Jean Renoir – La règle du jeu
Debate, argue, criticise, mock.