The collaboration between Isabelle Huppert and Claire Denis the world had been dreaming of, arrived with this powerful story about the death throes of white colonialism. Denis—who grew up in French Africa—returns to her roots with this sublime, poetic yet nightmarish exploration of racial conflict.

Set in the dying days of the 19th-century, this crepuscular masterwork from Bertrand Bonello explores the transactional margins of sexuality. With a stellar ensemble that includes Adèle Haenel, House of Tolerance occupies a hermetic netherworld caught between a haunted past and an uncertain future.

A Claire Denis romcom? We’re sold! Subverting fairytale tropes with fine irony, this wonderfully unpredictable take on middle-age female desire and the volatility of emotions stars an exquisitely mercurial Juliette Binoche—searching for love, encountering mostly disappointment. Oh, and that ending!