Topping Cahiers du cinéma’s list of best films from 2022, Albert Serra’s mesmerizing epic conjures up the malaise and paranoia poisoning the Edenic calm of sun-soaked Tahiti. Steeped in moral ambiguity, Benoît Magimel’s stunning performance embodies the corruptive power of the imperial state.

In all playful seriousness, the master of slow cinema Albert Serra surprised audiences with this homage to the legendary Jean-Pierre Léaud. Seen as an allegory for the mythical actor’s own slow decline, this grandiose piece provides some of the most beautiful Versailles imagery ever seen on screen.

From Don Quixote to Louis XIV, Albert Serra is notorious for radically reimagining the costume drama, but little will prepare you for this. A gorgeous tableaux of the nocturnal cruising and sexual fantasies of desperate aristocrats, its confrontational form challenges cinematic vulgarity and excess.