Every Film Made By Denis Villeneuve, Ranked

Denis Villeneuve is a French Canadian filmmaker from Quebec who has quite an interesting body of work. Most famously known for his mesmerizing sci-fi works like Blade Runner 2049 and the Dune movies, Denis has also directed foreign language films, indie dramas, and crime thrillers. Behind every one of his films is some amazing storytelling, camerawork, and cinematography.

Denis Villeneuve is one of the greatest visionary directors alive right now, with visual storytelling playing a major role in his films alongside the script. Some of the most powerful and striking cinematic moments have come from a movie crafted by Denis Villeneuve, so here are all of them, ranked.

11

August 32nd On Earth

Some directors have a really strong debut and slingshot to success, but that wasn’t the case for Denis Villeneuve, as even he admitted he wasn’t too thrilled with his early works. In 1998, he made August 32nd On Earth, a very straightforward and poignant drama with incredible sound design and a surrealist theme to it. The title alone alludes to an anomaly in the movie of the month of August continuing to go past 31 days.

Pascale Bussières plays Simone, a woman who falls asleep at the wheel and lands herself in the hospital after surviving the accident. This gives her a new lease on life, where she quits her job and seeks out her best friend Philippe to give her a child, and then it becomes all about their quirky journey to conceive.

10

Maelstrom

Denis Villeneuve’s follow-up to August 32nd on Earth was another car accident film, but this time with an even weirder story than he went with for his debut feature. Maelstrom is about a woman who, under the influence of drugs and alcohol, strikes a fishmonger with her car and then flees the scene, later discovering that he died. And the whole movie is narrated by a fish that’s about to be butchered.

As she grapples with her guilt and whether she should turn herself in or not, she ends up falling in love with the son of the fishmonger she killed, and then lots of strange and inexplicable events happen to them. It’s a story about the belief that everything happens for a reason, except told by a fish that’s about to have its own life end.

9

Sicario

Denis Villeneuve is never shy about tackling social issues and real-world problems in his movies, and Sicario is about the all-too-real struggle between the US government and cartels along the US-Mexico border. It comes from a screenplay written by Taylor Sheridan, who you may know as the creator of Yellowstone (and its various spin-offs) and other Paramount+ shows like Lioness and Mayor of Kingstown. However, Sicario is his weaker story.

If you had to choose between Wind River or Sicario (both written by Sheridan), it’s clear who the winner would be. While Sicario has tension and drama throughout, and the opening raid scene is properly disturbing, you might find the film failing to hold your interest the entire way through, as it can move quite slowly and provide little suspense. However, the border ambush scene will always remain an iconic part of cinema.

8

Enemy

In Enemy, you get double the Jake Gyllenhaal, so that’s already a strong selling point. Enemy is a very enigmatic and underrated film by Denis Villeneuve, playing on the surreal and Lynchian theme of doubles, and features a mysterious giant spider moving around the world. You might still be left confused about what happened by the end of it, but that doesn’t mean that it’s not a compelling ride.

Jake Gyllenhaal plays Adam Bell, a history professor, and also Anthony Claire, an actor look-alike that Adam spots in a movie. They discover they are two very different people in their personalities and the way their lives are going, but they are physically identical. It’s a stranger-than-strange A24 narrative that feels like a more sci-fi horror version of 2024’s A Different Man and Dark Matter.

7

Blade Runner 2049

Denis Villeneuve picked up the mantle from Ridley Scott and delivered a stunning sequel to Blade Runner in 2017, which only gifted more special moments to fans. In the lead role is now Ryan Gosling, who plays a Blade Runner agent named K and is involved in a new replicant conspiracy set 30 years after the original movie. Along the way, K meets Harrison Ford’s Rick Deckard.

The new noir mystery is every bit as compelling but also every bit as slow and brooding in reaching its resolution. However, what makes up for the pacing is the gorgeous modern lighting, visual effects, and masterful cinematography by the one and only Roger Deakins, with Blade Runner 2049 also winning Oscars in those respective categories.

6

Dune (2021)

With Dune, Denis proved the sci-fi novel by Frank Herbert can be successfully adapted into a blockbuster epic with the right direction and world-building. The set design, visuals, and atmosphere of Arrakis are better than anything seen in recent Star Wars projects, which is finally some long-awaited justice for Dune and Frank Herbert, considering his books came first, and Star Wars stole the spotlight for decades.

The modern visual effects, the design of the Ornithopters, the costuming, the lore, and the performances, especially by Stellan Skarsgård as Vladimir Harkonnen, Oscar Isaac as Leto Atreides, and Jason Momoa as Duncan Idaho, are spectacular. The first film lays out the basis of all the character arcs and where the story will go next, moving gradually in parts and then propelling you into a climactic finale.

5

Incendies

Incendies probably has one of the most jaw-dropping, twisted, and wildly tragic cinematic moments with the slow unveiling of its main revelation. Inspired by the Lebanese Civil War, this is a cleverly written drama focusing on the turmoil of religious conflict in the Middle East, but it’s also about lost family and a journey of self-discovery.

The story follows twin siblings, Jeanne and Simon Marwan, who suddenly lose their mother, Nawal, and must travel from Canada to her home country to deliver two letters to family members they didn’t know still existed, their father and a long-lost brother. The film also showcases Nawal’s harrowing personal story through flashbacks, and it all builds to one devastating and unexpected twist.

4

Arrival

When it comes to original sci-fi films, Arrival stands among the best. Based on the novella Story of Your Life by Ted Chiang, Arrival delivers such an intelligent, refreshing, and unbelievable alien invasion story that also features one of the most unique concepts for an alien species – the heptapods. The whole film is about trying to communicate with them and there’s a clever and mind-bending twist to what their language really means.

Amy Adams plays a linguist named Louise Banks, who is determined to learn the language of the heptapods and establish communication with them. From the cinematography to the writing and performances, Arrival is just nothing but a dose of brilliant sci-fi that adds something new to the genre, and you’ll be amazed and enthralled at where this alien invasion story goes.

3

Prisoners

For 2013’s Prisoners, Denis Villeneuve put on his David Fincher hat before stepping onto the set, as that’s how this suspenseful and tense thriller feels in its mood, tone, and direction. As a detective mystery, it works remarkably well. Jake Gyllenhaal’s Detective Loki stands as one of his best characters. But then you also have the parent side of the equation, and Hugh Jackman absolutely delivers in the distressed and unhinged father role of Keller Dover.

Prisoners follows the lives of the Dover and Birch families that have just been upended when their young daughters were kidnapped after having last been seen playing near a mysterious RV parked on their street. As the investigation into their kidnapping fails to achieve results, Keller Dover grows desperate and decides to take things into his own hands with the primary suspect, Alex Jones. There are some intense scenes and the ending is haunting in a True Detective-like way.

2

Polytechnique

Polytechnique is one of the most harrowing, powerful, and important films you can watch, simply a must-see from Denis Villeneuve’s filmography. Shot in black and white, Polytechnique depicts the real-life December 6, 1989 massacre by a misogynistic killer who carried out a mass shooting targeting women inside the École Polytechnique de Montréal university in Quebec, Canada.

It’s a mass shooting that hit really close to home for Denis and the way he frames the tragedy in the film from the point of view of the women, the killer, and the men, is masterful but also incredibly tough to watch, given its heavy, heavy subject matter. Most importantly, the film contains a moving message that stands against misogyny, and how it juxtaposes the misogyny women face seeking jobs in STEM and the killer’s own motives speaks volumes.

As a result of this tragedy, December 6 marks the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women in Canada. Denis dedicated the film to the memory of the victims of the massacre.

1

Dune: Part Two

Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Two is a cinematic marvel and a triumphant sequel. The opening scene with the bright orange landscape of Arrakis and the Harkonnen soldiers using jetpacks to slowly scale up a canyon is one of the most beautiful and memorable experiences you’ll have, as is the worm ride sequence, which could bring you to tears as to how it was done. Then, the performances by Austin Butler and Timothée Chalamet seal the whole thing.

Dune: Part Two takes off where the first film left off and finishes the arc for Paul Atreides from the first book and sets up Dune: Messiah. The visual effects and cinematography are unmatched by any other sci-fi film and the worldbuilding is as strong as ever. There are plenty of memorable and gorgeous shots that fit into a tightly-paced story. And sadly, Denis Villeneuve got snubbed yet again by the Oscars for not getting a Best Director nomination.