Cahiers du Cinéma's top ten films of 2011 [UPDATED]

The noted French film journal Cahiers du Cinéma has published their top ten list of 2011 films. Cahiers du Cinéma is the highly influential publication whose founders in 1951 included André Bazin and whose writers included the giants of the French New Wave Éric Rohmer, Jacques Rivette, Jean-Luc Godard, Claude Chabrol and François Truffaut.

Nanni Moretti's Habemus Papam (We Have a Pope) came out on top of the list. All of the other films were in a two- or three-way tie.

This top ten list has a strong French emphasis, yet they are still in fact in the minority. Bruno Dumont's Hors Satan (Outside Satan), Un été brûlant (A Burning Hot Summer) by Philippe Garrel and L'Apollonide (Souvenirs de la maison close) (House of Tolerance) by Bertrand Bonello are French-language and French-produced. France was only a partner with Italy's Habemus Papem, and one of four co-producing partners on the English-language Melancholia by Lars von Trier and the Portuguese-language L'Etrange affaire Angélica (The Strange Case of Angelica) by the venerable Manoel de Oliveira.

Of the five English-language films, only three are American. They are the Cannes Palme d'Or winner The Tree of Life by Terrence Malick; the small independent Meek's Cutoff by Kelly Reichardt; and the Hollywood blockbuster Super 8 by JJ Abrams. The others are Melancholia and Jerzy Skolimowski's Polish production Essential Killing.

Habemus Papam (We Have a Pope) by Nanni Moretti is a multi-language extravaganza that features Italian, German, Latin, English, Spanish, Polish and French.

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Cahiers du Cinéma's Top Ten list for 2011

1. Habemus Papam (We Have a Pope), Nanni Moretti

2. L'Etrange affaire Angélica (The Strange Case of Angelica), Manoel de Oliveira

    The Tree of Life, Terrence Malick

4. Hors Satan (Outside Satan), Bruno Dumont
    Essential Killing, Jerzy Skolimowski

6. Melancholia, Lars von Trier

    Un été brûlant (A Burning Hot Summer), Philippe Garrel

8. Super 8, JJ Abrams
    L'Apollonide (Souvenirs de la maison close) (House of Tolerance), Bertrand Bonello
    Meek's Cutoff, Kelly Reichardt