Cahiers du Cinéma chooses ‘Twin Peaks: The Return’ as Best of the Decade
Friday, December 6, 2019 at 9:04PM 
Cahiers du Cinéma, the prestigious French film magazine, has selected David Lynch’s Twin Peaks: The Return as the best film of the decade. By doing so it reignites the twin debate of what is cinema / what is TV. Those lines have been blurring with the advent of streaming. Obviously Lynch is one of cinema’s most respected auteurs and while Twin Peaks: The Return was shown on TV, it also debuted at the Cannes Film Festival.That is similar to The Irishman or Marriage Story from this season which also debuted at prestigous film festivals but their ultimate home is Netflix...
Cahiers included another TV mini series, Little Quinquin from French director Bruno Dumont. Unsurprisingly they found space for Jean Luc Godard in their top ten. The singular Leos Carax came in second place with his audacious sometimes a musical Holy Motors. Personally I was happy to see 2 films I adore Melancholia and Jonathan Glazer’s Under the Skin. Maren Ade, who came in at #6 with Toni Erdmann, is the only female director on the list.
Here's the full list:
1. Twin Peaks: The Return, David Lynch (2017)
2. Holy Motors, Leos Carax (2012)
3. Little Quinquin, Bruno Dumont
4. Uncle Boonmee, Apichatpong Weerasethakul (2010)
5. The Image Book, Jean-Luc Godard (2018)
6. Toni Erdmann, Maren Ade (2016)
7. Mia Madre, Nanni Moretti (2015)
8. Melancholia, Lars von Trier (2011)
9. Under The Skin, Jonathan Glazer (2013)
10. The Strange Angelica Affair, Manoel de Oliveira (2010)
Which of these movies would make your own top of the decade list? Do you consider Twin Peaks: The Return film or TV?
Reader Comments (27)
This list is nutty.
1. Holy Motors and maybe Toni Erdmann
2. Twin Peaks: The Return is TV and it's condescending of critics to pretend otherwise.
First Reformed is the best film of the decade
"Holy Motors" strikes me as an indispensable choice. I'm just surprised not to see "The Tree of Life" on more of these lists.
Twin Peaks: The Return maybe a TV show but I have no problem with it being on the list. It's David Lynch. I'm just happy Under the Skin, Holy Motors, and Melancholia made the list.
Have no problem with Twin Peaks pick. For me it’s a solid list except for Mia Madre and Strange Case of Angelica which I find lackluster
Twin Peaks first? As Chad Micheals said "YES!! YES!"
This list is great.
This list is my sister AND my daughter! Er, this list is nutty and great.
Cinema is more respected than television. Twin Peaks: The Return is a series and it also isn't a person so it can't be transgender and be considered a film on someone's idiotic whim.
LOL
I don’t know what to make of this list. So many oddball choices. I’m perplexed actually.
I don't usually comment top ten lists because I don't like them. This one is a bit pretentious as expected. I can't stand Dumont's P'tit Quinquin.
To my impersonators: you're not going to kick me out of here.
What a French thing to do. Peggy Sue/s you're pretty indistinct and I guess in the nicest way a bit bland, so the whole blank slate personality might be their attraction. Who knows, they sometimes target me and also sometimes act like me being targeted. It's comment-ception, ignore them and they'll give up. Plus new year new handle is my plan.
I love the list. So completely unique compared to most of the group lists that will come out with the same 15 or so titles just in different orders. I would've preferred GOODBYE TO LANGUAGE than THE IMAGE BOOK though.
As for TWIN PEAKS... look, it's a strange beast. Yes, it's television and episodic television at that. Yes, it's Dave Lynch, but it was shown one episode a week (well, after the initial first burst of four episodes). But it's also a series where full episodes can happen like a segment of a middle act of a movie where the story is propelled along but unlike most other TV has no real beginning middle and end. I think that's where the argument comes from. You genuinely were to stretch it out simply to an 18-hour experience, it has a first act, a second act, and a third act. It's curious that way.
I don't know if it's a movie, but Twin Peaks: The Return was certainly my favourite meal of the decade.
Cahiers du cinéma sure do love Maren Ade's Toni Erdmann -- a film that has yet to grow on me.
I remember watching Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives in a late screening at IFC and there were about 10 walkouts. I must have slept through parts of the film but when I watched the film again I appreciate (not necessarily like) it better. My favorite Apichatpong Weerasethakul film remains Cemetery of Splendor. Like another Asian filmmaker Lav Diaz, Apichatpong's films invite the viewers to be conversant with the auteur's brand of cinematic language. I like the monsoonal vibes of Cemetery of Splendor and Norte, the End of History (Diaz) though I am not sure I understand their films completely.
Among the late Godard film, I was drawn to Notre Musique (2004). I saw The Strange Case of Angelica around the time it came out with friends I have not seen for more than a decade. I was able to convince them to watch this Manoel de Oliveira film with me in a tiny theater and they mostly enjoyed it and we talked about it much later. Maybe because the company was amazing, I enjoyed it too. Odd how great company can change the way I view a film. I wonder if the film's inclusion in the Cahiers list has more to do with de Oliveira himself, the auteur, than the film.
I only have seen Holy Motors and definitevely is one of my favorite films of the decade.
Melancholia!
I watched Melancholia again last night and it didn’t really hold up for me (I used to love it and was certain it was going to end up on my top 5 of the decade). This time it seemed a little superficial, like there was not much there besides what was happening.
Love some of their choices and don’t care if Twin Peaks is film or tv. They obviously don’t either.
Cahiers must be trolling us with this list.
It makes as much sense as if I listed Game of Thrones as the best film of the decade...
let's be real. they're referring to it as film because of its quality. they are making a statement. the fact that twin peaks season 3 aired on american television is a gift to us all.
"Holy Motors" was great, I should rewatch the whole thing (I've rewatched the musical number countless times.) The only other ones I've seen - "Melancholia" and "Under the Skin" - I also loved.
Yes to Under the Skin! Amazing movie that just gets better every time I see it. I did love watching Twin Peaks: The Return but it wasn't really a movie, right? So I don't know. I do know that I want to see it again, that's for sure.
Holy Motors would make my list, for sure. I would try to find room for Melancholia and Under the Skin, but I don't think they'd both get in. Uncle Boonmee would hit my brainstorming list but not wind up near the top when I started eliminating.
Twin Peaks: The Return is interesting. It did play as a singular film, but it also was shot with the intention of releasing it as a miniseries. It depends on the context you experienced it in. It's not the same thing, but there have been films I've raved about at festivals or conventions (specifically horror films, edits for distribution are much more common because of the rating system) that were heavily reedited for their official release. Does it change the experience I had that the wider release is a different product? No. Does it mean that other people who didn't experience the same version aren't allowed a different opinion? Of course not.
One word - Melancholia.
They could have just given Twin Peaks a Special Mention.
I agree with whoever said that it's a statement. Obviously they want to stir debate. The industry's changing and I think this speaks volumes about how Cahier feels those changes have limited the medium. At least in America, in this decade, TPS3 would have never made it into a theater or been able to be produced as a "film."
The episodes usually end with musical performances at the Roadhouse, some of which feature no dialogue, simply signaling the end of an episode. If you took those out, you'd more or less have a really long movie rather than episodic TV. And, if you didn't take those out, you'd have moments of relief that might help one make it through such a long piece, which actually contradicts the idea that Lynch is just a sadist troll who loves forcing people to squirm in their seats lol.
Anyway, I'll never understand this debate!