French-Italian co-production that was received extremely well at Cannes.
A group of high school students sets off on a school trip to discover the ruins of Pompeii. They are seized by a sense of vertigo. They allow themselves to be overwhelmed by desire and anger, until they surrender completely.
7.7 at IMDb
100% Tomatometer
98 at Metacritic
That’s the highest Metacritic score since 2014!!!
There are only 14 films graded 100 at Metacritic, and only one of them came out post-Kieslowski (who has two on the list).
The Godfather (1972)
Citizen Kane (1941)
Boyhood (2014)
Rear Window (1954)
Casablanca (1942)
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
Three Colors: Red (1994)
Dekalog (1988)
The Conformist (1970)
Tokyo Story (1972)
The Leopard (1963)
Notorious (1946)
Vertigo (1958)
Fanny and Alexander (1982)
There are nine near-misses at 99, including Singin’ in the Rain, City Lights and Pinocchio (Disney version).
Then comes Gradiva, tied for 24th of all time. Pretty heady territory.
