-
The Best Films of the 1970s Decade
The greatest films of the 1970s, from the American New Wave to Europe’s bleak surrealism.
-
The Mother and the Whore (1973)
The infamous Madonna-whore complex is baked right into the title of Jean Eustache’s bleak treatise on juvenile masculinity, as The Mother and the Whore applies an intensive focus to a young narcissist’s thorny relationships with his long-term girlfriend, his secret lover, and the intellectual hypocrisy that underlies his infidelity.
-
The Devils (1971)
The Devils may be set during the witch trials of 17th century France, and yet Ken Russell’s cynical condemnation of religious tyranny escapes a narrow relegation to the distant past, infusing his cautionary tale with a bitter, anachronistic timelessness.
-
Fellini’s Casanova (1976)
Though based on the autobiography of the historical Venetian adventurer and his expansive voyage through 18th century Europe, Federico Fellini’s reimagining of Casanova’s life manifests with demented surrealism, trapping this lonely man in cycles of absurd carnal exploits fuelled by a profound, existential emptiness.
-
Amarcord (1973)
The year that passes over the course of Amarcord is not bound by straightforward plot convention, and yet each vignette takes its place in the whimsical portrait of 1930s Italy that Federico Fellini sentimentally models after his hometown, slipping into dreams of oppressive evils and boundless joys with careless, nostalgic abandon.
-
Fellini’s Roma (1972)
Federico Fellini’s Roma is not quite the familiar city we recognise from history books, but rather an absurd, contradictory landscape of rich impressionistic detail, filtering its vibrant culture, art, and politics through vignettes distorted by the wily incongruity of satire and memory.
-
The Andromeda Strain (1971)
The pursuit of knowledge is nothing more than a path to existential insecurity in The Andromeda Strain, sending a team of scientists deep underground to investigate the terrestrial arrival of a deadly alien organism, and developing a terrifying allegory for widespread nuclear warfare that Robert Wise delineates with methodical, formal precision.