Denis Villeneuve builds tension by holding a shot and letting us look. We recommend his patient, imposing films, though his control serves the suffering in Incendies better than the love story in Dune: Part Two.
Fi1m perspective
In Incendies (2010), Jeanne and Simon Marwan search their mother's past while flashbacks follow Nawal through Middle Eastern conflict. Villeneuve makes us impatient for answers. We found it harrowing because he gives the suffering time to register, with Lubna Azabal's restraint keeping us close to Nawal. This is a director we recommend, though his patience and visual control do not excuse every decision in the script.
He moved from Quebec cinema into Hollywood thrillers with Prisoners (2013), followed by Sicario (2015). The settings changed, but the interest in people struggling through uncertainty remained. Arrival (2016) and Blade Runner 2049 (2017) took him into science fiction, followed by Dune (2021). The long takes and stretches without dialogue are recognisably his, whatever the surroundings.
Greig Fraser's desert photography in Dune: Part Two gives the film much of its imposing scale. Across Villeneuve's films, editor Joe Walker, production designer Patrice Vermette and composer Jóhann Jóhannsson are recurring collaborators. His preference for images and sound gives their work particular importance. In the long passages without speech, there is time to notice a cut, examine a space and listen to the music. That patience usually rewards us, though the deliberate pace can become wearing.
Incendies also shows the limits of such careful handling. The screenplay by Villeneuve and Valérie Beaugrand-Champagne piles up coincidences until the connections begin to feel arranged. The sober treatment makes those conveniences harder to accept. Azabal keeps Nawal credible when the writing threatens to lose us, and the film remains worth the discomfort.
In Dune: Part Two (2024), Paul Atreides is filmed so admiringly that the warning about saviours loses some force. Chani supplies much of the doubt, but the love story does not give their relationship the weight it needs. We are impressed more often than moved, which still leaves a great deal worth seeing. Start with Incendies for the performances; choose Dune: Part Two when the evening calls for scale, and do not expect the romance to carry it.
Biography
Denis Villeneuve is a Canadian film director and screenwriter. Born on 3 October 1967 in Gentilly, Québec, he studied cinema at the Université du Québec à Montréal and began his career making short films before winning a Radio-Canada youth film competition in 1991.
Villeneuve first gained recognition in Canada for French-language features including August 32nd on Earth (1998), Maelström (2000), Polytechnique (2009) and Incendies (2010). The latter earned an Academy Award nomination for Best International Feature Film. He moved into English-language cinema with the thrillers Prisoners (2013), Enemy (2013) and Sicario (2015).
His science-fiction films Arrival (2016), Blade Runner 2049 (2017), Dune (2021) and Dune: Part Two (2024) brought wider international acclaim. He has received seven Canadian Screen Awards and nominations for four Academy Awards, five BAFTA Awards and two Golden Globe Awards.
