The 10 best films of 2022 so far — in reverse order

• Published date: 29 June 2022

10. Happening

Directed by Audrey Diwan

It is chilling that a film set in 1963 has become so relevant to current discussions about reproductive healthcare in western democracies. Diwan's beautifully made drama — adapted from a novel by Annie Ernaux — follows a student as she faces up to the consequences of falling pregnant when abortion was still illegal in France. To Irish audiences, the juxtaposition of nouvelle-vague-era cool and antediluvian sexual mores is jarring. Read full review here.

9. Earwig

Directed by Lucile Hadžihalilović

The phrase "not for everyone" hangs menacingly over Hadžihalilović's first English-language film. The director of Innocence and Evolution maintains the weird vibe with a slab of fusty surrealism concerning a young woman whose saliva is frozen to generate her own teeth. The film's oddness coalesces around a tale that would fit neatly into the margins of TS Eliot's The Waste Land. It is about everything and nothing. It sticks in the brain like nicotine on stucco. Read full review here.

8. Small Body

Directed by Laura Samani

A folk drama from early 20th century Italy that could be set three centuries earlier, Samani's debut feature concerns a young woman who, when her baby is stillborn, puts the tiny corpse in a box and sets forth on a journey that, she hopes, will save the child from purgatory. There are grim happenings here, but the beautiful film is enlivened with an antic, scruffy humour and a deep love of humanity. Read Tara Brady's review here.

7. Vortex

Directed by Gaspar Noé

Have we ever had a husband and wife directing films on this list? Anyway, Gaspar Noé (spouse of Lucile Hadžihalilović above) directs the great Françoise Lebrun and horror master Dario Argento in the tale of an elderly couple ageing painfully in a book-lined French apartment. Making ingenious use of spilt-screen — the couple are together and apart — the director of Enter the Void and Irréversible confirms he has a quieter register. Read Tara Brady's review here.

6. Playground

Directed by Laura Wandel

Impressively lean (just 72 minutes) drama concerning the bullying of a small child in a Belgian school. Seen largely through the eyes of the victim's younger sister — the picture is shot at a child's height — Playground plays out entirely within the school precincts. The sense of hopeless confinement is overpowering. The injustice is enraging. Doing the right thing makes the conflict worse. But there is hope in here. Read Tara Brady's review here.

5. An...