17. Alain Resnais
The third most significant director commonly associated with the French New Wave, Alain Resnais was one of the most experimental directors of his day, which, considering the era and all the ambitious directors of the time, is definitely saying something. Resnais's first two films are generally considered to be his most significant and they had enormous repercussions for following films. The first, 1959's Hiroshima mon Amour, kicked the French New Wave into high gear with endless amounts of cinematic innovation that drew praise from such significant figures in the movement as Jean-Luc Godard and Claude Chabrol. The second was 1961's Last Year at Marienbad which doubles as both one of the most acclaimed films of all time as well as one of the most incomprehensible due to its dream like style and bizarre editing. It has been called among the worst films of all time by some but also one of the best by many more, and it has been cited by many directors and critics as enormously influential. Although many other Resnais films have been praised and his filmography is very impressive throughout, nothing else in his career has ever been quite as significant as his first two films. Resnais has consistently gone against the grain of contemporary cinema, his early films purposely avoided the escapism associated with most movies of the time and after serious films became the norm he began experimenting more and more with the cinematic form itself. His influence mostly comes from his innovation but he also played a key role in one of the most important periods in film history and created some of the most significant films made during its duration.