Film transitions of receding contact lines

When a solid plate is withdrawn from a liquid bath, a receding contact line is formed where solid, liquid, and gas meet. Above a critical speed $U_{cr}$, a stationary contact line can no longer exist and the solid will eventually be covered completely by a liquid film. Here we show that the bifurcation diagram of this coating transition changes qualitatively, from discontinuous to continuous, when decreasing the inclination angle of the plate. We show that this effect is governed by the presence of capillary waves, illustrating that the large scale flow strongly effects the maximum speed of dewetting.