Agnes Varda, one of the most distinct voices of postwar French cinema, turns ninety on May 30. Associated with the French New Wave, Varda’s career exemplifies, more than any other filmmaker, the New Wave ambition to blur the distinction between “documentary” and “fiction” films. (The argument in brief: documentaries follow narrative threads, reflect the choices of their creators, and present a distinct point of view; as for fiction films, New Wave godfather Andre Bazin published the essay “Every Film is a Social Documentary” in 1947.) Varda’s oeuvre is filled with dramas, documentaries (long and short) – and many entries that do not fall easily into such tidy categories.
Varda’s first film, La Pointe Courte (1955) made when she was twenty-five, is considered one of the crucial progenitors of the New Wave. A small, personal story about a young couple (Philippe Noiret and Silvia Monfort) whose marriage is possibly unraveling is set against the backdrop of the more practical, pressing daily problems faced by the inhabitants of a provincial fishing village. Shot in documentary style, La Pointe Courte was filmed on location and featured local non-actors (though the film was shot without sound and voices were post-synchronized by others); it was edited by Alain Resnais, who had directed over a dozen short documentaries but not yet his first feature film.
Pointe Courte has garnered considerable adulation for its path-breaking attributes and influence, but even more Vardian is the way in which she would, over the course of her long career, often pair a documentary film with an attendant drama. Mur Murs (1980) a documentary about murals in Los Angeles, overlaps with Documenteur (1981) an observational, documentary-style feature film (which makes references to both Mur Murs and events taking place in Varda’s personal life); Jane B. for Agnes V., an essay-film about Jane Birkin featuring Varda, is a companion to Kung Fu Master (1987) a movie about a woman (Birkin) who falls in love with a young teenager (played by Mathew Demy, Varda’s son). Similarly, Lions, Love (. . . And Lies) (1969), a period piece about California hippies that plays with the distinctions between real and staged action (and has numerous special moments—this is one of those movies that is really in love with the movies), was shot during one of Varda’s California excursions, a period that also yielded her excellent short documentary Black Panthers (1968), which is distinguished by its clear-eyed look at that movement and those times.
Of Varda’s (relatively) conventional films, the New Wave landmark Cleo from 5 to 7 (1962) remains her masterpiece. Two riveting hours in the life of a young women (look for the transformative moment when Cleo (Corinne Marchand) sheds her wig), Molly Haskell describes it as “the first fully-achieved feature by the woman who would become the premiere female director of her generation,” which “dazzled when it opened, and looks even more timely today.” Other notable features from Varda include Le Bonheur (1965), which means “happiness.” At the time Varda explained the film was inspired by her reactions to looking at family photos, say, of fifteen people smiling under a tree on a perfect summer day. “When you see the photo, you say to yourself, ‘that’s happiness’ . . . [but] when you look more closely, you’re suddenly troubled,” because “it’s impossible that they were all happy at the same time.” One Sings and the Other Doesn’t (1977) is one of our favorite Vardas. Perhaps the one who sings could have sung a little less in the movie, but this globetrotting, episodic film has something to say; it is an ambitious feminist statement that would probably be more controversial today given the dramatic life choices made by some of its characters. Varda also had a huge success with Vagabond (1985), starring an eighteen-year-old Sandrine Bonnaire, which won the Golden Lion at the Venice film festival.
From the 1990s Varda leaned more towards documentary; entries here include The World of Jacques Demy, about her husband, also a legendary filmmaker, who died in 1990. But of course, what do we mean by documentary, anyway? This is a question implied, once again, by her late career triumph The Beaches of Agnes (2008), a beautiful meditation on movies, moments, and the slippery currents of history and memory. Still making movies, her most recent film, Faces Places (2017), co-directed with the artist JR, shows a filmmaker who remains at the top of her game; her next project is in the works.
Philippe Noiret and Silvia Monfort in La Pointe Courte
Identity Politics in Cleo from 5 to 7
Corinne Marchand in Cleo from 5 to 7
“The Revolution has Come” (Black Panthers)
Eldridge Cleaver and Bobby Seale in Black Panthers
Watching News Coverage of Bobby Kennedy’s Assassination in Lions, Love (. . . And Lies)