Agnès Varda: Mother of the French New Wave

K.J. Griffith
Mar 11, 2022
5 min read

I remember feeling frustrated in my cinema history courses when I started film school. Back then, I didn't understand why we weren't talking about woman directors or women in leadership positions behind the camera. It wasn't until halfway through my second semester that I finally got to learn about a woman director by the name of Agnès Varda. We didn't spend too much time on her in the course, but the mention of her was what started a years long research project that shaped my time in film school. This month, I felt that it was important to talk about this special woman who has really shaped my first steps as a filmmaker and artist. So here is a little bit about Agnès Varda, the mother of the French New Wave.

Varda in her film "Uncle Yanco" Image via Criterion Collection

Agnès Varda was born in 1928 in Ixelles, Belgium. She left Belgium with her family in 1940 for Sète, France, where she spent her teenage years. As a young adult, she first studied art history at the École du Louvre. Then she studied photography at the École des Beaux-Arts before working as a photographer at the Théâtre National Populaire in Paris. Film was never really something that she thought she would create an over 60 year career on.

From experimental narrative, to documentary, her film work is cutting edge for every decade. What makes her work stand out amongst the other New Wave filmmakers is how her work wasn’t based on the love of film, but rather the dislike. She wanted to see something that represented her on the big screen. Instead of waiting for someone else to do it, she did it herself. This started with her 1955 film, La Pointe Courte, a unique film with multiples stories to tell that solidified her place as part of the French New Wave Movement.

Varda looking through the camera. Image via Criterion Collection

La Pointe Courte tells two juxtaposing stories: one about the fishing community of Sete, and one about a couple at a serious turning point in their relationship. The stories rarely intersect one another; the only thing that connects them is the location. It was a radically unique film for a radically unique filmmaker. La Pointe Courte, the flagship film of Ciné Tamaris, Varda's own production company, helped kickstart the French New Wave. From there, she continued to create narrative films.

In 1962, she released her most well known film, Cleo from 5 to 7. This film showed how a story could happen “in real time” with the viewer watching a singer go through the most anxiety driven two hours of her life waiting for the results of a biopsy. Cleo from 5 to 7 keeps the audience involved in the story, making a two hour film about waiting somehow interesting and exciting. Her introduction to the film world started with a bang, but she made waves in more ways than one.

Varda in 2018, photographed by Collier Schorr

Varda was also quite the bad ass feminist. She was one of the signers of the Manifesto of the 343, a document signed by women who openly admitted to having an abortion. Signing this document meant that with France’s new laws at the time, every woman who signed would have a high chance of being prosecuted. She also created films like Le Bonheur that explored marriage and the value of women. She was an active fighter against sexism and injustice, traveling across the world to interview people like the Black Panthers and Fidel Castro. Varda let nothing stop her from being an artist, even motherhood.

There’s always this thought by society that there’s this choice between motherhood and career; you cannot choose both. Varda chose both career and motherhood. After giving birth to her son, Matthieu, she was frustrated not being able to leave the house. This caused the creation of the film Daguerreotypes; a film about the shopkeepers and neighbors who resided on her street, Rue Daguerre. This film took people watching to a whole new level, mixing documentary style filmmaking with striking visuals.

Varda in her film, "The Beaches of Agnès" from 2008. Image via Photofest

Varda had a passion for documentary, which became a large part of her film work specifically in her later years. She created the documentary, The Gleaners and I in 2000. This film is about the field workers, or gleaners, who would harvest the leftover crops from fields to take home to their families. She took a more modern take: including actions like dumpster diving in the film. She also created two autobiographical films: The Beaches of Agnès and Varda by Agnès that looked back on her history in film and the life she led. Looking at specifically her film work, she continued to change and expand her style throughout her entire life. Varda was, however, not just attached to film, she worked in multiple other mediums.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xOe2yRr6E8

Varda was always evolving as an artist, not only as a filmmaker. She continued working in photography, and even installation art. One of her most interesting installations was called “Patatutopia” which was about tubers, or potatoes. This was a continuation of a new found love from The Gleaners and I. She also famously wore a potato suit to celebrate the presentation. Her love for the potato and the imperfectness of tubers specifically represent the constant change of her thoughts and actions.

And you thought I wouldn't show the potato outfit? Shame. Image via Dazed.

The thing about Agnès Varda is you couldn’t contain her into just one category. She marches to her own drum and does what she wants, opinions be damned. What connects all of her artistic work though is one commonality: real people. The person you would see crossing the street or doing their job; She found the everyday person to be exciting. To quote Varda herself in an interview she did with Interview Magazine:

"I’m curious. Period. I find everything interesting. Real life. Fake life. Objects. Flowers. Cats. But mostly people. If you keep your eyes open and your mind open, everything can be interesting. The secret is that there is no secret."

I wanted to write about Agnès Varda for women's history month because I see a lot of myself in her. This insatiable need to learn is something we both share. I find that her wanting to understand other people is a beautiful marriage to cinema and the stories told. She brings love to many of the stories she tells; something that doesn't go unnoticed in audiences around the world. Varda is beloved by the cinema community; she even has been awarded an honorary Oscar at the 2017 Governor's Awards. I've linked Angelina Jolie's touching presentation below because she says perfectly what Varda means to cinema as a ground breaking artist:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlQzmwBiHdk

There is no doubt that Varda's work continues to impact artists today, even after her passing in 2019. I could write on and on about her life, specific films, and even her husband (who I am definitely going to be writing about sometime soon!). However, I ask you to take a look at her work. Most, if not all, are easily accessible today on streaming platforms. Her stories cover so many different subjects and ways of storytelling that there is something for everyone. I can tell you all about her, but I don't think it's as telling as seeing one of her films. Her love for cinema is better shown than spoken (or in this case written). May she live on forever in the stories she has provided to the world.