Agnès Varda
| Agnès Varda | |
|---|---|
 Varda receiving an honour at the Guadalajara Film Festival |
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| Born | 30 May 1928 Brussels,  Belgium |
| Occupation | director, screenwriter, editor, actor, producer, installation artist, photographer |
| Years active | 1955 - present |
| Spouse(s) | Jacques Demy (1962-1990; his death) |
Agnès Varda (born 30 May 1928) is a French film director and professor at the European Graduate School.[1] Her movies, photographs, and art installations focus on documentary realism, feminist issues, and social commentary — with a distinct experimental style.
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Life and career [edit]
The career of Agnès Varda is an important and often overlooked voice in the modern French cinema. Her career pre-dates the start of the Nouvelle vague (French New Wave), and La Pointe Courte contains many elements specific to that movement that make it famous.[2]
Varda was born Arlette Varda in Brussels, Belgium, the daughter of Christiane (née Pasquet) and Eugène Jean Varda, an engineer.[3] Her mother was French and her father came from a family of Greek refugees from Asia Minor. Varda studied Art History at the École du Louvre before getting a job as the official photographer for the Théâtre national populaire in Paris.[2]
Despite similarities to the French New Wave, films by Varda belonged more precisely to the complementary Rive Gauche (Left Bank) cinema movement, along with Chris Marker, Alain Resnais, Marguerite Duras, Alain Robbe-Grillet, Jean Cayrol and Henri Colpi. The group was strongly tied to the nouveau roman movement in literature and politically was positioned to the Left. Like the French New Wave, its members would often collaborate with each other.
Varda was one of the five persons to attend Jim Morrison's burial in Paris at the Père Lachaise Cemetery.
She was a member of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 2005 and a member of the jury at the Venice Film Festival in 1983.
Notable Films [edit]
La Pointe Courte [edit]
She liked photography but was interested in moving into film. After spending a few days filming the small French fishing town of La Pointe Courte for a terminally ill friend who could no longer visit on his own, Varda decided to shoot a feature film of her own.Thus in 1954, Varda's first film, La Pointe Courte, about an unhappy couple working through their relationship in a small fishing town, was released. The film is a stylistic precursor to the French New Wave.[4] At the time, Varda was influenced by the philosophy of Gaston Bachelard, whom she once studied under at the Sorbonne. “She was particularly interested in his theory of ‘l’imagination des matières,’ in which certain personality traits were found to correspond to concrete elements in a kind of psychoanalysis of the material world”. This idea arrives in La Pointe Courte as the characters personality traits clash it is shown through the opposition of objects such as wood and steel. To further her interest in character abstraction Varda used two professional actors, Silvia Monfort and Philippe Noiret combined with the residents of La Pointe Courte to provide a realistic element that lends itself to a documentary aesthetic, inspired by Neo-realism. Varda would continue to use this combination of fictional and documentary elements in her films.[5]
Cléo from 5 to 7 [edit]
Following La Pointe Courte, Cleo from 5 to 7 follows a pop singer through two extraordinary hours in which she awaits the results of a recent biopsy. At first glance, the film is about a woman coming to terms with her mortality, which is a common auteurist trait for Agnès Varda.[6] On a deeper level, Cleo from 5 to 7 confronts the traditionally objectified woman by giving Cleo her own vision. She is unable to be constructed through gaze of others which is often represented through a motif of reflections and Cleo’s ability to strip her body of to-be-looked-at-ness attributes (clothing items, wigs, etc.). Stylistically, Cleo from 5 to 7 borders documentary and fiction as La Pointe Courte had. Although many believe that the ninety-minute film represents the diegetic action, which occurs between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m., in real time, there is actually a half-hour difference.[5]
Vagabond [edit]
In 1984, Agnès Varda created Sans toit ni loi, or Vagabond in English, which is a drama about the death of a young female drifter named Mona. The death is investigated by an unseen and unheard interviewer who focuses on the men who have last seen her. The story of Vagabond is told through nonlinear techniques, with the film being divided into forty-seven episodes, and each episode about Mona being told from a different person's perspective. Vagabond is considered to be one of Agnès Varda's greater feminist works in how the film deals with the de-fetishization of the female body from the male perspective.[7]
Jacquot de Nantes [edit]
Varda was married to the film director Jacques Demy from 1962 until his death in 1990, with whom she had one child, actor Mathieu Demy. Jacques Demy also legally adopted Rosalie Varda, Agnès Varda's daughter from a previous union with actor Antoine Bourseiller, who starred in her early film Cléo from 5 to 7. In 1991, Shortly after Jacques Demy's death, Agnès Varda created the film Jacquot de Nantes, which is about his life and death. The film is structured at first as being a recreation of his early life, being obsessed with the various crafts used for filmmaking like animation and set design. But then Varda provides elements of documentary by inserting clips of Demy's films as well as footage of him dying. The film continues with the Varda's common theme of accepting death, but at its heart it is considered to be Varda's tribute to her late husband and their work.[6]
The Gleaners and I [edit]
Les Glaneurs et la Glaneuse, or The Gleaners and I, is a documentary made in 2000 that focuses on Varda's interactions with gleaners who live in the French countryside, but also includes subjects who create art through recycled material, as well as an interview with psychoanalyst Jean Laplanche. The Gleaners and I is notable for its fragmented and free-form nature along with it being the first time Varda used digital cameras. This style of filmmaking is often interpreted as a statement that great things like art can still be created through scraps, yet modern economies encourage people to only use the finest product.[8]
Awards and accolades [edit]
- For the 1985 documentary-style feature film Vagabond/Without Roof or Rule she received the Golden Lion of the Venice Film Festival.
- 2002 Agnès Varda was the recipient of the prestigious French Academy prize, René Clair Award.[9]
- In 2009 The Beaches of Agnès won the best documentary film of the César Award.[10]
- On April 12, 2009, she was made Commandeur de la Légion d'honneur.[11]
- In May 2010 Varda received Directors' Fortnight's 8th Carosse d'Or award for lifetime achievement at the Cannes Film Festival.[12]
- September 22, 2012 Varda received an honorary degree from Liège University Belgium.[1]
Filmography [edit]
| Film | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Title | English Title | Credits |
| 1955 | La Pointe Courte | — | Director, Writer |
| 1962 | Cléo de 5 à 7 | Cléo from 5 to 7 | Director, Writer |
| 1965 | Le Bonheur | Happiness | Director, Writer |
| 1966 | Les Créatures | The Creatures | Director, Writer |
| 1967 | Loin du Vietnam | Far from Vietnam | Co-Director |
| 1969 | Lions Love | Lions Love | Director, Writer, Producer |
| 1975 | Daguerréotypes | — | Director, Writer |
| 1977 | L'Une chante, l'autre pas | One Sings, the Other Doesn't | Director, Writer |
| 1981 | Mur murs | - | Director, Writer |
| 1980–1981 | Documenteur | Documenteur | Director, Writer |
| 1985 | Sans toit ni loi | Vagabond | Director, Writer, Editor |
| 1986–1987 | Jane B. par Agnès V. | Jane B. by Agnes V. | Director, Writer, Editor |
| 1987 | Le Petit amour | Kung-Fu Master | Director, Writer |
| 1991 | Jacquot de Nantes | — | Director, Writer |
| 1993 | Les demoiselles ont eu 25 ans | The Young Girls Turn 25 | Director, Writer |
| 1994 | Les Cent et une nuits de Simon Cinéma | A Hundred and One Nights | Director, Writer |
| 2000 | Les Glaneurs et la glaneuse | The Gleaners and I | Director, Writer, Producer, Editor |
| 2002 | Les Glaneurs et la glaneuse... deux ans après | The Gleaners and I: Two Years Later | Director, Editor |
| 2003 | Lion volatil, Le | — | Director, Writer, Producer, Editor |
| 2004 | Cinévardaphoto | - | Director, Writer |
| 2006 | Quelques veuves de Noirmoutier | - | Director, Writer |
| 2008 | Les plages d'Agnès | The Beaches of Agnès | Director, Writer, Producer |
| Short Films | |||
| Year | Title | English Title | Credits |
| 1958 | L'opera-mouffe | Diary of a Pregnant Woman | Director, Writer |
| 1958 | La cocotte d'azur | - | Director, Writer |
| 1958 | Du côté de la côte | - | Director, Writer |
| 1958 | O saisons, ô châteaux | - | Director, Writer |
| 1961 | Les fiancés du pont Mac Donald ou (Méfiez-vous des lunettes noires) | - | Director, Writer |
| 1963 | Salut les cubains | - | Director, Star |
| 1965 | Elsa la rose | - | Director, Writer |
| 1967 | Oncle Yanco | - | Director, Writer, Star |
| 1968 | Black Panters | Huey | Director |
| 1975 | Réponse de femmes: Notre corps, notre sexe | Women Reply | Director, Writer, Star |
| 1976 | Plaisir d'amour en Iran | - | Director, Writer |
| 1984 | Les dites cariatides | The So-Called Caryatids | Director, Writer, Star |
| 1984 | 7p. cuis., s. de b., ... à saisir | - | Director, Writer |
| 1986 | T’as de beaux escaliers, tu sais | You’ve Got Beautiful Stairs, You Know | Director, Writer |
| 1986 | Ulysse | - | Director, Writer, Star |
| 2003 | Le lion volatil | - | Director, Writer |
| 2004 | Ydessa, les ours et etc. | Ydessa, the Bears and etc. | Director, Writer |
| 2004 | Der Viennale '04-Trailer | - | Director, Writer, Star |
| 2005 | Les dites cariatides bis | - | Director, Writer |
| 2005 | Cléo de 5 à 7: souvenirs et anecdotes | - | Director |
| Television | |||
| Year | Title | English Title | Credits |
| 1970 | Nausicaa (TV movie) | - | Writer, Director |
| 1983 | Une minute pour une image (TV series Documentary) | - | Director |
| 2010 | P.O.V., episode 3, season 23, "The Beaches of Agnes" | - | Director, Writer, Producer, Cinematographer |
| 2011 | Agnès de ci de là Varda, 5 episodes (TV series documentary) | - | Director, Writer, Star |
Publications [edit]
- Les Plages d'Agnes Texte Illustre (2010)
- 4 by Agnès Varda: Essays (2007)
- Agnès Varda, l'île et elle, Actes sud (2006)
- Sans toit ni loi un film d'Agnès Varda (2003)
- La marginalité à l'écran(1999)
- Varda par Agnès (1994)
- La Côte d'Azur, d'azur, d'azur, d'azur (1961)
Further reading [edit]
- How Agnès Varda "invented" the New Wave by Ginette Vincendeau, Four by Agnes Varda, Criterion, 2008
- Smith, Alison. Agnès Varda Manchester University Press, 1998. Pg 3.
- Neupert, Richard. A History of the French New Wave Cinema. University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, Wisconsin. 2007. Pg 57.
References [edit]
- ^ a b See: Agnès Varda Faculty Page @ European Graduate School
- ^ a b Smith, Alison. Agnes Varda Manchester University Press, 1998. Pg 3.
- ^ http://www.filmreference.com/film/29/Agnes-Varda.html
- ^ Neupert, Richard. A History of the French New Wave Cinema University of Wisconsin Press, 2007. Pg. 57.
- ^ a b Fitterman-Lewis, To Desire Differently,Columbia University Press, 1996, pp. 215-245.
- ^ a b Wilson, Emma. "3. Mourning Films I." French Cinema since 1950: Personal Histories. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 1999. 42-46. Print. 8-June-2012
- ^ Hayward, Susan. "Beyond the Gaze and Into Femme-Filmécriture." French Film: Texts and Contexts. By Susan Hayward and Ginette Vincendeau. London: Routledge, 2000. 269-80. Print. 8-June-2012
- ^ Cruickshank, Ruth "The Work of Art in the Age of Global Consumption: Agnés Varda's Les Glaneurs et la glaneuse." L'esprit Créateur 47.3, (2007): pg. 119-132 Project MUSE. Web. 8-June-2012
- ^ http://www.egs.edu/faculty/agnes-varda/biography/
- ^ http://www.lescesarducinema.com/#palmares
- ^ [1]
- ^ http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118017346?refCatId=3628
External links [edit]
- Agnès Varda Faculty Page @ European Graduate School Biography, bibliography, films and quotes.
- Agnès Varda at the Internet Movie Database
- Watch 17 films of Agnes Warda at www.dafilms.com
- Biography on newwavefilm.com
- Ciné-Tamaris
- Jonathan Romney, The Beaches of Agnès (Sight & Sound 'Film of the Month')
- "A Talk: Agnès Varda ," 2009, (Frieze Foundation Talks)
- Agnès Varda talks about cinema and her work
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