AGNÈS FROM A TO Z
Complete Varda retrospective unfurls.
Photos by Richard Kern.
DUBBED WITH DUBIOUS distinction the "grandmother of the French New Wave," Agnès Varda started making films over 45 years ago when she transformed her photography career into feature filmmaking with La Point Courte, edited by Alain Resnais. Since that film and her more notably New Wavish features Cleo from 5 to 7 (1961) and Le Bonheur (1965), Varda has ridden many cinematic waves. Moving from highly politicized documentaries like Black Panthers (1969) to formal experimentation such as Daguerreotypes (1974) to raw social docudrama, with Vagabond (1986), and even a sentimental love letter — Jacquot de Nantes (1991) — to her late husband, French filmmaker Jacques Demy, Varda has clung only to her agenda of producing honest films. This winter a complete retrospective occasioned by the release of her new film The Gleaners and I showcases a life of such cinematic verve that the moniker "grandmother" sounds pretty much absurd. The retropective kicks off at New York’s Film Forum, March 16 to April 5, before traveling to the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. – Peter Bowen
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