What we need to know about Agnès Varda

Agnès Varda (born May 30, 1928, Ixelles, Belgium—died March 29, 2019, Paris, France) was a French director and photographer whose debut film, La Pointe Courte (1954), was a forerunner of the French New Wave cinema of the 1960s.

Varda studied at the Sorbonne and the École du Louvre and later pursued photography. As the official photographer for the Théatre National Populaire from 1951 to 1961, she developed an interest in both theatre and film. Her first film, La Pointe Courte, established her as an original artist. The drama, featuring a unique visual style with a documentary touch, alternates between two stories: a young couple exploring their troubled marriage and a fishing village facing its communal issues. Varda’s second feature, Cleo de cinq à sept (1961; Cleo from 5 to 7), an introspective and intellectual film, shows the influence of the New Wave. It is an intimate portrayal of a pop singer who gains a new perspective on the world while awaiting the results of a medical test that will reveal if she has a terminal illness. In 1962, Varda married director Jacques Demy, and they remained together until his death in 1990.

In 1964, Varda directed Le Bonheur (Happiness), an abstract exploration of happiness and fidelity that became her most controversial film. Les Creatures (The Creatures) was released in 1966, and her most popular films over the next two decades were L’Une chante, l’autre pas (1977; One Sings, the Other Doesn’t) and Sans toit ni loi (1985; Without Roof or Law, or Vagabond).

Throughout the 1990s and into the early 21st century, Varda continued directing. Her most acclaimed films from this period include Jacquot de Nantes (1991), based on Demy’s childhood, and Les Cent et une nuits de Simon Cinéma (1995; One Hundred and One Nights), about an elderly man passionate about movies. Many of her later works were documentaries, notably Les Glaneurs et la glaneuse (2000; The Gleaners and I), offering an intimate view of French rural life; Les Plages d’Agnès (2008; The Beaches of Agnès), a reflection on her life; and the Academy Award-nominated Visages villages (2017; Faces Places), where Varda and artist JR travel across France, capturing images of the people they meet.