Agnès Varda
Encyclopedia
Agnès Varda is a French
film director
and professor at the European Graduate School
. Her movies, photographs, and art installations focus on documentary realism, feminist issues, and social commentary — with a distinct experimental style.
, Belgium, the daughter of Christiane (née Pasquet) and Eugene Jean Varda, an engineer. Her mother was French
and her father's family were Greek refugees from Asia Minor
.
Varda studied Art History at the Ecole du Louvre before getting a job as the official photographer for the Théâtre National Populaire in Paris. 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
.
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 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, Agnes Varda's daughter from a previous union with actor Antoine Bourseiller, who starred in her early film "Cleo from 5 to 7".
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.
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
film director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
and professor at the European Graduate School
European Graduate School
The European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland is a privately funded graduate school founded by the non-profit European Foundation of Interdisciplinary Studies. Its German name is Europäische Universität für Interdisziplinäre Studien...
. Her movies, photographs, and art installations focus on documentary realism, feminist issues, and social commentary — with a distinct experimental style.
Life and career
Varda was born Arlette Varda in BrusselsBrussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
, Belgium, the daughter of Christiane (née Pasquet) and Eugene Jean Varda, an engineer. Her mother was French
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
and her father's family were Greek refugees from Asia Minor
Asia Minor
Asia Minor is a geographical location at the westernmost protrusion of Asia, also called Anatolia, and corresponds to the western two thirds of the Asian part of Turkey...
.
Varda studied Art History at the Ecole du Louvre before getting a job as the official photographer for the Théâtre National Populaire in Paris. 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
French New Wave
The New Wave was a blanket term coined by critics for a group of French filmmakers of the late 1950s and 1960s, influenced by Italian Neorealism and classical Hollywood cinema. Although never a formally organized movement, the New Wave filmmakers were linked by their self-conscious rejection of...
.
Despite similarities to the French New Wave
French New Wave
The New Wave was a blanket term coined by critics for a group of French filmmakers of the late 1950s and 1960s, influenced by Italian Neorealism and classical Hollywood cinema. Although never a formally organized movement, the New Wave filmmakers were linked by their self-conscious rejection of...
, films by Varda belonged more precisely to the complementary Rive Gauche (Left Bank) cinema movement, along with Chris Marker
Chris Marker
Chris Marker is a French writer, photographer, documentary film director, multimedia artist and film essayist. His best known films are La jetée , A Grin Without a Cat , Sans Soleil and AK , an essay film on the Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa...
, Alain Resnais
Alain Resnais
Alain Resnais is a French film director whose career has extended over more than six decades. After training as a film editor in the mid-1940s, he went on to direct a number of short films which included Nuit et Brouillard , an influential documentary about the Nazi concentration camps.He began...
, Marguerite Duras
Marguerite Duras
Marguerite Donnadieu, better known as Marguerite Duras was a French writer and film director.-Background:...
, Alain Robbe-Grillet
Alain Robbe-Grillet
Alain Robbe-Grillet , was a French writer and filmmaker. He was, along with Nathalie Sarraute, Michel Butor and Claude Simon, one of the figures most associated with the Nouveau Roman trend. Alain Robbe-Grillet was elected a member of the Académie française on March 25, 2004, succeeding Maurice...
, Jean Cayrol
Jean Cayrol
Jean Cayrol was a French poet, publisher, and member of the Académie Goncourt. He is perhaps best known for writing the narration in Alain Resnais's 1955 documentary film, Night and Fog...
and Henri Colpi
Henri Colpi
Henri Colpi was a French film editor and film director.Colpi directed the 1961 film Une aussi longue absence, which is well-known for sharing the Palme d'Or at the 1961 Cannes Film Festival with Viridiana, which was directed by Luis Buñuel...
. The group was strongly tied to the nouveau roman
Nouveau roman
The nouveau roman is a type of 1950s French novel that diverged from classical literary genres. Émile Henriot coined the title in an article in the popular French newspaper Le Monde on May 22, 1957 to describe certain writers who experimented with style in each novel, creating an essentially new...
movement in literature and politically was positioned to the Left
Left-wing politics
In politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...
. Like the French New Wave, its members would often collaborate with each other.
Varda was married to the film director Jacques Demy
Jacques Demy
Jacques Demy was one of the most approachable filmmakers to appear in the wake of the French New Wave. Uninterested in the formal experimentation of Alain Resnais, or the political agitation of Jean-Luc Godard, Demy instead created a self-contained fantasy world closer to that of François...
from 1962 until his death in 1990, with whom she had one child, actor Mathieu Demy. Jacques Demy also legally adopted Rosalie Varda, Agnes Varda's daughter from a previous union with actor Antoine Bourseiller, who starred in her early film "Cleo from 5 to 7".
Varda was one of the five persons to attend Jim Morrison
Jim Morrison
James Douglas "Jim" Morrison was an American musician, singer, and poet, best known as the lead singer and lyricist of the rock band The Doors...
's burial in Paris at the Père Lachaise Cemetery
Père Lachaise Cemetery
Père Lachaise Cemetery is the largest cemetery in the city of Paris, France , though there are larger cemeteries in the city's suburbs.Père Lachaise is in the 20th arrondissement, and is reputed to be the world's most-visited cemetery, attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors annually to the...
.
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.
Awards and accolades
- For the 1985 documentary-style feature film Vagabond/Without Roof or Rule she received the Golden LionGolden LionIl Leone d’Oro is the highest prize given to a film at the Venice Film Festival. The prize was introduced in 1949 by the organizing committee and is now regarded as one of the film industry's most distinguished prizes...
of the Venice Film FestivalVenice Film FestivalThe Venice International Film Festival is the oldest international film festival in the world. Founded by Count Giuseppe Volpi in 1932 as the "Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica", the festival has since taken place every year in late August or early September on the island of the...
. - In 2009 The Beaches of AgnèsThe Beaches of AgnèsThe Beaches of Agnès is a 2008 French documentary film directed by Agnès Varda. The film is an autobiographical essay where Varda revisits places from her past, reminisces about life and celebrates her 80th birthday on camera...
won the best documentary film of the César AwardCésar AwardThe César Award is the national film award of France, first given out in 1975. The nominations are selected by the members of the Académie des arts et techniques du cinéma....
. - On April 12, 2009, she was made Commandeur de la Légion d'honneurLégion d'honneurThe Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...
.
Selected filmography
| Year | Film | English Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1956 | La Pointe Courte | — | Director, Writer |
| 1962 | Cléo de 5 à 7 | Cléo from 5 to 7 Cléo from 5 to 7 Cléo from 5 to 7 is a 1962 Rive Gauche film by Agnès Varda. The story starts with a young singer, Florence "Cléo" Victoire, at 5PM June 21, as she waits until 7PM. The film is noted for its handling of several of the themes of existentialism, including discussions of mortality, the idea of... |
Director, Writer |
| 1965 | Le Bonheur | Happiness Happiness (1965 film) Happiness is a 1965 French drama film directed by Agnès Varda, about a married man having an affair with another woman. The film is associated with the French New Wave and won two awards at the 15th Berlin International Film Festival, including the Jury Grand Prix.The films beautiful colours... |
Director, Writer |
| 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 |
| 1980–1981 | Documenteur | Documenteur | Director, Writer |
| 1985 | Sans toit ni loi | Vagabond Vagabond (film) Vagabond is a 1985 drama film directed by Agnès Varda, featuring Sandrine Bonnaire. It describes the story of a young woman, a vagabond, who wanders through French wine country one winter. The film was the 36th highest grossing film of the year with a total of 1,080,143 admissions in France.... |
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 Kung-Fu Master (film) Kung-Fu Master is a 1988 French drama film directed by Agnès Varda. It was entered into the 38th Berlin International Film Festival.-Cast:* Jane Birkin as Mary-Jane* Mathieu Demy as Julien* Charlotte Gainsbourg as Lucy* Lou Doillon as Lou... |
Director, Writer |
| 1991 | Jacquot de Nantes Jacquot de Nantes Jacquot de Nantes is a 1991 French drama film directed by Agnès Varda. It was screened out of competition at the 1991 Cannes Film Festival.... |
— | Director, Writer |
| 1993 | Les demoiselles ont eu 25 ans | The Young Girls Turn 25 The Young Girls Turn 25 The Young Girls Turn 25 is a 1993 French documentary film directed by Agnès Varda, about Jacques Demy's 1967 film The Young Girls of Rochefort... |
Director, Writer |
| 1994 | Les Cent et une nuits de Simon Cinéma | A Hundred and One Nights A Hundred and One Nights -Cast:* Michel Piccoli as Simon Cinéma* Marcello Mastroianni as L'ami italien / The Italian Friend* Henri Garcin as Firmin, le majordome / The butler* Julie Gayet as Camille Miralis* Mathieu Demy as Camille, dit Mica... |
Director, Writer |
| 2000 | Les Glaneurs et la glaneuse | The Gleaners and I The Gleaners and I The Gleaners and I is a French documentary by Agnès Varda that features various kinds of gleaning. It was entered into competition at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival , and later went on to earn awards around the world.... |
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 |
| 2008 | Les plages d'Agnès | The Beaches of Agnès The Beaches of Agnès The Beaches of Agnès is a 2008 French documentary film directed by Agnès Varda. The film is an autobiographical essay where Varda revisits places from her past, reminisces about life and celebrates her 80th birthday on camera... |
Director, Writer, Producer |
External links
- Agnès Varda Faculty Page @ European Graduate SchoolEuropean Graduate SchoolThe European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland is a privately funded graduate school founded by the non-profit European Foundation of Interdisciplinary Studies. Its German name is Europäische Universität für Interdisziplinäre Studien...
Biography, bibliography, films and quotes. - 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
Further reading
- How Agnès Varda "invented" the New Wave by Ginette VincendeauGinette VincendeauGinette Vincendeau is a French-born British-based academic who is a Professor of Film Studies at King's College London.Vincendeau was educated at the Université de la Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris III, gaining a degree in English and at the University of East Anglia, where she completed a doctorate in...
, 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.