AV

Agnes Varda has died.  She was one of the top filmmakers of the French New Wave and her work remained vital until the end.  As a director and writer, she most often worked in the documentary format, and also made a fair amount of short films, but perhaps her full-length dramatic features are her most memorable.

For instance, the first film she wrote and directed, La Pointe Courte (1955), is about a French fishing village.  It's not a big film, but it captures real life.

Even better is Cleo From 5 To 7 (1962), a film with a plot that couldn't be simpler--it follows a young woman around as she's waiting to receive test results from her doctor.  It's an existential film, as Cleo goes from moment to moment.  And Varda has fun with it, trying different things, including a short silent film (seen in a movie theatre) starring Jean-Luc Godard and Anna Karina.

Another one of my favorites is Vagabond (1985), the story of a young woman aimlessly traveling from place to place, falling in with different people.  She ends up dead, frozen in a ditch--it may sound depressing, but it's a powerful journey.

And then, in 2017, when I hadn't seen a new Varda film in years, came Faces Places (a fine translation of Visages Villages).  It's a documentary where Varda and photographer JR travel across France putting up photo-murals.  Readers may recall it made my list of the top films of the year.

So let's not say goodbye, just au revoir.