Dir. Agnès Varda, 2008, France, 110 mins
Cast: Agnès Varda, André Lubrano, Blaise Fournier
Review by Mike Bartlett
American critic Jonathan Rosenbaum recently drew attention to the apparent sexism within the French New Wave, and it’s true that, while the movement’s male protagonists such as Truffaut and Godard are still feted on the 50th anniversary, its most notable female member has been pushed to the sidelines. And yet it was Agnès Varda who pre-empted the whole shebang with her first feature La Pointe courte in 1954 and who, in Cleo de 5 à 7 (1961), provided one of its freshest entertainments.
Her latest film ponders the ebb and flow of the group’s fortunes, appropriately so given the predominant imagery of sea and tides. There are also a lot of mirrors, and we find Varda in reflective mood, piecing together the story of her life and career from a paradoxically idyllic wartime childhood in the resort of Sète to the breakthrough success of the Nouvelle Vague and beyond. The reflections are not just vagaries of memory, however; Varda gives them corporeal reality in the recreations of certain episodes. Some of these are beautiful and touched by fantasy – Varda guiding a sailboat along the Seine – others are mildly shocking and cheekily transgressive – watch out for the hooded lovers.
The whole represents a charming and affecting, if ultimately indulgent, memoir. But the timing couldn’t have been better. As various books and retrospectives look back on the era, Varda’s film represents a valuable personal insight into the group mechanics and personalities involved, while at the same time being a genuinely moving tribute to one of its most misunderstood members, her husband, Jacques Demy. And even more importantly, it communicates that essential quality of the New Wave that has often been lost or forgotten in the years since – the sheer joy of filmmaking.
|
.jpg)
