Agnes Varda

209 Pages·2015·2.049 MB·English

by  Kelley Conway

Agnès Varda
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Contemporary Film Directors
Edited by Justus Nieland and Jennifer Fay
The Contemporary Film Directors series provides concise,
well-written introductions to directors from around the
world and from every level of the film industry. Its chief
aims are to broaden our awareness of important artists,
to give serious critical attention to their work, and to il-
lustrate the variety and vitality of contemporary cinema.
Contributors to the series include an array of internationally
respected critics and academics. Each volume contains
an incisive critical commentary, an informative interview
with the director, and a detailed filmography.
A list of books in the series
appears at the end of this book.
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Agnès Varda
Kelley Conway
UniVersity
oF
illinois
Press
UrbaNa,
ChICago,
aND
sprINgFIElD
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© 2015 by the Board of Trustees
of the University of Illinois
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
1 2 3 4 5 c p 5 4 3 2 1
∞ This book is printed on acid-free paper.

Frontispiece: Agnès Varda (Julia Fabry, 2012). © Ciné-Tamaris
Library of Congress Control Number: 2015950937
isbn 978-0-252-03972-0 (hardcover)
isbn 978-0-252-08120-0 (paperback)
isbn 978-0-252-09782-9 (e-book)
Permission has been granted to reprint portions of the following essays:
Conway, Kelley. “A New Wave of Spectators: Contemporary Responses to Cleo
from 5 to 7, Film Quarterly 61, no. 1 (Fall 2007): 38–47.
Conway, Kelley. “The New Wave in the Museum: Varda, Godard, and the Multi-
Media Installation.” Contemporary French Civilization 32, no. 2 (Summer 2008):
195–217.
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Contents
Acknowledgments | ix
new wave cinéaste
to digital gleaner: change
and continuity in the work
of agnès varda | 1
Planning and Precision: La Pointe Courte 9
Structure and Digression: The Early Short Documentaries 26
Cultivating the New Wave Spectator: Cleo from 5 to 7 35
Improvisation and Formal Patterning: Vagabond 56
Social Criticism and the Self-Portrait: The Gleaners and I 71
From Cinema to the Gallery: Patatutopia and L’île et elle 89
Looking Backward, Moving Forward: The Beaches of Agnès 108
Conclusion 120
interview | 133
Filmography | 157
Bibliography | 171
Index | 179
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acknowledgments
When I first met Agnès Varda during a 2002 retrospective and confer-
ence I had organized at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, I did not
yet have plans to write a book about her work. Instead I was immersed
in the completion of another book and in caring for my two-month-old
baby, Charlotte. Varda’s enthusiastic engagement at that conference,
however, laid the groundwork for a warm personal connection and an
emphatic invitation to visit her production complex the next time I was
in Paris. A few years later, on my first trip to Ciné-Tamaris, Varda’s Paris
base on the rue Daguerre, my plans changed abruptly. The richness of
the Ciné-Tamaris archive, Varda’s personal generosity, and her expansion
into installation art convinced me to embark on what became the most
compelling project of my professional life so far.
Thanks, above all, to Agnès Varda for opening her archive to me and
for her engagement with this project. Thanks to Rosalie Demy-Varda
and Mathieu Demy for their tireless work in the preservation and res-
toration of the films of their parents, Agnès Varda and Jacques Demy.
I am beyond grateful for the patience and help of the amazing team
at Ciné-Tamaris: Anita Benoliel, Julia Fabry, Fanny Lautissier, Jean-
Baptiste Morin, Cecilia Rose, and Stéphanie Scanvic. Film historian
Bernard Bastide, former member of the belle équipe at Ciné-Tamaris,
has been particularly generous with his insights about Varda’s filmmak-
ing process. Thank you Cecilia Rose for supplying illustrations for the
book at the very last moment in the wake of a computer crisis. Special
thanks are also due to my research assistant, Laura Gross, fellow Iowan,
former Ciné-Tamaris intern, UW-Madison graduate, and my indefati-
gable partner on this journey from Madison to Paris to Noirmoutier
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