Agnes has often been called "the mother (or grandmother) of the new wave." This is because she was in many ways a founder of the great French New Wave movement (she was also the only female director in the French New Wave). Her first feature film, La Pointe Courte (1954) can in many ways be called the first movie of the French New Wave predating the popularization of the movement by 5 years. At this time François Truffaut, Jean Luc Godard and Claude Chabrol had yet to make any of their great feature films. This fantastic movie was made by Agnes' own small company, Cin'e-Tamaris. Much of this film's groundbreaking style came from both necessity and unrestricted creative freedom. The use of location shooting and using both professional and unprofessional actors were things unhears of at this time in French cinema and things that would later become staples of The French New Wave.
Despite being a member of the French New Wave she differed heavily from its other major directors. Unlike them she was never a film critic. She instead was a still photographer (This had a huge influence on her filmmaking as can be especially seen in the opening scenes of La Bonheur (1964)). She was also not as well versed in movie history. Agnes would state that before making La Pointe Courte she had seen very few movies and off the top of her head could only think of Citizen Kane (1941).
Despite her being best known as a member of the French New Wave, Agnes also made some fantastic films in California. Some of these were documentaries about what was happening in the US at these time periods. These could differ quite a bit from each other. For instance Black Panthers (1968) was about the civil rights movement (probably her most political film) and Mur-Murs (1980) is about the murals around Los Angles.
Though she made fictional films as well as documentaries she would once say, "Fiction films are beautiful but documentaries put you at peace with the world. You try to make the world understandable, make people come near to you."
Still her most famous film is one of her fictional movies, Cleo From 5 to 7 (1961). The popularity of this movie is justified, it is a brilliant film on all levels. The movie offers two of Agnes' most powerful assets as a filmmaker, the humanity she bestows upon her subjects (rather fictional or non-fictional) and her beautiful way of showing the world around her. This is also one of the few and best examples of a movie done in real time as it shows us an hour and a half of a woman's life leaving nothing out.
The best way to appreciate Agnes Varda's cinema is to watch it yourself. So do yourself a favor and find and watch one of her films you won't regret it.
RIP and thanks for the incredible movies you have given us.
-Michael J. Ruhland
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