Tag: Agnès Varda

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Varda by Jon – Part 4: Rue Daguerre

In the distant past of April 2020, Chris and I dove deep into an episode of our podcast Cinema Dual on the films of French filmmaker Agnès Varda. Though technically not my first experience with Varda, that week of watching Varda’s movies was eye-opening, to such an extent that when Criterion announced they were going to release a Blu Ray box set of her complete filmography, I jumped at the chance to catch up on everything I had missed. Each post will cover 1 of the 15 discs in the set.

If Agnès Varda could be described as an observant person, that focus of perception would strike especially true for the neighborhood where she lived for most (if not all) of her adult life: the Rue Daguerre in Paris. The early 70s were a relatively fallow period for Varda artistically, and the need to take care of her young kids left her feeling stuck – literally – in one place. Fortunately a German production company reached out with an offer to let her make any kind of movie she wanted. With the electric cables for her film gear reaching out in a 300ft radius from her house, Varda decided to make a movie within that community circle, with her focus on the shopkeepers of Rue Daguerre.

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Varda by Jon – Part 3: Around Paris

In the distant past of April 2020, Chris and I dove deep into an episode of our podcast Cinema Dual on the films of French filmmaker Agnès Varda. Though technically not my first experience with Varda, that week of watching Varda’s movies was eye-opening, to such an extent that when Criterion announced they were going to release a Blu Ray box set of her complete filmography, I jumped at the chance to catch up on everything I had missed. Each post will cover 1 of the 15 discs in the set.

In the supplemental materials Martin Scorsese tells a story of being mildly intimidated by the presence of Agnès Varda who was visiting his film set. He was asked to tell which of her films was his favourite, and he stammered out Cléo from 5 to 7 (1962). Varda lightly chided him, saying that’s what everyone says. She has a point too: when she passed in 2019 anyone reflecting on her importance as a filmmaker typically cited Cléo as the film to watch. I have always regarded the film at a respectful distance, but upon a third viewing and with a lot of reading up, I’m ready to call this a film I enjoy.

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Varda by Jon – Part 2: Early Varda

In the distant past of April 2020, Chris and I dove deep into an episode of our podcast Cinema Dual on the films of French filmmaker Agnès Varda. Though technically not my first experience with Varda, that week of watching Varda’s movies was eye-opening, to such an extent that when Criterion announced they were going to release a Blu Ray box set of her complete filmography, I jumped at the chance to catch up on everything I had missed. Each post will cover 1 of the 15 discs in the set.

When Agnès Varda is referred to as the “Mother of French New Wave” it doesn’t come  from her association with filmmakers like Jean Luc Godard and François Truffaut; it’s more from the realization that some of the filmmaking techniques they were “innovating” could already be found in Varda’s work. In contrast to her contemporaries, Varda moved into filmmaking from her career as a photographer, and because of interest and circumstance more or less learned on the job. Fortunately those compositional skills gave her a head start on establishing a voice in the medium from the beginning.
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Varda by Jon – Part 1: Agnès Forever

In the distant past of April 2020, Chris and I dove deep into an episode of our podcast Cinema Dual on the films of French filmmaker Agnès Varda. Though technically not my first experience with Varda, that week of watching Varda’s movies was eye-opening, to such an extent that when Criterion announced they were going to release a Blu Ray box set of her complete filmography, I jumped at the chance to catch up on everything I had missed. Each post will cover 1 of the 15 discs in the set.

Having gone through the (unsurprisingly well done) booklet of essays and the physical packaging of the set, my main question going into this project was one of ordering. The box set organizes the movies by themes and that runs counter to my initial preference for a chronological order. Although they did include a chronology for people like me, I decided to try things their way. Fortunately the logic behind this choice becomes quickly clear. Continue reading “Varda by Jon – Part 1: Agnès Forever”

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