Auteur Studies: Agnes Varda

Agnès Varda's career, ranging from a 1955 black-and-white drama to a 2019 autobiographical masterclass, was extraordinary in its formal innovation, visual sophistication, emotional depth and often-undervalued influence. This course will look at the evolution of her work and aesthetic with particular attention to the imaginative way she created hybrids from fiction, documentary, biography and autobiography. Her early masterpiece, Cléo from 5 to 7, plays with near-real time and creates a profound depiction of a woman's inner life, a melding of form and content that would run through her career. In various films, notably Jane B. by Agnès V. and Jacquot de Nantes, she artfully enhanced biography with fiction. In documentaries such as The Gleaners and I she created a performative first-person narrative and warm on-screen presence. And in the later stage of her career she created multi-media installations.

We will examine her visual style, which often incorporates elements of photography and painting. We will look at the themes of time and memory that shape so many of her films. And we will see how she frequently addressed social issues including women's rights and homelessness, putting the films in the context of the times in which they were created, and considering their relevance now.

We will also look at her changing critical reputation. Often called the mother of the New Wave, she was more accurately New Wave-adjacent, overshadowed early in her career by Truffaut and Godard. In the last years before her death, in 2019, she was lauded as a feminist pioneer. But that acclaim, including an honorary Oscar, rarely grappled with the true depth, originality and importance of her work, which this course aims to do.

Students will be encouraged to arrive at their own assessments of Varda's work, through class discussion and two substantial papers incorporating research and original analysis.