Spring 2024 Film GU4110 section 001

Auteur Studies: Agnes Varda

Auteur Studies: Agnes Var

Call Number 18744
Day & Time
Location
M 2:10pm-4:00pm
403 Dodge Hall
Points 3
Grading Mode Standard
Approvals Required None
Instructor Caryn James
Type SEMINAR
Method of Instruction In-Person
Course Description

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.

Web Site Vergil
Department Film
Enrollment 11 students (12 max) as of 9:05PM Wednesday, December 4, 2024
Subject Film
Number GU4110
Section 001
Division School of the Arts
Open To Schools of the Arts, Barnard College, Columbia College, Engineering:Undergraduate, Global Programs, General Studies
Section key 20241FILM4110W001