By Virginia Schneider
Los Angeles, CA (The Hollywood Times) 11/11/2024– Award-winning film and art critic Carrie Rickey has published the finest in-depth, meticulously researched and mellifluously written biography of French Wave filmmaker and photographer Agnès Varda. A must read for filmmakers, activists, photographers and creatives of all genres, the book is an encyclopedia of the history of cinema and a virtual who’s who of mid-century artistic heavyweights.
Agnès Varda (1928-2019) was one of the most prolific filmmakers of the century, creating 44 films over 65 years, the longest tenure of any female filmmaker. Beginning as an accomplished still photographer, she segued into filmmaking winning awards from virtually every major festival in the world, from Cannes, Berlin, Venice and an Honorary Oscar. This, from a woman who had barely seen 10 films when she started. Her passion for justice and equality fueled her vision so that her documentary work melded into her narrative films. After WW2 she pioneered the French New Wave cinema, leading a storied pack of creatives like Francois Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, Jean Vilar and Varda’s husband and partner of 40 years, the celebrated filmmaker Jacques Demy.
Varda and Demy were a rarity, two talented filmmakers, who were married. Rickey goes into great depth about the films of each, with particular exploration into every aspect of Varda’s films, from inspiration to cast and even the many pitfalls associated with their creation (and those that unfortunately did not get made.) Most fascinating is how Varda prepared for each project from research to funding and location shoots. As a still photographer, Varda had learned to watch for the unexpected, so she was adept at catching ‘moments’ in actors. That spontaneity came through in her cinematic efforts and likely influenced her later work as an installation artist.
Rickey details Varda’s early years, in Nazi occupied France, living on a boat in a port in Southern France until Liberation would bring the young Varda and her family to Paris. The influence of the seaside, existing in war time with few possessions or food and a passion for learning would define her endurance and ability to create with whatever her imagination could make use of. Rickey’s research is extensive as she richly details Varda’s studies, the issues Varda wished to explore through her work such as child labor, environmental problems and especially women’s rights. Near the end of Varda’s life in 2018, at one of her many appearances at Cannes, Varda would lead a parade of women including Ava Duvernay, Cate Blanchett and a host of famous actresses as they marched to demand gender and racial equity in film and festival committee selections.
Always and everywhere, Varda was a leader. Whether dubbed the “grandmother of the New Wave’ (at 30 years of age), protesting the right to abortion (while pregnant), demanding equal rights for women, or casting an unflinching gaze upon poverty “the new poor” living on the streets of France, Varda traveled widely, studied broadly and a body of adoring fans and creatives followed her, whatever continent she lived on. During stays in Los Angeles, France, New York and throughout Europe, packs of artists flocked to her. Jim Morrison, Simone de Beauvoir, Anais Nin, Barry Jenkins, Henry Miller, Susan Sontag, Andy Warhol (for whom Varda posed for the inaugural issue of Warhol’s Interview Magazine), Carlo Ponti, Federico Fellini, Tom Luddy cofounder of Telluride Film Festival, Martin Scorsese who called Varda one of the gods of cinema, her long list of fans reads like a ‘Who’s Who’ of renowned artists. This is because Varda’s fiery zest for exploring social themes and experimenting through film was groundbreaking.
Perhaps that is because of her determination. She experienced setbacks but she never let them defeat her. If a script or funding was rejected, she would re-write the script, re-work the theme and components and try again. She would move on to another project or collaboration, whether it was a photo assignment or working on her husband’s films. She was always in motion; in pursuit of goals she deemed her mission to explore. Her contribution to cinema, filmmakers and artists is astounding. Any creative will find this book encouraging and uplifting, humorous, heart-warming and a lesson in courage.
“A Complicated Passion: The Life and Work of Agnès Varda, by Carrie Rickey. W.W. Norton & Company Publishers.
