The highlight of recent film festival-going was seeing Martin Scorsese speak about Agnès Varda before a showing at the Telluride Film Festival of her last film, the marvelous “Varda by Agnès” which covers her long career. Varda, called the “godmother of the French New Wave” died March 29, 2019 at the age of 90. Scorsese appeared with a panel that included Varda’s children Rosalie Varda and Mathieu Demy.
Martin Scorsese said that being at the Festival to speak about Agnès Varda before her last film was an “honor for all of us and Agnès.” Scorsese said he met Varda at the Telluride film Festival in 1977 when both she and Michael Powell (“The Red Shoes”) a favorite filmmaker of Scorsese, received Tributes. Scorsese and Varda became long-time friends.
Martin Scorsese at Telluride (c) Ed Scheid
Scorsese considered Varda “One of the gods” of the cinema. He said they would often meet to talk. He said it was “touching” that she would “seek me out”. He said at the last time they met at his house while he was editing “Silence” (2016), they talked about ailments.
Agnès Varda continued to have a charming way to describe things, even her aging. When she was 88, Varda said she had lost lots of memories. She compared the memories to butterflies that had flown away, making her lighter.
Scorsese said Varda’s long and varied artistic career made her a “wonder to me”. He added he “wanted her approval” and that she would sometimes “gently scold” him, being “not happy with (his) ‘Kundun’ (1997)”. He once asked her “Don’t you like my new ones?”
Martin Scorsese at Telluride (c) Ed Scheid
Varda came to the opening party for Scorsese’s 2013 “The Wolf of Wall Street” wearing high currency US bills pinned to her garment. She didn’t say what she thought of the film. Varda watched Scorsese shoot “The Irishman”. When he told her the length of the script for the eventual 3 ½ hour film, she replied “Why do you do these things?…you can’t do these things…too much!”
Scorsese described himself as gaining “inspiration from her”, from Varda’s openness to trying new media, moving into photography, film, digital and installations. For her, he said there were “no rules”. He added that Varda reinvented film and documentary. He found her work “transcendent”.
Scorsese said that throughout her life, there was a “special vitality” in Agnès Varda. She received an Honorary Academy Award in 2017.
Agnès Varda in “Varda by Agnès”
In “Varda by Agnès”, Agnès Varda reviews her remarkable career with unique humor and insights. She has the inimitable appearance of a white circle of hair on top with dark hair below.
Agnès Varda had a background in photography. Her second film “Cleo from 5 to 7” (1961) follows a woman (Corinne Marchand) waking through Paris as she waits for the results of a medical diagnosis. Documentary-like shots of Paris effectively convey Cleo’s movement as she ponders her future. In the documentary, Varda says she wanted to “film close to me on streets, what I know”.
Varda talks about her marriage to director Jacques Demy (“The Umbrellas of Cherbourg”) and their time in the US when they came to California when Demy filmed “Model Shop” (!969). She made documentaries on subjects ranging from wall murals in Los Angeles to the Black Panthers. She speaks of being freed by the camera.
Agnès Varda with posters of her films in “Varda by Agnès”
One of Varda’s most acclaimed works is “Vagabond” (1985). The film flashes back from the corpse of a young woman in a ditch to the woman (Sandrine Bonnaire) drifting through the countryside. Varda says the character’s anger keeps her alone. In a clever sequence, Varda demonstrates the moving equipment used to create the film’s tracking shots. She speaks on-camera with Bonnaire about “Vagabond”
Demy died in 1991. Varda shows clips of her cinematic tribute to him, ”Jacquot de Nantes” (1991) that includes a recreation of his childhood.
Film is shown of Varda directing Catherine Deneuve and Robert De Niro as they float in a small craft in “One Hundred and One Nights” (1995). Varda describes her film with a cast of international stars as a “disaster.”
Agnès Varda in “Varda by Agnès”
The poignant documentary “The Gleaners and I” (2000) demonstrates Varda’s continued keen interest in the people she encounters. The film covers those who collect food and objects thrown away. One scene shows the picking up of potatoes discarded because they are not of the correct size or condition. Varda delights in a heart-shaped potato.
Varda retained a curiosity and openness to new methods throughout her career. She created installation art combining film and photography or what she called “reality and representation”. One installation was a hut with walls made from rolls of film of one of her early efforts, a creative reuse.
The enthusiasm and delight that Varda found throughout her life is infectiously suffused in “Varda by Agnès”, a memorable farewell from a great artist.
Cinema Sight 