A stunning time capsule of a film and proof that women can have a vital, kinetic vision of film making even if they are left to later generations to find again.
In a BBC Culture poll in 2019 Agnés Varda got more votes in BBC Culture’s poll of the greatest films made by women.
From her early days as a pioneer of the French New Wave to the retrospective biographical work, Varda by Agnès, completed in the final year of her life, the Belgian-born French director created resonant heroines, used innovative cinematic techniques and inspired other women filmmakers.
The Slant magazine review in 2003 puts this her second movie in context with the manly men of the French New Wave.
All throughout, Varda captures the fairy-tale essence of early-’60s Paris with a vivacity and richness that rivals Godard’s Breathless. Unlike her New Wave compatriots, whose talents were reared in part at film schools, Varda was trained in the field of photography and consequently films the city with a completely unique vision.
