In Memoriam: Agnès Varda (1928-2019)
Even at the age of 90, it seemed that Agnès Varda could go on making movies forever, constantly reinventing herself and experimenting with radical new forms. One of her last films was the documentary Faces Places in which she worked with the young visual artist JR to revisit aspects of her own her work; to borrow and paraphrase a line about the late filmmaker Derek Jarman, Varda was losing her sight but not her vision. While fully immersed in the politics of both her native France and the United States (see her documentary on the Black Panthers for one interesting example), Varda had a specific interest in the role of independent women, as evidenced in such features as Cleo from 5 to 7, Documenteur, Vagabond, and One Sings, the Other Doesn’t, which span a range of periods and and locations. That combination of the personal and the political finally allowed Varda herself to take center stage as a larger than life personality in the documentary The Gleaners and I (2001), a movie about outsiders, and in the autobiographical documentary Beaches of Agnes (2008).
Here are her Top 10 films, according to Flickchart users:
1. Cleo From 5 to 7 (1962)
2. Le bonheur (1965)
3. Vagabond (1985)
4. The Gleaners and I (2000)
5. La Pointe Courte (1955)
6. The Beaches of Agnes (2008)
7. Faces Places (2017)
8. Oncle Yanco (1967)
9. Black Panther (1968)
10. Diary of a Pregnant Woman (1958)
