Agnes Varda between Film, Photography, and Art

by Rebecca J. DeRoo

Agnès Varda is a prolific film director, photographer, and artist whose cinematic career spans more than six decades. Today she is best known as the innovative “mother” of the French New Wave film movement of the 1950s and '60s and for her multimedia art exhibitions. Varying her use of different media, she is a figure who defies easy categorization. In this extensively researched book, Rebecca J. DeRoo demonstrates how Varda draws upon the histories of art, photography, and film to complicate the overt narratives in her works and to advance contemporary cultural politics. Based on interviews with Varda and unparalleled access to Varda's archives, this interdisciplinary study constructs new frameworks for understanding one of the most versatile talents in twentieth and twenty-first century culture.

Genres: Film, Nonfiction

248 pages, Paperback

Published October 17, 2017

Reviews

[Ainara Onzain Sarrias · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bueno és mentida clarament no m'he llegit tot el llibre, però sí que n'he llegit unes quantes i he pensat q puc posar-lo en honor a tot el q he llegit pel tfg. Potser no compensa pro hòstia m'ho estic currant molt
L'altre que he llegit sobre la cinecriture si q era totxo deu meu

Simplement visca l'Agnès Varda i visca totes les ties q s'han dedicat a escriure'n bibliografia i il·luminar-me el camí

[Jianna Justice · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorite work of criticism on Varda to date: DeRoo reveals Varda as magician, photographer, feminist, unreliable narrator, visual artist, filmmaker, and autobiographer.

[Cooper · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful, holistic examination of the work of my favorite director. Any survey of Varda's work that glosses over her politics, her artwork in other media, or her perspective of art history, is fundamentally incomplete, as this book demonstrates by diving deep into these aspects and finding connective tissue, webs of intertextuality, and the intimate entangling of the political and the personal. This book has brought such new light to Varda's work for me; I'm excited to rewatch with its perspective in mind.

[Mathias]

endlich auch mal L'une chante, l'autre pas gesehen und das Buch beenden können.

[Christin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Agnes so much. God, she’s so cool.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was so mad when I read the chapter on Le Bonheur and found out that critics generally didn't like it? A quote included from the New York Times states "Still confounding critics more than forty years after its making, Le Bonheur could qualify as either the most drippingly sentimental film ever made or the most dryly ironic. Internally, the film offers no clues." I am speechless!!

I any case, I really enjoyed the extra context this book gave to Agnes Varda's influences and career. This discussion of the Serving Hand and the function that it served in mid-century was illuminating, especially because I am a millennial who has seen examples of those advertisements but didn't fully understand what they were attempting to convey to their audience of housewives and homemakers.

This book only reinforces my desire to watch more of Agnes Varda's work.

[Jenina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Agnes Varda, the best magician


This is the best book about her