“While the star auteurs of the nouvelle vague were almost entirely a male roster, Varda arguably commenced the entire movement with LA POINTE COURTE.” - Dennis Harvey, 48 Hills
“The married couple’s conversation in LA POINTE COURTE is a spellbinding predecessor to Richard Linklater’s Before Trilogy’ and further proof that no great film needs ‘action’ to be great.” - Erica Peplin, Vague Visages
"There is a total freedom to the style, which produces the impression, so rare in the cinema, that we are in the presence of a work that obeys only the dreams and desires of its auteur with no other external obligations. Everything is simple and natural and at the same time pared-down and composed." – Andre Bazin
The great Agnès Varda's film career began with this graceful, penetrating study of a marriage on the rocks, set against the backdrop of a small Mediterranean fishing village. Both a stylized depiction of the complicated relationship between a married couple (played by Silvia Monfort and Philippe Noiret) and a documentary-like look at the daily struggles of the locals, Varda's discursive, gorgeously filmed debut was radical enough to later be considered one of the progenitors of the coming French New Wave.
Ages of Agnès | May 2–27, 2026
In a career spanning seven decades, artist and filmmaker Agnès Varda crafted an unparalleled canon of formally innovative and poetic films. Considered a progenitor of the French New Wave, her shape-shifting films often employ a hybrid of documentary and fictional narrative approaches and prioritize women’s stories and perspectives. The six films in Ages of Agnès, each from a different decade, chart Varda’s groundbreaking career and celebrate her compelling and charismatic style of filmmaking.
The Film Center is ADA accessible. This presentation will be projected without open captions. The theater is hearing-loop equipped. For accessibility requests, please email filmcenter@saic.edu