10 Questions on Agnès Varda
with Writer and Curator Kiva Reardon

An Interview with Kiva Reardon by Genevieve Citron | 14.02.2021

The Film Atlas: What was it that initially drew you to Agnès Varda?

Kiva Reardon: I first encountered her work in the French New Wave class at McGill taught by Alanna Thain. Professor Thain, a big feminist influence on me, made sure to frame Varda's work as integral to this period of French cinema, instead of brushing over her as a footnote or "the Godmother of the French New Wave." The moment I saw Cléo from 5 to 7 I was in love. I hadn't seen a film, especially in French New Wave context, that treated its women lead as having a complex, evolving inner life. And, formally, I was drawn to how Varda played with time and narrative conventions, bending realism. I was hooked!

TFA: cléo, the film journal you founded, was named after the heroine in Varda’s film Cléo de cinq à sept (1962). What does Varda’s Cléo represent to you?

KR: As we say in cléo journal's manifesto or mission: "The journal takes its name from the protagonist of Agnès Varda’s Cléo de cinq à sept (1962), who comes to self-realization through the observation and mastering of her space. In the spirit of Varda’s film, cléo is an open space for emerging and established writers to address issues of film and feminisms." As Cléo (played by Corinne Marchand) wanders in public space, she grows and is shaped by what she encounters. Having the space to wander--to be a flâneuse--is integral to this process. The concept of the flâneur is traditionally masculine, as women have a very different, sometimes violent, relationship to public space; being able to walk alone is not a universal privilege. cléo was always meant to be such a space of growth and exploration. Not one that had all the answers, or that was always right, but rather a space to explore.

TFA: What about Varda’s work — both stylistically, through her visual and narrative preferences, and materially, through her filmmaking methods — allows her to stand out from other directors?

KR: At its core, Varda's work embodies curiosity. She started as a photographer and has said she'd only seen a handful of films before making La pointe courte in 1955. She shifted between documentary and fiction, and later in life began making installation work. I find this represents her continual desire to explore and express what she encounters in the world. Instead of being a "master" or "expert," she's embraced the process of learning and trying something new. Chance, she's said, was her best assistant. I find there's a radical courage in this idea and, formally in her films, you can see this. Take Jane B. par Agnès V. (1988), her cine-portrait of Jane Birkin. The film defies the form of the doc and the biopic, and in doing so upends the muse mythology of the iconic subject. And while the film's form is also innovating, it's never for form's sake alone; this film is also radically generous in showcasing Birkin's talents (though the different vignettes that showcase her acting skills, for instance). In other words, it's never just about cinema but also the humanity of those involved in it, those on the screen, in the story, too. When the editors of cléo programmed the Varda retrospective for the TIFF Cinematheque in 2018, we called it "Radical Empathy" for this reason. There's a political imperative in this kind of generosity towards a film's subject.

TFA: How would you describe Varda’s films to someone who hasn’t seen them?

KR: Fun, funny, melancholic.

TFA: What would you recommend someone watch if they’re new to Varda’s work?

KR: I love this question but it's really hard! I think it depends on the person and their interests. Something like Vagabond (1985) is considered one of her best films, but it's also one of her bleakest. One Sings, the Other Doesn't (1977), which has been called her "abortion musical" is one of her overtly politically films, but, as the musical elements suggests, also has a certain levity (also, I think something that's very political). In terms of her docs, they range in subject and tone too, from portraits of the Black Panthers to ones on ageing (Beaches of Agnes) to her late husband, Jacques Demy. So I guess I would dive in and stay curious. Or you can read the cléo journal issue dedicated to her work!

TFA: Varda began making films in the 1950s and continued into the last years of her life. From your perspective, how did Varda sustain such a long and multi-dimensional career as a director?

KR: I think the key was her curiosity. The way that she embraced digital filmmaking with the Gleaners and I (2000), for instance. In that film you can see her interest in seeing what this new format can allow her to do and she has fun with it. In working with JR in Faces Places (2018), a photographer some 50 years younger than her, you can see she's interested in seeing what artists, and generally just people, are doing in the present moment. While she never disavowed the past, she also never lingered on it nostalgically in a way that meant the present offered endless possibilities.

TFA: Is there anyone around today who is making films similar to Varda’s?

KR: I think there are many filmmakers who are inspired by her work, some who talk about it openly, as Alexandra Hidalgo, Sofia Bohdanowicz, and Caroline Leone did in our cléo roundtable on Varda's influences. As Varda's work is screened more widely, a whole new generation will hopefully be influenced by her.

TFA: What was it like meeting Varda and how would you describe her to someone who has never met her?

KR: She was one of the most engaged people I've ever met. She took in the world around her, asked me questions about things that struck her, and shared stories with a contagious energy. Even though when I met her (in 2016 and then when I interviewed her for cléo in 2018) she was physically starting to slow down, her mind wasn't. She seemed to maintain, all her life, the ability to be amazed by the world.

TFA: What is the one thing you wish that everyone knew about Varda or her work?

KR: How funny she is.

TFA: How do you hope Varda will continue to be remembered?

KR: I think a lot about collaboration and empathy in film, both in the art form and the industry. Varda's work, in practice and in how she made her films, exemplifies this.

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