Agnes Varda is one of the underappreciated voices of the French New Wave. Although arguably Wes Anderson must be a fan because he frequently rips off the flat graphic style she utilized in the opening scene of "Cleo from 5 to 7", she is rarely spoken of in the same breath with the bigger "names" of the movement. Not even in discussions of the work of her husband Jacques Demy. But then again, while both of them value a certain amount of playfulness, they are dramatically different filmmakers. Demy concocted elaborate fantasias and musicals, and Varda sticks largely to realistic storytelling, sometimes making documentaries and even frequently shattering the "reality" of her fictions by letting the fact that she is standing on the other side of the lens with a crew inform how a scene is played.
The new Eclipse collection from Criterion highlights two periods when Varda was away from home, living in California. The first period is the late '60s, which began when Demy went to Hollywood to make Model Shop and the family just stayed in Los Angeles for a few years afterward. The second period was around a decade later, after a documentary project fell through and Varda was separated from Demy.
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