Documenteur (1981)

Documenteur (1981) was filmed by French director Agnes Varda in Los Angeles while she was separated from husband Jacques Demy and it is subtitled “An Emotion Picture”. Like some of Varda’s other work, it mixes together fiction and reality, employing a documentary approach towards constructed elements that are no doubt reflecting what she was going […]

Je Tu Il Elle (1974)

One haunting image from the film, Je Tu Il Elle (1974; I You He She), is when Julie, the young woman played by the director, Chantal Akerman, has shifted furniture out of her ground floor apartment, and has moved her bed against the wall. Sitting against an alcove in the corner of the room, near […]

Vagabond (1985)

Every time I watch an Agnes Varda movie that is new to me – though already heralded a great one by critics and friends – I’m left thinking, “Why am I not watching more of Varda’s movies all the time?” Vagabond (1985; the French title is Sans toit ni loi, which translates to “with neither […]

The Meetings Of Anna (1978)

My first Chantal Akerman. The illustrated poster, and the sound of the plot convinced me. The Meetings Of Anna (1978) or sounds better in the original French title, Les Rendez-vous d’Anna, follows a film director named Anna (Aurore Clément – who would later star in Paris, Texas), a possible alter-ego for director Akerman herself, as […]

Wanda (1970)

I first found Wanda (1970) a bit difficult to get into. The opening is slow, observing workers and families in close proximity to a coal plant in rural Pennsylvania, which seems as depressing and barren as the industrial landscapes in Red Desert. Here, Wanda (Barbara Loden) wakes up on a friend’s couch and is late […]