{"id":26596,"date":"2025-05-19T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-19T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/?p=26596"},"modified":"2025-05-18T10:35:32","modified_gmt":"2025-05-18T17:35:32","slug":"the-balls-in-agnes-vardas-courte","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/the-balls-in-agnes-vardas-courte\/","title":{"rendered":"The Ball\u2019s in Agn\u00e8s Varda\u2019s Courte<\/i>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For most aspiring filmmakers, the road to their first feature generally runs through a short subject or two, quite often made at film school. Agn\u00e8s Varda was not most aspiring filmmakers, however. She had barely seen any movies, in fact, when she decided to make one of her own, viewing it as an extension of the still photography she supported herself with. Completely self-financed, with a sizable portion of its already miniscule budget made up of what Varda later referred to as \u201csweat equity\u201d (i.e. nobody got paid, but all had a piece of the action if and when it turned a profit), La Pointe Courte<\/em> was shot in 1954 with a crew of seven and screened the following year in the marketplace at Cannes. The journey there was especially arduous, but Varda faced the challenge head-on, setting a precedent she would continue to follow for the next 65 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

La Pointe Courte<\/em>\u2019s construction was inspired by William Faulkner\u2019s The Wild Palms<\/em>, which told parallel, unrelated stories in alternating chapters. Starting with her choice of setting \u2013 the fishing village of S\u00e8te in the South of France, where the Varda family spent the early part of the Second World War after fleeing the Nazi incursion into Belgium \u2013 she conceived of a neorealist-style drama about the lives of its residents without ever having seen an Italian neorealist film. (Her editor, Alain Resnais, brought the comparison to her attention.) In order to depict them as accurately as possible, Varda spent time with the fishermen and their wives, parents, and children, collecting their stories and (with their permission) incorporating them into her scenario. This explains why, in a characteristic display of generosity, Varda shares her writer\/director title screen with \u201cles habitants de La Pointe-Courte<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The other half of the film concerns a couple on the verge of breaking up after four years of marriage. She\u2019s from Paris and is dissatisfied with the state of their relationship. He is originally from La Pointe Courte and is happy to be back after twelve years. Significantly, this trip is the first time they\u2019re been on vacation together, which is one of her main gripes \u2013 along with the fact that he cheated on her. The way he tells it, though, that only made him realize how much he loves her, a theme Varda would return to in her third feature, 1965\u2019s Le Bonheur<\/em>. She\u2019s also upset by how calmly he\u2019s taking things, but that may be a function of the laid-back atmosphere, which he\u2019s missed while he\u2019s been in Paris. \u201cJust living is a pleasure here,\u201d he says, but it takes some time for her to see things the same way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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While Varda had the residents of La Pointe Courte play themselves \u2013 and had to coax some into appearing on camera \u2013 she used professional actors for the couple since their scenes are more dialogue-intensive. As the man, she cast Philippe Noiret, a stage actor at the dawn of his long and illustrious career. His counterpart, Silvia Monfort, had already acted for Bresson (in 1943\u2019s Angels of Sin<\/em>) and Cocteau (in 1948\u2019s The Eagle Has Two Heads<\/em>). Together, they navigate Varda\u2019s self-consciously written dialogue (sample line: \u201cThe time is long past when we didn\u2019t know each other\u201d) as they mosey around the village, occasionally bumping into some of its inhabitants. As one says of them, \u201cThey talk too much to be happy.\u201d Yet talking, and simply spending time together, convinces them they have something to salvage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By juxtaposing these two narratives, Varda exposes how one marriage can seem less consequential than the survival of a village\u2019s way of life. Between battling the Board of Health and ducking the fishing patrol, both of which are concerned about the waters they\u2019re fishing in, the men of La Pointe Courte go to great lengths to continue putting food on the table. Meanwhile, their women gossip about a neighbor who\u2019s pregnant for the seventh time and try to smooth the way for a young man and woman beginning their lives together. Even as they face adversity and an uncertain future, certain things still have to run their course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since Varda shot La Pointe Courte<\/em> without sound, the entire film had to be post-dubbed in Paris. As for the challenge of trimming ten hours of footage down to 80 minutes, that fell to Resnais, who had a dozen shorts to his credit, but would not make his first feature<\/a> until 1959, with his second following two years later. Varda, meanwhile, turned out a handful of shorts, two of them commissions, before seeking financing for her<\/em> second feature. That turned out to be another low-budget film made in black and white (on location in the streets of Paris this time, and with a sound crew), but 1962\u2019s Cl\u00e9o from 5 to 7<\/em><\/a> was an artistic triumph, confirming that she was a born filmmaker. It just took a little time for the world to recognize it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLa Pointe Courte\u201d is streaming on the <\/em>Criterion Channel<\/em><\/a> with a boatload of extras, and <\/em>elsewhere<\/em><\/a> without them.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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