Agnès Varda

Directing

Agnès Varda

Born 1928-05-30 · Ixelles, Brussels, Belgium

Agnès Varda (May 30, 1928 – March 29, 2019) was a Belgian-born French film director and professor at the European Graduate School. Her films, photographs, and art installations focus on documentary realism, feminist issues, and social commentary — with a distinct experimental style.

Acting credits

The Young Girls of Rochefort poster
7.7

In the seaside town of Rochefort, twin sisters Delphine and Solange dream of love and artistic fulfillment beyond their quiet lives. As sailors, artists, musicians, and chance visitors pass through town during a weekend fair, a web of near-misses and romantic longing brings ideal partners tantalizingly close—without their realizing it.

The Young Girls of Rochefort

1967

The Truth About Charlie poster
4.9

Regina meets charming Joshua while vacationing in Martinique, as she contemplates ending her whirlwind marriage to enigmatic Charlie. Upon her return to Paris, she finds that both her apartment and her bank account have been emptied, and her husband has been murdered. Stuck in ever-increasing danger and with four men pursuing her, another stranger offers assistance - but who can she trust?

The Truth About Charlie

2002

Faces Places poster
7.6

Director Agnès Varda and photographer/muralist JR journey through rural France and form an unlikely friendship.

Faces Places

2017

Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché poster
7.2

The epic life story of Alice Guy-Blaché (1873–1968), a French screenwriter, director and producer, true pioneer of cinema, the first person who made a narrative fiction film; author of hundreds of movies, but banished from history books. Ignored and forgotten. At last remembered.

Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché

2018

Daguerre-plage poster
5.0

Film director Agnes Varda captures the creation of a beach in front of her home in Rue Daguerre, for the film 'The Beaches of Agnes'.

Daguerre-plage

2008

Nausicaa poster
6.3

A girl, whose father is from Greece, studies ancient art in France. The film was made for television but never broadcast for political reasons related to its portrayal of Greeks. A work print was screened in Belgium in 1971, and the film is now available in reconstructed form.

Nausicaa

1971

The Beaches of Agnès poster
7.7

Filmmaking icon Agnès Varda, the award-winning director regarded by many as the grandmother of the French new wave, turns the camera on herself with this unique autobiographical documentary. Composed of film excerpts and elaborate dramatic re-creations, Varda's self-portrait recounts the highs and lows of her professional career, the many friendships that affected her life and her longtime marriage to cinematic giant Jacques Demy.

The Beaches of Agnès

2008

Viva Varda! poster
7.9

A pioneering post-war female film director, an instigator of the New Wave who was honored by Hollywood in her own lifetime, Agnès Varda has become a source of inspiration for a whole new generation of young filmmakers. With movies like Cléo de 5 à 7, Le Bonheur, Sans toit ni loi, Les Glaneurs et la glaneuse, she created a quirky, open to the world, sensitive to the disenfranchised, often silly body of work. Always one finger on the pulse, she shook everything up, including cinema itself which she refused to constrict to pure fiction or long-form films.

Viva Varda!

2023

Women Reply poster
6.3

What does being a woman really mean? How do women live the status society reserves for them? A group of women, beautiful or not, young or not, gifted with motherly instinct or not, answer before Agnès Varda's camera.

Women Reply

1975

Varda by Agnès poster
7.9

An unpredictable documentary from a fascinating storyteller, Agnès Varda’s last film sheds light on her experience as a director, bringing a personal insight to what she calls "cine-writing," traveling from Rue Daguerre in Paris to Los Angeles and Beijing.

Varda by Agnès

2019

Stavros Tornes: The Poor Hunter of the South poster
8.0

"The Poor Hunter of the South" is the title of the film Stavros Tornes never got to make, rightfully featured alongside his name on this documentary by Stavros Kaplanidis ("Canteen", "Play it Again, Christos"). The film traces his imagery, listens for his whispers and infiltrates the memories of his closest friends, looking for clues in order to piece together the portrait of a filmmaker who made something out of nothing and stayed true to himself and his vision until the very end. Besides Tornes' own films, this documentary includes footage from films where the "poor hunter" appeared as an actor, like "The Secret of the Red Cloak" by Kostas Fotinos, "Kierion" by Dimos Theos and " Allonsanfan" by Paolo and Vittorio Taviani.

Stavros Tornes: The Poor Hunter of the South

1994

The Gleaners and I poster
7.7

Varda focuses her eye on gleaners: those who scour already-reaped fields for the odd potato or turnip. Her investigation leads from forgotten corners of the French countryside to off-hours at the green markets of Paris, following those who insist on finding a use for that which society has cast off, whether out of necessity or activism.

The Gleaners and I

2000

Great Directors poster
6.1

Features conversations with ten of the world's greatest living directors: Bernardo Bertolucci, David Lynch, Liliana Cavani, Stephen Frears, Agnes Varda, Ken Loach, Todd Haynes, Catherine Breillat, Richard Linklater and John Sayles. The film documents Ismailos' voyage of discovering the creative personalities behind the camera.

Great Directors

2009

Jane B. by Agnès V. poster
6.8

The interests, obsessions, and fantasies of two singular artists converge in this inspired collaboration between Agnès Varda and her longtime friend Jane Birkin. Made over the course of a year and motivated by Birkin’s fourtieth birthday—a milestone she admits to have some anxiety over—Jane B. by Agnès V. contrasts the private, reflective Birkin with Birkin the icon.

Jane B. by Agnès V.

1988

Daguerréotypes poster
7.3

An intimate portrait of the small shops and shopkeepers of the Rue Daguerre in Paris, a picturesque street that has been the filmmaker’s home for more than 50 years.

Daguerréotypes

1978

Uncle Yanco poster
7.2

While in San Francisco for the promotion of her last film in October 1967, Agnès Varda, tipped by her friend Tom Luddy, gets to know a relative she had never heard of before, Jean Varda, nicknamed "Yanco". This hitherto unknown uncle lives on a boat in Sausalito, is a painter, has adopted a hippie lifestyle and loves life. The meeting is a very happy one.

Uncle Yanco

1967

The World of Jacques Demy poster
6.9

Agnès Varda's documentary portrait of her late husband, Jacques Demy. A companion piece to her Jacquot de Nantes.

The World of Jacques Demy

1995

Lions Love poster
5.9

Three actors in Hollywood live and love together. A director comes from New York to make a movie about actors and Hollywood.

Lions Love

1969

Jacquot poster
7.5

Jacquot Demy, the son of a garage owner and a hairdresser, is fascinated by cinema and decides to pursue his dream of becoming a filmmaker by any means necessary.

Jacquot

1991

Quinqui Stars poster
6.6

QUINQUI STARS begins in the years of the transformations that took place between the 70s and the 80s in the peripheral neighborhoods of Madrid that affected many young people and drove them towards delinquency.

Quinqui Stars

2018

Documenteur poster
6.6

After separating from the father of her son, a young French woman tries to find lodging and a fresh start in L.A. for herself and her son.

Documenteur

1982

Jim Morrison: The End poster
7.1

Paris, Rue Beautreillis, July 3, 1971. The corpse of rock star Jim Morrison is found in a bathtub, in the apartment of his girlfriend Pamela Courson. The chronicle of the last months of the life of the poet, singer and charismatic leader of the American band The Doors, one of the most influential in the history of rock.

Jim Morrison: The End

2021

Tribute to Zgougou the Cat poster
6.9

A short tribute to Zgougou, Varda’s cat who was given to her by Sabine Mamou.

Tribute to Zgougou the Cat

2002

One Sings, the Other Doesn't poster
7.2

The intertwined lives of two women in 1970s France, set against the progress of the women's movement in which Agnes Varda was involved. Pomme and Suzanne meet when Pomme helps Suzanne obtain an abortion after a third pregnancy which she cannot afford. They lose contact but meet again ten years later. Pomme has become an unconventional singer, Suzanne a serious community worker - despite the contrast they remain friends and share in the various dramas of each others' lives, in the process affirming their different female identities.

One Sings, the Other Doesn't

1977

Behind the camera

Cléo from 5 to 7 poster
7.7

Agnès Varda eloquently captures Paris in the sixties with this real-time portrait of a singer set adrift in the city as she awaits test results of a biopsy. A chronicle of the minutes of one woman’s life, Cléo from 5 to 7 is a spirited mix of vivid vérité and melodrama, featuring a score by Michel Legrand and cameos by Jean-Luc Godard and Anna Karina.

Cléo from 5 to 7

1962

Cléo from 5 to 7 poster
7.7

Agnès Varda eloquently captures Paris in the sixties with this real-time portrait of a singer set adrift in the city as she awaits test results of a biopsy. A chronicle of the minutes of one woman’s life, Cléo from 5 to 7 is a spirited mix of vivid vérité and melodrama, featuring a score by Michel Legrand and cameos by Jean-Luc Godard and Anna Karina.

Cléo from 5 to 7

1962

Happiness poster
7.4

Though married to the good-natured, beautiful Thérèse, young husband and father François finds himself falling unquestioningly into an affair with an attractive postal worker. One of Agnès Varda's most provocative films, 'Le bonheur' examines, with a deceptively cheery palette and the spirited strains of Mozart, the ideas of fidelity and happiness in a modern, self-centered world.

Happiness

1965

Happiness poster
7.4

Though married to the good-natured, beautiful Thérèse, young husband and father François finds himself falling unquestioningly into an affair with an attractive postal worker. One of Agnès Varda's most provocative films, 'Le bonheur' examines, with a deceptively cheery palette and the spirited strains of Mozart, the ideas of fidelity and happiness in a modern, self-centered world.

Happiness

1965

Faces Places poster
7.6

Director Agnès Varda and photographer/muralist JR journey through rural France and form an unlikely friendship.

Faces Places

2017

Faces Places poster
7.6

Director Agnès Varda and photographer/muralist JR journey through rural France and form an unlikely friendship.

Faces Places

2017

Vagabond poster
7.4

Mona Bergeron is dead, her frozen body found in a ditch in the French countryside. From this, the film flashes back to the weeks leading up to her death. Through these flashbacks, Mona gradually declines as she travels from place to place, taking odd jobs and staying with whomever will offer her a place to sleep. Mona is fiercely independent, craving freedom over comfort, but it is this desire to be free that will eventually lead to her demise.

Vagabond

1985

Vagabond poster
7.4

Mona Bergeron is dead, her frozen body found in a ditch in the French countryside. From this, the film flashes back to the weeks leading up to her death. Through these flashbacks, Mona gradually declines as she travels from place to place, taking odd jobs and staying with whomever will offer her a place to sleep. Mona is fiercely independent, craving freedom over comfort, but it is this desire to be free that will eventually lead to her demise.

Vagabond

1985

Daguerre-plage poster
5.0

Film director Agnes Varda captures the creation of a beach in front of her home in Rue Daguerre, for the film 'The Beaches of Agnes'.

Daguerre-plage

2008

Nausicaa poster
6.3

A girl, whose father is from Greece, studies ancient art in France. The film was made for television but never broadcast for political reasons related to its portrayal of Greeks. A work print was screened in Belgium in 1971, and the film is now available in reconstructed form.

Nausicaa

1971

Nausicaa poster
6.3

A girl, whose father is from Greece, studies ancient art in France. The film was made for television but never broadcast for political reasons related to its portrayal of Greeks. A work print was screened in Belgium in 1971, and the film is now available in reconstructed form.

Nausicaa

1971

The Beaches of Agnès poster
7.7

Filmmaking icon Agnès Varda, the award-winning director regarded by many as the grandmother of the French new wave, turns the camera on herself with this unique autobiographical documentary. Composed of film excerpts and elaborate dramatic re-creations, Varda's self-portrait recounts the highs and lows of her professional career, the many friendships that affected her life and her longtime marriage to cinematic giant Jacques Demy.

The Beaches of Agnès

2008

The Beaches of Agnès poster
7.7

Filmmaking icon Agnès Varda, the award-winning director regarded by many as the grandmother of the French new wave, turns the camera on herself with this unique autobiographical documentary. Composed of film excerpts and elaborate dramatic re-creations, Varda's self-portrait recounts the highs and lows of her professional career, the many friendships that affected her life and her longtime marriage to cinematic giant Jacques Demy.

The Beaches of Agnès

2008

The Beaches of Agnès poster
7.7

Filmmaking icon Agnès Varda, the award-winning director regarded by many as the grandmother of the French new wave, turns the camera on herself with this unique autobiographical documentary. Composed of film excerpts and elaborate dramatic re-creations, Varda's self-portrait recounts the highs and lows of her professional career, the many friendships that affected her life and her longtime marriage to cinematic giant Jacques Demy.

The Beaches of Agnès

2008

Women Reply poster
6.3

What does being a woman really mean? How do women live the status society reserves for them? A group of women, beautiful or not, young or not, gifted with motherly instinct or not, answer before Agnès Varda's camera.

Women Reply

1975

Women Reply poster
6.3

What does being a woman really mean? How do women live the status society reserves for them? A group of women, beautiful or not, young or not, gifted with motherly instinct or not, answer before Agnès Varda's camera.

Women Reply

1975

Varda by Agnès poster
7.9

An unpredictable documentary from a fascinating storyteller, Agnès Varda’s last film sheds light on her experience as a director, bringing a personal insight to what she calls "cine-writing," traveling from Rue Daguerre in Paris to Los Angeles and Beijing.

Varda by Agnès

2019

Varda by Agnès poster
7.9

An unpredictable documentary from a fascinating storyteller, Agnès Varda’s last film sheds light on her experience as a director, bringing a personal insight to what she calls "cine-writing," traveling from Rue Daguerre in Paris to Los Angeles and Beijing.

Varda by Agnès

2019

The Gleaners and I poster
7.7

Varda focuses her eye on gleaners: those who scour already-reaped fields for the odd potato or turnip. Her investigation leads from forgotten corners of the French countryside to off-hours at the green markets of Paris, following those who insist on finding a use for that which society has cast off, whether out of necessity or activism.

The Gleaners and I

2000

The Gleaners and I poster
7.7

Varda focuses her eye on gleaners: those who scour already-reaped fields for the odd potato or turnip. Her investigation leads from forgotten corners of the French countryside to off-hours at the green markets of Paris, following those who insist on finding a use for that which society has cast off, whether out of necessity or activism.

The Gleaners and I

2000

One Hundred and One Nights poster
6.1

Monsieur Cinema, a hundred years old, lives alone in a large villa. His memories fade away, so he engages a young woman to tell him stories about all the movies ever made.

One Hundred and One Nights

1995

One Hundred and One Nights poster
6.1

Monsieur Cinema, a hundred years old, lives alone in a large villa. His memories fade away, so he engages a young woman to tell him stories about all the movies ever made.

One Hundred and One Nights

1995

La Pointe Courte poster
6.9

A 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 and a documentary-like look at the daily struggles of the inhabitants of Sète in the South of France.

La Pointe Courte

1956

La Pointe Courte poster
6.9

A 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 and a documentary-like look at the daily struggles of the inhabitants of Sète in the South of France.

La Pointe Courte

1956