Five unforgettable films by Agnès Varda, a singular voice in French cinema

Agnès Varda treated cinema not simply as a form of storytelling, but as a way to discover people and the small details of life. The French director left behind films that continue to feel timeless, moving between fiction and documentary while examining women’s experiences, aging, loneliness and social change with both poetry and realism.

Varda is often described as a pioneer of the French New Wave, though she did not define herself within the movement’s boundaries. She came to cinema from photography and developed a distinctive way of looking at ordinary lives and social conventions.

The first selection is “Cléo de 5 à 7” (1962), which follows the young singer Cléo through roughly two hours in Paris as she waits for the results of a medical test. Confronting her fear of death, Cléo walks through the city and begins to see the people around her differently. The film’s real-time structure makes everyday Paris part of the story, while Varda examines a woman’s relationship with her body and mortality.

“Vagabond” (1985) begins with the death of Mona, a young woman living on the road, then reconstructs the final period of her life through flashbacks. The film questions why Mona chose homelessness, how others viewed her, and where freedom meets isolation. Sandrine Bonnaire’s performance is one of its defining strengths.

“Le Bonheur” (1965) looks beneath the surface of a seemingly perfect family. François lives happily with his wife and children while beginning an affair with another woman. Varda challenges conventional ideas about happiness and family, using bright colors and a fairy-tale visual style to contrast with the story’s unsettling elements. “Les Glaneurs et la Glaneuse” (2000) follows people collecting discarded food and objects in fields, markets and cities, turning a film about waste and poverty into a personal reflection on aging, consumerism, ownership and what people leave behind.