Belgian-born and naturalized French filmmaker Agnès Varda died last night at age 90 according to a statement released by her family. She was one of the most iconic representatives of La Nouvelle Vague (The French New Wave) and of feminist cinema worldwide.
Born in Ixelles, Brussels, on May 30 1928, Arlette Varda –who later changed her name to Agnès– studied literature and psychology at La Sorbonne and art history and photography at the Ècole des Beaux-Arts.
Her prolific career included work as a photographer, visual artist, and filmmaking specialized in documentary realism, feminist issues, and social commentary.
Varda received many honorary awards for her contributions in film: she received an honorific Palm d’Or at Cannes Film Festival in 2015, an honorific Oscar in 2017 and had recently received a special recognition in the Berlinale for her contributions to cinema as she presented her latest work as director, Varda by Agnes (2019). She had just announced her retirement from filmmaking and was now pursuing other artistic interests, such as installations, a field she had been working on for quite some time.
According to the statement released by her family, she passed in her own home in Paris, “of complications from cancer” and “she was surrounded by her family and friends.”
Throughout her career, feminism was at the forefront of her film interests. Her work mixed documentary style with fictional narratives, as clearly seen in films like Cléo de 5 à 7 (Happiness, 1955), Sans toit ni loi (Vagabond, 1985), Les plages d’Agnès (The Beaches Of Agnès, 2008), among many others.
Neither her advanced age, nor her illness stopped her from working. She was constantly revisiting her own work, or doing research on other art mediums; she was always documenting images from her beloved France. Her inquisitive mind was never at ease.
Her firm and decisive voice along with her strong personality were impossible to ignore within the world of French cinema. She was known as a tough woman, but in reality she was a deeply sensitive artist, full of self-doubt, something that is seen in some scenes in her documentaries, where she breaks down crying.
The world of French cinema has lost one of its true giants.
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