Author Film、New Wave And Feminism:the Film Research Of Agnès Varda

As one of the largest and most influential and revolutionary movements in the world film history,New Wave movement has attracted wide attentions.The cause and influence of this movement,as well as the representative person emerged,have been discussed by many scholars.French director,Agnès Varda,is called “Godmother” of the New Wave movement.She is one of the pioneer directors who conducted the innovative shooting method,shoot novel content and practicing new shooting style at 1950 s in France.The sustained efforts of her and other directors to innovation,have laid a foundation to the later New Wave movement.However,the domestic academia has not put enough attention on her,when comparing to the other representatives in this movement.This thesis is focused on three periods of Agnès Varda’s directing career,i.e.,the preliminary exploratory period of the New Wave,the extension period(20 years after the New Wave)and the mature period.Her representative works,and their features and influences in each period will be discussed here.The first part introduces the film work of Agnès Varda’s when France was under turmoil and the film industry was in stagnant.This part analyses the value of her works using La pointe-courte and L’opéra-mouffe(“Diary of a Pregnant Woman”)as examples,which caused a huge response at that time.The specific innovation point and contribution of her in practical and theoretical aspects are clarified.The second part focuses on the later period of the New Wave,at which period Agnès Varda formed her own shooting style by continuous exploration,deepened the feminist infiltration in her works and then massively changed the shooting mode in French films through her influence.The research on this period is very important for understanding Agnès Varda’s attributes and achievements on filmmaking,and the emerging feminist topics at that time,e.g.,Cléo de 5 à 7(“Cleo from 5 to 7”),Le bonheur(“Happiness”)and L’une chante,l’autre pas(“One Sings,the Other Doesn’t”).The series of short films made in this period have shown her creation theory,especially the dedication to the truth,the innovation of the structure and the style of the audiovisual language.The third part narrates about the period after the New Wave.At this period,along with the changing of time,especially with the impact of scientific and technological revolution,the filmmaking environment was thoroughly changed in France,and even in the whole world.While many French directors were looking for the combination of the commercial films and art films,Agnès Varda was still insisting on the personalized filmmaking,focusing on the politics,the surrounding people and their inner world,exploring the art by the various film languages.The representative works are Sans toit ni loi(“Vagabond”)and a documentary series about her husband and marginal people in the society,which presented her pure and profound film ideal.This thesis will introduce and discuss Agnès Varda as a director from three aspects,i.e.,her film works,her roles in the New Wave and her feminist ideas,in order to form an in-depth elaboration and provide a comprehensive evaluation.