Directed by Agnès Varda • 1955 • France
Starring Silvia Monfort, Philippe Noiret
The great Agnès Varda’s film career began with this graceful, 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 (played by Silvia Monfort and Philippe Noiret) and a documentary-like look at the daily struggles of the locals, Varda’s discursive, gorgeously filmed debut was radical enough to later be considered one of the progenitors of the coming French New Wave.
Up Next in Women Make Film
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Three Cases of Murder
Directed by David Eady, George More O’Ferrall, Wendy Toye, and Orson Welles • 1955 • United Kingdom
Starring Orson Welles, John Gregson, Elizabeth SellarsThree strange and sinister tales of murder and supernatural mystery make up this atmospheric omnibus chiller. First, a museum worker crosses ...
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Araya
Directed by Margot Benacerraf • 1959 • Venezuela
A work of such overwhelming grandeur that Jean Renoir told director Margot Benacerraf after viewing the film, “Above all . . . don’t cut a single image,” this poetic documentary-narrative hybrid is a landmark of both neorealist and feminist South ...
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The Connection
Directed by Shirley Clarke • 1961 • United States
Starring Warren Finnerty, Jerome Raphel, Garry GoodrowShirley Clarke made a splash—and ignited a landmark censorship case—with her controversial feature debut, an innovative adaptation of Jack Gelber’s off-Broadway play in which the line between...
