I like the way it shifts between a documentary about fishermen and the village where they live to a story about a couple (palyed by porfessional actors) and their relationship. It’s clearly influenced by Faulkner’s “The Wild Palms” in this regard.
I love the switcher locomotive slowly moving on the track overgrown with field grass.
At first I thought it was battery electric, but she had no sound recording capability, which was why there was no sound. It was perfect – that massive bulk, quietly moving through the tall, delicate dry grass.
I’ll try to see this this weekend.
La Pointe Courte isn’t in the TSPDT canon, which is odd given its place in history.
But I don’t feel bad because Varda is one of the top 200 directors and on the TSPDT profile page is says: Worth a Look: La Pointe Courte (1954)
I’m looking forward to seeing it one day. The true predecessor of the New Wave, as popular critical opinion has it.
@Bobby
How about making that day soon? I’m going to try and see this over the weekend, so we can come back here and discuss. (I know Megg has seen this and would probably discuss this, too.)
Well, for me it’s not so easy. I’m never really interested in watching a film online unless it’s such a rare film that I wouldn’t normally have a chance to see it either in a theater or a quality DVD. I can try to download a quality version over the weekend. I just prefer my first time seeing a film to be as optimal as possible, especially a historic film that has a lot of respect behind it.
Gotta see this one…
The budget for the film was $14,000; roughly one fourth the budget of other feature films of the era including The 400 Blows and Breathless.
I hear you, Bobby, but is the Mubi version not very good?
Don’t know. I’ve never actually ordered a movie on Mubi. But I’ve never used Netflix either, so I’m sort of behind on these types of things!
I was able to get my hands on the Criterion copy and watched it today!
I enjoyed it. It’s a very abstract film. The seeds of the New Wave are definitely visible. I see that Resnais edited it and when I was watching I felt that it was a predecessor of “Hiroshima mon amour”. I also felt the strong influence on Godard and his “angry couple” films (“Contempt”, “A Woman is a Woman”, etc.).
The opening of the film was very strange and haunting. All those languid long takes mixed with jagged cuts. The imagery of the billowing sheets hanging out to dry felt surreal, as well as other odd inanimate objects and non sequitir-style shots. Very unique and impressionable debut indeed.
I’ve seen a lot of first films, nothing comes close to this, at least so far.
Let’s not exaggerate. There are a whole lot of brilliant first films that have been made. The aforementioned “Hiroshima mon amour”, for starters. I don’t even know if Varda’s is the greatest of all the New Wave debuts.
Let’s not exaggerate. There are a whole lot of brilliant first films that have been made.
Yeah, the difference is that Varda knew nothing of filmmaking when she did it – that was my rationale.
Btw, that was a good insight re Resnais’ editing.
Maybe, but what did Welles know of filmmaking before “Kane”? Varda knew photography. Some would say that’s enough. I see your point though. Regardless of how assured a debut it is, we probably have to give Varda a whole lot of points just on how groundbreaking she was in the context of classical French film. Clearly this film was revolutionary. I’ll probably appreciate it more as I get more familiar with it and study it again in the future.
That’s actually an interesting comparison in that they are so different.
Which film was more influential or more foreshadowed the future of cinema?
I believe “Kane” was more influential and did more to usher in the era of modernity. In Europe we already had directors like Rossellini in the 40s and Bergman in the 50s that paved the way for Varda and the New Wave. Maybe even Wajda in Poland also. On the subject of influences, why could I not get “Viaggio in Italia” out of my head when watching “La Pointe Courte”? I felt a shared aesthetic spirit.
She said specifically she had never seen any Italian neorealism.
In fact she said she didn’t watch films that much.
The last scene reminded me of Tokyo Story.
Yeah, I read that in the Criterion article. Said she didn’t watch any films at all…then backtracked and said, “Ok, maybe Citizen Kane.” I’ll give it to her that her film does feel very fresh and original.
I believe her because the motivation to make a movie doesn’t have to come from film studies.
One of the first impulses when one picks photography as an art medium, is to produce a string of images like one imagines when reading a book. Once that has been attempted, the second impulse is to never do that again.
Evidently, she saw the problem with temporality right away and got a movie camera.
Btw, Viaggio in Italia was done in 1954, so it was post-neorealism Rossellini. Not neorealism as I assumed when I saw Rossellini’s name.
It’s not about motivation. But how likely is it to not see movies at all in movie-mad Paris of the 50s when you’re working in an artistic world and hanging around with those who would become part of the New Wave? I mean, we’re talking ground zero here when we’re talking about the birth of cinephilia.
Where’s Ehrenstein (a.k.a. Pop Weisel) when you need him! Doesn’t he have any New Wave gossip about who shot who in the Embarcadero that can set this record straight?
Actually though you are placing her, a photographer, in the film community.
That isn’t necessarily necessary.
How did she know Resnais? when did she marry Demy?
Yeah, only Ehrenstein knows the answers and he ain’t talking !
I’m placing her in the theater community. The Criterion article said her professional actors came from the same theater where she worked as a photographer. I don’t have any info on how she knew Resnais but I’m assuming she knew him before he agreed to work on her film. That would put her at the crossroads of the film industry through the actors she knew, and probably also from hanging around Resnais while he was at the height of his documentary career.
I mean, really. Where are the Varda experts? All this intellect on the forum and no one wants to step in and set the record straight about her biography!
that massive bulk, quietly moving through the tall, delicate dry grass
Robert that scene is very noisy with a lot of screeching… isn’t it?!
In her documentary about herself, Beaches of Agnes, she says she had only seen 10 film prior to making her first movie.
The truth finally comes out! We went from no films to one film to ten…which means she probably saw more than twenty! When the legend is more interesting than the truth, print the legend!
Robert that scene is very noisy with a lot of screeching… isn’t it?!
Isn’t the screeching the side shot?
There’s no engine sound, is there?
just checked that scene, yeah there’s no engine sound, just the creaking/screeching on the tracks which is there the whole time and becomes more intense with the side shot. The way you described it i thought you meant complete silence….which would have been pretty cool actually.
my memory is usually better than reality…which is why I think reality is overrated.
Robert W Peabody III
It isn’t easy to avoid over-exuberant cliches such as masterpiece, greatest, underrated when describing Varda’s debut film La Pointe Courte.
But why bother ?
This is one of the most impressive debut films in cinema history. The more one learns about La Pointe Courte,the greater it gets.
What did you like about the film?