Product Description

Agnès Varda used the skills she honed early in her career as a photographer to create some of the most nuanced, thought-provoking films of the past fifty years. She is widely believed to have presaged the French new wave with her first film, La Pointe Courte, long before creating one of the movement s benchmarks, Cléo from 5 to 7. Later, with Le bonheur and Vagabond, Varda further shook up art-house audiences, challenging bourgeois codes with her inscrutable characters and effortlessly beautiful compositions and editing. Now working largely as a documentarian, Varda remains one of the essential cinematic poets of our time and a true visionary. DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION FOUR-DISC SET FEATURES:

New restored digital transfers, supervised and approved by director Agnès Varda
Three short films by Varda: L Opéra Mouffe (1958), Du côté de la côte (1958), and Les fiancés du Pont Macdonald (1961)
On La Pointe Courte: new video interview with Varda
On Cléo from 5 to 7: a 2005 documentary on the making of the film; a short film from 2005 in which Varda retraces Cléo s steps through Paris; Varda speaking with Madonna about the film in 1993
On Le bonheur: new interviews with the three actors from the film; a 2006 discussion with four scholars about the film; footage of Varda on-set; 1998 interview with Varda; 2003 interviews on the concept of happiness
On Vagabond: a 2003 documentary on the making of the film; a 2003 interview with composer Joanna Bruzdowicz; a 1986 radio interview with writer Nathalie Sarraute; a 2003 interview with actress Marthe Jarnias
Theatrical trailers
New and improved English subtitle translations
PLUS: New essays by Chris Darke, Adrian Martin, Amy Taubin, and Ginette Vincendeau; plus, a foreword on each film by Varda herself

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11553 in DVD
• Brand: Image Entertainment
• Released on: 2008-01-22
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Box set, Black & White, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Restored, Subtitled
• Original language: French
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 4
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 345 minutes

Amazon.com
4 by Agnes Varda is one of Criterion Collection's finest releases, so packed is it with supplementary material. Each of the four films included in the set have illuminating critical essay accompaniments and at least three additional bits on their prospective DVDs ranging from the "remembrances" of cast and crew to amazing interviews with Varda from various decades. Of course, the films are in themselves quite extraordinary, but this package collects together so much enlightening footage and reading that to comb through it is like taking a Varda history class. It is difficult to choose favorites amongst the four films included: La Pointe Courte (1956), Cléo from 5 to 7 (1962), Le Bonheur (1965), and Vagabond (1985). Each illustrates rigorous experimental challenges, and each film succeeds according to its own set of criteria. Perhaps the most exciting two films in the set, simply because fewer viewers may have seen them, are La Pointe Courte and Le Bonheur. La Pointe Courte, Varda's first film and the film attributed to launching the French New Wave, stars Silvia Monfort and Philippe Noiret who bring a stark formalism to the story of their conflicted love in a scenic seaside village. Shot in high contrast black and white, La Pointe Courte is filled with odd visual and sonic edits that lend this film an otherworldly, Carl Dreyer-esque quality though it points to Varda's future directing tact, namely making films that scrutinize tragic personal relationships with deep compassion and zeal. Le Bonheur, filmed in a vivid primary color palette, similarly features a married couple, François (Jean-Claude Drouot) and Therese (Claire Drouot), who experience both bliss and utter sadness within the film's timeframe. In this case, the sense of isolation is replaced by an overload of happiness, namely when François cheats on his wife with a young postal worker (Marie-France Boyer) and finds himself so happy that the viewer suspects it cannot last.

The two abovementioned films contextualize Cléo from 5 to 7 and Vagabond, both films starring strong females who face life with bravery and finesse. Filmed in "real-time," Cléo from 5 to 7 stars a young pop singer (Corinne Marchand) whose wit and sex appeal carry her through a fearful day, while Vagabond recounts the end of ravishing Mona's (Sandrine Bonnaire), life as a vagrant in search of freedom. Seeing La Pointe Courte, for example, foreshadows Varda's breakthrough casting of non-actors in Vagabond. Filmic experiments and acting experiments abound in each film. On the whole, it becomes clear that each crew member on a Varda film enters a new artistic world forged by this auteur, aimed at exploring daily life to uncover those moments encompassing sadness, hope, and beauty with grace, character, and exquisite technique. --Trinie Dalton

Customer Reviews

The artistic genius of Agnès Varda.
French film director Agnès Varda is known for her experimental style in film, photography and art, and for her exploration of feminist and social issues in her films. She has been called a "cinematic poet" and a "visionary." The four films included in this collection include:

1. La Pointe Courte
In her first film (considered one of the progenitors of French New Wave), La Pointe Courte (1956), Varda explores the disintegration of a relationship between a married couple (Silvia Monfort and Philippe Noiret). The Criterion edition of a Pointe Courte includes a newly restored high-definition digital transfer, a new video interview with director Agnès Varda, excerpts from a 1964 episode of the French television series Cinéastes de notre temps, in which Varda discusses her early career, and new and improved English subtitle translation.

2. Cléo de 5 à 7. (Cléo from 5 to 7).
In Cléo from 5 to 7 (1962), Varda confronts themes of existentialism, mortality, despair, and what it means to live a meaningful life. Her film follows two hours (in real-time) in the life of a young pop singer (Corinne Marchand) as she waits to obtain biopsy results from her doctor at 7 o'clock. Before her doctor's appointment, Cléo meets with several friends and strangers in 1960s Paris, while at the same time contemplating her mortality. The film features a score by Michel Legrand (The Umbrellas of Cherbourg) and cameos appearances by Jean-Luc Godard and Anna Karina. The Criterion edition of this film features a newly restored digital transfer, supervised and approved by director Agnès Varda, "Remembrances" (2005), a documentary on the making of the film, featuring interviews with Varda and actors Corinne Marchand and Antoine Bourseiller, a gallery of paintings by Hans Baldung Grien, whose work inspired the character of Cléo, an excerpt from a 1993 French television program featuring Madonna and Varda talking about the film, "Cléo's Real Path Through Paris" (2005), a short film retracing, on a motorcycle, Cléo's steps through Paris, "Les fiancés du pont Macdonald" (1961), a short film directed by Varda, featuring some of her new wave colleagues, with Varda explaining why the film was featured in Cléo, "L'opéra Mouffe" (1958), an early short by Varda, with a score by Georges Delerue, the theatrical trailer, new and improved English subtitle translation, and a new essay by Adrian Martin and a written introduction by Agnès Varda.

3. Le bonheur (Happiness).
In Le bonheur (1965), Varda confronts issues of fidelity and happiness in a modern, self-centered world. The film tells the story of a young husband François (Jean-Claude Drouot) who embarks on an affair with an attractive postal worker, despite the fact that he is married to the beautiful Thérèse (Claire Drouot). The Criterion edition of this film features a newly restored high-definition digital transfer, supervised and approved by director Agnès Varda, "The Two Women of 'Le bonheur'" (2006), a short piece featuring actors Claire Drouot and Marie-France Boyer, thoughts on "Le bonheur" (2006), a discussion between four scholars and intellectuals discussing the concept of happiness and its relation to the film, two short pieces by Varda investigating people's idea of happiness, "Jean-Claude Drouot Returns" (2006), a featurette in which the actor revisits the film's setting forty years later, a segment from the 1964 television program Démons et merveilles du cinéma, featuring footage of Varda shooting Le bonheur, an interview with Varda from 1998 about Le bonheur, "Du Côté de la côte" (1958), a short film by Varda exploring the tourist destination of the Côte d'Azur, the theatrical trailer, and new and improved English subtitle translation.

4. Sans toit ni loi (Vagabond)
In the best film in the collection, Vagabond (1985), Varda chronicles the life of a young, enigmatic drifter Mona (Sandrine Bonnaire), found frozen to death in a ditch at the beginning of the film. From this image, the film goes backwards in time to depict Mona's transition from an office worker to her life of a wandering vagabond, free from any responsibility. The original French title, "Sans toit ni loi," translates as "without roof or law." The Criterion edition of Vagabond includes a newly restored high-definition digital transfer, supervised and approved by director Agnes Varda, "Remembrances" (2003), a documentary on the making of the film, including interviews with Sandrine Bonnaire and other cast members, "The Story of an Old Lady" (2003), a short piece in which Varda revisits actress Marthe Jarnias, who plays the old aunt in the film, "Music and Dolly Shots," (2003), a conversation between Varda and composer Joanna Bruzdowicz, a 1986 radio interview with Varda and writer Nathalie Sarraute, who inspired the film, the theatrical trailer, new and improved English subtitle translation, and a new essay by Chris Darke and written introduction by Agnes Varda.

G. Merritt

Fantastic box
If You like Varda, or the french new wave, or french film, then this box is well worth buying. My favourite films of the four are Cleo and Le Bonheur. Lots of extra material, and the box is well designed.

Two new Criterion DVD's, two rereleases
This 4 disc box set by Criterion contains four movies by Agnès Varda.

La Pointe Courte, Cleo from 5 to 7, Le bonheur, and Vagabond. Cléo from 5 to 7 and vagabond are releleases and I have already written reviews for those when they were released separately, I will be more brief on the reviews.

La Pointe Courte is Varda's first film and is about a couple in coastal southern France experiencing marital woes. The film is thought to have inspired the new wave movement in French cinema and is one of her most popular films. The special features are an interview with Agnès Varda and scenes from a 1964 French television appearance by Varda.

Cléo from 5 to 7 is about a young woman who strolls around Paris for two hours while she awaits the results of a biopsy. The film was way ahead of its time for it being in real-time just like the television series 24 or the film "Phone Booth."
The special features are a theatrical trailer, a 2005 documentary on the film's production titled "Remembrances" It focuses on continuity isues for the real-time sequence fo the film including the clocks which are seen various times in the film, a slide show of Hans Baldung paintings which inspired the title character of the film, a 1993 television special featuring Agnès Varda and Madonna, a short retracing Cléo's trip through Paris on motorcycle, the 1961 short by Varda titled "Les fiancés du pont Macdonald" which was featured in the film, and Varda's short film "L'opéra Mouffe".

Le bonheur (French for "Happiness") is about a young couple with two children. The wife travels often and while she is away her husband has an affair with a postal clerk.
The special features are a theatrical trailer, a look at the two main actresses in the film, a talk between four film scholars about the film, two short films where Varda asks random people their definition of happiness, a retrospective on the film featuring lead actor Jean-Claude Drouot, scenes from an archival television program featuring Varda shooting the film, a 1988 interview with Varda, and a documentary by Varda about the Côte d'Azur.

Vagabond released in France as "Sans toit ni loi" is about a homeless woman who is found dead at the beginning of the film and is a flashback look at the last days of her life.
The special features are a theatrical trailer, a docomentary on the film's production, a look at the actress Marthe Jarnias, who plays the old lady in the film, a conversation between Varda and the film's composer, Joanna Bruzdowicz, and a 1986 radio interview with Varda and writer, Nathalie Sarraute.

This is a great release and the films are all excellent.