Agnes Varda: Interviews

By T. Jefferson Kline

Over nearly sixty years, Agnès Varda (b. 1928) has given interviews that are revealing not only of her work, but of her remarkably ambiguous status. She has been called the “Mother of the New Wave” but suffered for many years for never having been completely accepted by the cinematic establishment in France. Varda's first film, La Pointe Courte (1954), displayed many of the characteristics of the two later films that launched the New Wave, Truffaut's 400 Blows and Godard's Breathless. In a low-budget film, using (as yet) unknown actors and working entirely outside the prevailing studio system, Varda completely abandoned the “tradition of quality” that Truffaut was at that very time condemning in the pages of Cahiers du cinema. Her work, however, was not “discovered” until after Truffaut and Godard had broken onto the scene in 1959. Varda's next film, Cleo from 5 to 7, attracted considerably more attention and was selected as France's official entry for the Festival in Cannes. Ultimately, however, this film and her work for the next fifty years continued to be overshadowed by her more famous male friends, many of whom she mentored and advised.

Her films have finally earned recognition as deeply probing and fundamental to the growing awareness in France of women's issues and the role of women in the cinema. “I'm not philosophical,” she says, “not metaphysical. Feelings are the ground on which people can be led to think about things. I try to show everything that happens in such a way and ask questions so as to leave the viewers free to make their own judgments.” The panoply of interviews here emphasizes her core belief that “we never stop learning” and reveal the wealth of ways to answer her questions.

• Language: English
• Publisher: University Press of Mississippi
• Release date: Dec 4, 2013
• ISBN: 9781628467253

Book preview

Chronology

Filmography

LA POINTE COURTE (1954)

Director: Agnès Varda

Screenplay: Agnès Varda

Camera: Louis Stein

Editing: Alain Resnais

Sound: Robert Lion

Music: Pierre Barbaud

Cast: Philippe Noiret, Silvia Montfort, the inhabitants of La Pointe

Courte

35mm, 89 minutes, b/w

Awards: Prix de l’Age d’or, Brussels, 1955; Grand Prix du film d’avant-

garde, Paris, 1955

Ô SAISONS, Ô CHATEAUX (1957)

Director: Agnès Varda

Screenplay: Agnès Varda

Producer: Pierre Braunberger, Films de la Pléiade

Camera: Quinto Albicocco

Editing: Janine Verneau

Music: André Hodeir

Cast: Voice of Antoine Bourseiller

35mm, 22 minutes, color

L’OPÉRA-MOUFFE (1958)

Director: Agnès Varda

Screenplay: Agnès Varda

Producer: Ciné-Tamaris

Camera: Sacha Vierny

Editing: Janine Verneau

Music: Georges Delerue

Cast: Dorothée Blank, Antoine Bourseiller, André Rousselet, Jean Tasso,

José Varela, Monika Weber

16mm, 17 minutes, b/w

Awards: Prix de la Fédération Internationale des Ciné-Clubs, Brussels

DU CÔTÉ DE LA CÔTE (1958)

Director: Agnès Varda

Screenplay: Agnès Varda

Producer: Anatole Dauman, Philippe Lifchitz, Argos Films

Camera: Quinto Albicocco

Editing: Henri Colpi, Jasmine Chasney

Music: Georges Delerue

Cast: Voices of Roger Coggio, Anne Olivier

35 mm, 24 minutes, color

Awards: Prix du Film de Tourisme, Brussels, 1959

CLÉO DE 5 À 7 (1961)

Director: Agnès Varda

Screenplay: Agnès Varda

Producer: Ciné-Tamaris

Camera: Jean Rabier, Alain Levent

Editing: Janine Verneau, Pascale Laverrière

Music: Michel Legrand, Agnès Varda

Cast: Corinne Marchand (Cléo), Antoine Bourseiller (Antoine), Dominique D’Avray (Angèle), Dorothée Blank (Dorothée), Michel Legrand (Bob), José-Luis de Vilallonga (the lover), Loye Payen (the fortune teller), Lucienne Marchand (taxi driver), Serge Korber (le Plumitif) 35mm, 90 mintues, b/w, brief color

Awards: Official Selection for the Festival at Cannes and Venice Film

Festival, 1962; Prix Méliès, 1962

SALUT LES CUBAINS (1963)

Director: Agnès Varda

Screenplay: Agnès Varda

Producer: Société Nouvelle Pathé-Cinéma

Camera: J. Maques, C. S. Olaf

Editing: Janine Verneau

Music: Michel Legrand

Voice: Michel Piccoli

35mm, 30 minutes, b/w

Awards: Silver Dove Festival of Leipzig; Bronze Medal, XVth International Exposition of Documentary Film, Venice, 1964

LE BONHEUR (1964)

Director: Agnès Varda

Screenplay: Agnès Varda

Producer: Mag Bodard

Camera: Claude Beausoleil, Jean Rabier

Editing: Janine Verneau

Music: W. A. Mozart, Jean-Michel Defaye

Cast: Jean-Claude Drouot (François), Claire Drouot (Thérèse), Marie-

France Boyer (Emilie)

35mm, 82 minutes, color

Awards: Prix Louis Delluc, 1965; Silver Bear, Berlin, 1965; David

O’Selznick Award

LES ENFANTS DU MUSÉE (1964)

Director: Agnès Varda

Screenplay: Agnès Varda

Producer: Pathé Cinéma

Video

7 minutes, b/w

ELSA LA ROSE (1965)

Director: Agnès Varda

Screenplay: Agnès Varda

Producer: Ciné-Tamaris

Camera: Willy Kurant, William Lubtchansky

Music: Simonovitch, Ferrat, Moussorgsky, Gershwin, Handy

16mm, 20 minutes, b/w

LES CRÉATURES (1966)

Director: Agnès Varda

Screenplay: Agnès Varda

Producer: Mag Bodard

Camera: Willy Durant, William Lubtschansky

Music: Henry Purcell, Pierre Barbaud

Cast: Catherine Deneuve (Mylène), Michel Piccoli (Edgar), Eva Dahlbeck (Michèle Quellec), Marie-France Mignal (Viviane Quellec), Britta Pettersson (Lucie de Moyton), Bernard Lajarrice (Le Docteur Desteau), Roger Dax (Père Quellec)

35mm, 105 minutes, b/w and color

Awards: Official selection at Venice Film Festival, 1966

LOIN DU VIETNAM (1967)

Collective film directed variously by Jean-Luc Godard, Joris Ivens, William Klein, Claude Lelouch, Alain Resnais, Agnès Varda

The episode shot by Varda was not included in the final version of the film, although her name remained in the credits as a participant in the project.

ONCLE YANCO (1967)

Director: Agnès Varda

Screeplay: Agnès Varda

Producer: Ciné-Tamaris

Cinematographer: David Meyers, Didier Tarot

Music: Yannos Spanos, Richard Lawrence, Albinoni

Editing: Jean Hamon, Roger Ikhlef

Cast: Agnès Varda, Jean Varda

35mm, 22 minutes, color

BLACK PANTHERS (1968)

Director: Agnès Varda

Screenplay: Agnès Varda

Camera: David Myers, John Schofill, Paul Aratow, Agnès Varda

Sound: Paul Oppenheim, James Steward

Music: Soul music improvised by the Black Panthers

Editing: Paddy Monk

16mm, 28 minutes, b/w

Awards: Prize awarded at Festival of Oberhausen, 1970

LIONS LOVE (1969)

Director: Agnès Varda

Screenplay: Agnès Varda

Producer: Ciné-Tamaris

Camera: Steve Larner, Lee Alexander, William Weaver, Rusty Roland

Sound: George Alch and Y Babbish, George Porter

Music: Joseph Byrd

Cast: Playing themselves: Viva, Jim Rado, Shirley Clarke, Carlos Clarens, Eddie Constantine, Max Laemmle, Steve Kenis, Hal Landers, Billie Dixon, Richard Bright

35mm, 110 minutes, color

NAUSICAA (1970)

Director: Agnès Varda

Screenplay: Agnès Varda

Producer: ORTF France

Camera: Charlie Gaeta

Editing: Robert Dalva, Carolyn Hicks

Music: Mikis Theodorakis

Cast: France Dougnac (Agnès), Myriam Boyer (Rosalie), Stavros Tornes (Michel), Catherine de Seynes (Simone), Gérard Dépardieu (a hippie)

35mm, 90 minutes, color

DAGUERRÉOTYPES (1974)

Director: Agnès Varda

Screenplay; Agnès Varda

Producer: Ciné-Tamaris, L’Institut de l’audiovisuel et la ZDF (Mainz)

Camera: Rith Aviv, William Lubtchancsky Editing: Gordon Swire

Sound: Antoine Bonifanti, Jean-François Auger

Cast: The neighbors of Agnès Varda on the Rue Daguerre

16mm, 80 minutes, color

Awards: Nominated for Oscar for Feature-Length Documentary, 1975;

Prix du Cinéma d’Art et d’Essai, 1975

RÉPONSE DE FEMMES (1975)

Director: Agnès Varda

Screenplay: Agnès Varda

Producer: Ciné-Tamaris, Antenne 2—Le Magazine F. Comme Femme

Cinematography: Jacques Reiss, Michel Thiriet

Editing: Marie Castro, Andrée Choty, Hélène Wolf

Sound: Bernard Bleicher

Cast: Various subjects reading Varda’s declarations

16mm, 8 minutes, color

Awards: Nominated for Césars, 1976, in category of Short

Documentaries

PLAISIR D’AMOUR EN IRAN (1976)

Director: Agnès Varda

Screenplay: Agnès Varda

Producer: Ciné-Tamaris

Camera: Nurith Aviv, Charlie Vandamme

Editing: Sabine Mamou

Sound: Henri Morelle

Cast: Valérie Mairesse (Pomme), Ali Raffi (Ali Darius)

35mm, 6 minutes, color

L’UNE CHANTE, L’AUTRE PAS (1977)

Director: Agnès Varda

Screenplay: Agnès Varda

Producer: Ciné-Tamaris, Société Française de Production, Institut National de l’Audiovisuel-Contrechamp

Camera: Charlie Vandamme, Nurith Aviv

Editing: Joëlle Van Effenterre

Sound: Herni Morelle

Music: Wertheiimer and Orchidée, Agnès Varda

Cast: Thérèse Liotard (Suzanne), Valérie Mairesse (Pomme), Ali Raffi (Darius), Robert Dadies (Jérôme), Francis Lemaire (Pomme’s father), Jean-Pierre Pellegrin (Doctor Pierre Aubanel), the Group Orchidée

35 mm, 120 minutes, color

Awards: Grand Prize, Festival of Taomina, 1977

QUELQUES FEMMES BULLES (1977)

Director: Marion Sarrault

Screenplay: Agnès Varda

Producer: Ciné-Tamaris

Editing: Marion Sarrault, Agnès Varda

Music: The Orchidée Group

Video

58 minutes, color

MUR MURS (1980)

Director: Agnès Varda

Screenplay: Agnès Varda

Producer: Ciné-Tamaris, Antenne 2

Camera: Bernard Auroux, Tom Taplin

Editing: Sabine Mamou, Bob Gould

Sound: Lee Alexander

Music: Buxtehude, Carey, Cruz, Fiddy, Healy, Lauber, Los Illegals, Parker

Cast: The people of Los Angeles

16mm, 81 minutes, color

Awards: France’s Selection for the Cannes Festival in the category Un Certain Regard, 1981; Prize, Festival dei Populi de Florence, 1981; Josef von Sternberg Prize, Mannheim, 1981

DOCUMENTEUR (1981)

Director: Agnès Varda

Screenplay: Agnès Varda

Producer: Ciné-Tamaris

Camera: Nurith Aviv

Editing: Sabine Mamou

Music: Georges Delerue

Sound: Jim Thornton, Lee Alexander

Cast: Sabine Mamou (Emilie), Mathieu Demy (Martin)

16mm, 63 minutes, color

ULYSSE (1982)

Director: Agnès Varda

Screenplay Agnès Varda

Producer: Garance, Dominique Vignet, François Nocher and Paris Audiovisuel, Antenne 2, C.D.C.

Camera: Jen-Yves Escoffier, Pascal Rabaud

Editing: Marie-Jo Audiard, Hélène de Luze

Sound: Jean-Paul Mugel

35mm, 22 minutes, color

Awards: Selected for the Cannes Festival in the category Un certain regard; César for Best Short Documentary, 1984

UNE MINUTE POUR UNE IMAGE (1983)

Director: Agnès Varda

Producer: Garance, Centre National de la Photographie.

170 spots of two minutes each presenting a different photograph each evening

LES DITES CARIATIDES (1984)

Director: Agnès Varda

Screenplay: Agnès Varda, with poetry of Charles Baudelaire

Producer: Ciné-Tamaris

Camera: Cyril Lathus, Jean-Pierre Albassy

Editing: Hélène Wolf

Music: Rameau, Offenbach

Cast: Caryatids on buildings in Paris

Video

13 minutes, color

Awards: Official Selection at the Venice Film Festival, 1984; Prize for Best Documentary at the International Festival of Film on Architecture and Urbanism, Lausanne, 1987

7P., CUIS., S. DE B., … A SAISIR (1984)

Director: Agnès Varda

Screenplay: Agnès Varda, Louis Bec

Producer: Ciné-Tamaris

Camera: Nurith Aviv

Editing: Sabine Mamou

Music: Pierre Barbaud

Cast: Hervé Mangani (the father), Saskia Cohen-Tanugi (the mother), Pierre Esposito (the older son), Catherine de Barbeyrac (the oldest daughter), Folco Chevalier (the suitor)

35mm, 27 minutes, color

SANS TOIT NI LOI (1985)

Director: Agnès Varda

Screenplay: Agnès Varda

Producer: Ciné-Tamaris

Cinematographer: Patrick Blossier

Editing: Agnès Varda, Patricia Mazuy

Music: Joanna Bruzdowicz

Sound: Jean-Paul Mugel

Cast: Sandrine Bonnaire (Mona), Macha Méril (Madame Landier), Stéphane Freiss (Jean-Pierre, the agronomist), Yolande Moreau (the maid), Patrick Lepczynski (David), Yahiaoui Assouna (Assoun), Joël Fosse (Paulo), Marthe Jarnia (tante Lydie)

35mm, 105 minutes, color

Awards: Lion d’Or, Venice Film Festival, 1985; International Critics’ Prize, Fipresci, 1985; Prix Georges Méliès, 1985; César Award for Best Actress, Sandrine Bonnaire, 1985; Catholic Office of Cinema Prize, 1985; Best Foreign Film Award, American Association of Film Critics, 1986; Best Film, Best Director, Brussels Film Festival, 1986; Best Film, Durban International Film Festival, 1987

T’AS DE BEAUX ESCALIERS, TU SAIS (1986)

Director: Agnès Varda

Screenplay: Agnès Varda

Producer: Ciné-Tamaris (for the French Cinémathèque)

Camera: Patrick Blossier

Editing: Marie-Jo Audiard

Music: Michel Legrand

Cast: Isabelle Adjani (Isabelle), Agnès Varda (narrator)

35mm, 3 mintues, color

KUNG-FU MASTER (1987)

Director: Agnès Varda

Screenplay: Agnès Varda

Producer: Ciné-Tamaris

Camera: Pierre Laurent Chenieux

Editing: Marie-Jo Audiard

Sound: Olivier Schwob

Music: Joanna Bruzdowicz

Cast: Jane Birkin (Mary Jane), Mathieu Demy (Julien), Charlotte Gains-bourg (Lucy), Lou Doillon (Lou)

35mm, 78 minutes, color

JANE B. PAR AGNÈS V. (1988)

Director: Agnès Varda

Screenplay: Agnès Varda

Producer: Ciné-Tamaris with La Sept

Camera: Nurith Aviv, Pierre-Laurent Chenieux

Editing: Agnès Varda, Marie-Jo Audiard

Sound: Olivier Schwob, Jean-Paul Mugel

Music: The Doors, Manfredini, Monteverdi

Cast: Jane Birkin (Herself), Philppe Léotard (the painter), Jean-Pierre Léaud (the angry lover), Farid Chopel (the colonist), Alain Souchon (the reader), Serge Gainsbourg (himself), Laura Betti (Lardy)

35mm, 97 minutes, color

JACQUOT DE NANTES (1990)

Director: Agnès Varda

Sreenplay: Agnès Varda

Producer: Ciné-Tamaris

Camera: Patick Blossier, Agnès Godard, Georges Strouvé

Editing: Marie-Jo Audiard

Music: Joanna Bruzdowicz

Sound: Jean Pierre Duret, Nicolas Naegelen

Cast: Philippe Maron (Jacquot 1), Edouard Joubeaud (Jacquot 2), Laurent Monnier (Jacquot 3), Brigitte de Villepoix (the mother), Daniel Dublet (Yvon 1), Clémant Delaroche (Yvon 2)

35mm, 118 minutes, b/w & color

LES DEMOISELLES ONT EU 25 ANS (1992)

Director: Agnès Varda

Screenplay: Agnès Varda

Producer: Ciné-Tamais, Mag Bodard (Parc Film), and Gilbert Gold-schmidt (Madeleine Films)

Camera: Stephane Krausz, Georges Strouve, Agnès Varda

Editing: Agnès Varda, Anne-Marie Cotret

Sound: Thierry Ferreux, Jean-Luc Rault-Cheynet, Bernard Seidler

Music: Michel Legrand, Jacques Loussier

Cast: Marc Le Gouard (the teacher), Jacques Camescasse (Corvette captain), Ginette Donce (fisherwoman), Jean-Yves Drapeau (traveler)

16mm, 63 minutes, color

Awards: Golden Plaque Award, Chicago Film Festival, 1993

LES 100 ET 1 NUITS (1995)

Director: Agnès Varda

Screenplay: Agnès Varda

Producer: Dominique Vignet, Ciné-Tamaris

Camera: Eric Gautier

Editing: Hugues Darmois

Sound: Jean-Pierre Duret, Henri Morelle

Cast: Michel Piccoli (Simon Cinéma), Marcello Mastroianni (the Italian friend), Henri Garcin (Firmin, the butler), Julie Gayet (Camille Mira-lis), Mathieu Demy (Camille), Emmanuel Salinger (Vincent), Anouk Aimée (Anouk), Fanny Ardant (the Star who works at night), Jean-Paul Belmondo (Professeur Bébel), Sandrine Bonnaire (the vagabond), Jean-Claude Brialy (the guide), Alain Delon (himself), Catherine Deneuve (the Fantasy Star), Robert De Niro (her husband), Gérard Depardieu (himself), Harrison Ford (himself), Gina Lollobrigida (Professor Bebel’s wife), Jeanne Moreau (the first ex-wife of Mr. Cinéma), Jane Birkin (herself)

35mm, 101 minutes, color

L’ UNIVERS DE JACQUES DEMY (1995)

Director: Agnès Varda

Screenplay: Agnès Varda

Narrator: Agnès Varda

Producer: Ciné-Tamaris, Canal+

Camera: Stéphane Krausz, Peter Pilafian, Georges Strouvé

Editing: Marie-Jo Audiard

Music: Michel Legrand, Michel Colombier

Cast: Anouk Aimée, Richard Berry, Nino Castelnuovo, Catherine Deneuve, Harrison Ford, Danielle Darrieux, Jeanne Moreau, Michel Piccoli, Françoise Fabian, Jeanne Moreau, Dominique Sanda

35mm, 90 minutes, b/w & color

LES GLANEURS ET LA GLANEUSE (2000)

Director: Agnès Varda

Screenplay: Agnès Varda

Producer: Ciné-Tamaris

Camera: Agnès Varda, Didier Doussin, Stephane Krausz

Editing: Agnès Varda, Laurent Pineau

Music: Joanna Bruzdowicz, Isabelle Olivier, Agnès Bredel, Richard

Klugman

Cast: Bodan Litnanski, François Wertheimer

35mm, 82 minutes, color

LES GLANEURS ET MOI DEUX ANS APRÈS (2002)

Director: Agnès Varda

Screenplay: Agnès Varda

Producer: Ciné-Tamaris

Camera: Stéphane Krausz, Agnès Varda

Editing: Agnès Varda

Music: Joanna Bruzdowicz, Georges Delerue, Isabelle Olivier, François Wertheimer

Cast: Macha Makeïeff, Agnès Varda

35mm, 63 minutes, color

LE LION VOLATIL (2003)

Director: Agnès Varda

Screenplay: Agnès Varda

Producer: Ciné-Tamaris

Camera: Mathieu Vadepied, Xavier Tauvera

Editing: Agnès Varda, Sophie Mandonnet

Sound: Jean-Luc Audy

Music: Joanna Bruzdowicz

Cast: Julie Dépardieu (Clarisse), Frédérick Grassser-Hermé (forutune teller), Silvia Urrutia (first client), David Decron (Lazarus), Bernard Werber (Watchman), Valérie Donzelli (tearful client)

35mm, 11 minutes, b/w & color

YDESSA, LES OURS (2004)

Director: Agnès Varda

Screenplay: Agnès Varda

Producer: Ciné-Tamaris

Camera: Claire Duguet, John Holosko, Rick Kearney, Markus Seitz

Editing: Thomas Benigni, Jean-Baptiste Morin, Agnès Varda

Sound: Christian Börner, Robert Fletcher, Jason Milligan

Music: Didier Lockwood, Isabelle Olivier

Cast: Ydessa Hendeles (herself)

35mm, 44 minutes, color

DER VIENNALE (2004)

Director: Agnès Varda

Screenplay: Agnès Varda

Producer: Ciné Tamaris

Camera: Agnès Varda

Editing: Agnès Varda

Cast: Agnès Varda

35mm, 2 minutes, color

QUELQUES VEUVES DE NOIRMOUTIER (2006)

Director: Agnès Varda

Screenplay: Agnès Varda

Producer: Ciné Tamaris

Camera: Eric Gautier

Editing: Jean-Baptiste Montagut, Agnès Varda

Music: Ami Flammer

Cast: Women of Nourmoutier

35mm, 69 minutes, color

LES PLAGES D’AGNÈS (2008)

Director: Agnès Varda

Screenplay: Agnès Varda

Producer: Ciné-Tamaris

Camera: Julia Fabry, Hélène Louvart, Arlene Nelson, Alain Sakot,

Agnès Varda

Editing: Baptiste Filloux, Jean-Baptiste Morin

Sound: Olivier Schwob, Emmanuel Soland

Music: Laurent Levesque, Joanna Bruzdowicz, Stéphane Vilar

Cast: Agnès Varda, Laure Manceau (Agnès Varda as a girl), Rosalie Varda, Mathieu Demy, Andrée Vilar, Jim McBride, Jane Birkin, Constantin Demy

35 mm, 110 minutes, b/w & color

Agnès Varda: Interviews

Agnès Varda from 5 to 7

Pierre Uytterhoeven / 1962

From Positif, no. 44 (March 1962). Reprinted by permission. Translated by T. Jefferson Kline.

Pierre Uytterhoeven: Let’s talk about La Pointe Courte, that you directed in 1954. Do you still think today that the two themes of the film, treated in such very different styles, can’t be mixed and shouldn’t be?

Agnès Varda: I had a very precise idea when I did La Pointe Courte and that was to propose two themes that weren’t necessarily contradictory but which, placed side by side, were problems which were mutually exclusive. They were: a couple coming to grips with their relationship and, on the other hand, a village trying to resolve certain problems through a collective process.

The film was divided into chapters, so the two themes were never mixed together but I left open the possibility for the spectator to confront them or superpose them. I’ve always thought it was very difficult to integrate one’s private problems with public issues. In Hiroshima, Mon Amour Resnais succeeded beautifully in giving the audience an impression forged from the mixing of these two levels by having the French woman experience a passionate encounter with the Japanese man in Hiroshima. The violence of their encounter resuscitates her memories of her first passion for a German man. In this way the larger social issues are integrated with the private problems of the couple.

PU: But in La Pointe Courte why did you choose to separate these two problems?

AV: The construction of the film was inspired by Faulkner’s The Wild Palms. If you remember, there’s no connection in the novel between the couple, Charlotte and Harry, and the old ex-con from Mississippi. It was neither allegorical nor symbolic, just a feeling you get from reading which moves back and forth between these two stories. It’s up to the reader to be able to reorganize these feelings. It’s exactly like what Resnais is asking of his audience in Marienbad.

The need to integrate a private problem with a larger social issue is also a theme in L’Enclos. In this particular case, the experiences of the two protagonists are but a detail in the larger picture. What I liked about Gatti’s film is that the two characters experience their problem in terms of the camp while at the same time, the camp is thinking about them. But his way of treating the couple and the group is only possible because it is a face-off between two men who are confronted by the same problems faced by all the prisoners in the camp. When it’s a question of love between a man and a woman, it’s more difficult.

PU: So the couple would have to have resolved their personal problems in order to properly belong to the larger social group?

AV: Yes, but I’ve already stated this. A harmonious couple, that is, one that manages to resolve their personal problems, can be integrated into a larger collectivity. (There are, for example, happy couples who are union members.)

What I hoped to show in La Pointe Courte was the paralysis of the couple who can’t seem to shake free of their intellectual and emotional problems, and hence can’t manage to think about their affinity to any group. I wanted my audience to understand that there’s no connection between social issues and private problems. Of course, there does exist a level of