Berlin Film Festival Review: A Great Filmmaker Says Goodbye, Joyfully, in Varda by Agnès

Before she was awarded an honorary Oscar in 2017, it’s hard to say how many average moviegoers—as opposed to fans of French cinema—had ever heard of Agnès Varda. She’s a lot more well-known now, and that’s as it should be. Varda, 90, was the only woman among all those men—Godard, Truffaut, Rivette and others—to carve out a legacy for herself in the French New Wave.

Before she was awarded an honorary Oscar in 2017, it’s hard to say how many average moviegoers—as opposed to fans of French cinema—had ever heard of Agnès Varda. She’s a lot more well-known now, and that’s as it should be. Varda, 90, was the only woman among all those men—Godard, Truffaut, Rivette and others—to carve out a legacy for herself in the French New Wave.