Violence to Animals in Film: The Complete Films of Agnès Varda

Heads Up, Ears Down

This blog accurately identifies depictions of violence and cruelty toward animals in films. The purpose is to provide viewers with a reliable guide so that such depictions do not come as unwelcome surprises. Films will be accurately notated, providing a time cue for each incident along with a concise description of the scene and perhaps relevant context surrounding the incident. In order to serve as a useful reference tool, films having no depictions of violence to animals will be included, with an indication that there are no such scenes. This is confirmation that the films have been watched with the stated purpose in mind.

Note that the word depictions figures prominently in the objective. It is a travesty that discussions about cruelty in film usually are derailed by the largely unrelated assertion that no animals really were hurt (true only in some films, dependent upon many factors), and that all this concern is just over a simulation. Not the point, whether true or false. We do not smugly dismiss depictions of five-year-olds being raped because those scenes are only simulations. No, we are appalled that such images are even staged, and we are appropriately horrified that the notion now has been planted into the minds of the weak and cruel.

Depictions of violence or harm to animals are assessed in keeping with our dominant culture, with physical abuse, harmful neglect, and similar mistreatment serving as a base line. This blog does not address extended issues of animal welfare, and as such does not identify scenes of people eating meat or mules pulling plows. The goal is to itemize images that might cause a disturbance in a compassionate household.

These notes provide a heads-up but do not necessarily discourage watching a film because of depicted cruelty. Consuming a piece of art does not make you a supporter of the ideas presented. Your ethical self is created by your public rhetoric and your private actions, not by your willingness to sit through a filmed act of violence.

The Complete Films of Agnès Varda. Agnès Varda 1955-2020.

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Edition screened: Criterion Blu-ray box set, released 2020. Mostly French with English subtitles. Runtime of feature films approximately 26 hours.

Summary: Varda is a compassionate filmmaker. See notes for a few titles that contain documents or realistic inclusions of animal death.

The Criterion retrospective includes fifteen Blu-ray discs that present Varda’s catalogue and associated supplements in a recommended viewing order. The first disc establishes the mood and introduces the artist in a commemorative way. Each of the ensuing discs focuses on a major film or an aspect of Varda’s life, arranged more-or-less chronologically.

The following list includes all major and short works by Varda herself and most of the supplementary material. Omitted are some short interviews, trailers, and appreciations.

Disc 1: Agnès Forever

Varda by Agnès (2019, Varda and Didier Rouget) 1:59
Les 3 boutons (2015, Varda) 0:11
The Art of Family Life (2020, family interviews) 0:17
Telluride Film Festival panel with Mathieu Demy, Martin Scorsese, and others. 0:39
Agnès Varda’s Credit Sequences (2020, Alex Vuillaume-Tylski) 0:08
Sensing Bodies (2019, video essay) 0:02
A Chat with Nini (2019, Varda) 0:01

Disc 2: Early Varda

La Pointe-Courte (1955, Varda) 1:21
Ô saisons ô chateaux (1958, Varda) 0:21
Du côté de la côte (1958, Varda) 0:27
Mathieu Amalric and Agnès Varda discussion. 0:09
Agnès Varda on “La Pointe-Courte” (2007) 0:16

Disc 3: Around Paris

Cléo from 5 to 7 (1962, Varda) 1:29
Les fiancés du pont MacDonald ou (1962, Varda) 0:05
L’opéra-mouffe (1958, Varda) 0:17
Les dites cariatides (1984, Varda) 0:12
Les dites cariatides bis (2005, Varda) 0:02
T'as de beaux escaliers, tu sais... (1986, Varda) 0:03
Cléo from 5 to 7: Remembrances (2005, Varda) 0:36
Cléo's Real Path Through Paris (2005, Pierre-William Glenn) 0:09
The Music of Michel Legrand (2006, Tony Zhou and Taylor Ramos) 0:10

Disc 4: Rue Daguerre

Daguerréotypes (1975, Varda) 1:18
Le lion volatil (2003, Varda) 0:11
Rue Daguerre in 2005 (2005, Varda) 0:21
Bread, Painting, and Accordion (2005, Varda) 0:08
Daguerreotypes: Photographic Objects (2005, Varda) 0:06
The Music Festival (2005, Varda) 0:03

Disc 5: Married Life

Le bonheur (1965, Varda) 1:20
Les créatures (1966, Varda) 1:34
Elsa la Rose (1966, Varda) 0:20
Démons et merveilles du cinéma: excerpt: “Agnès et Bonheur” (1964, Jean-Claude Bergeret), 0:05
Jean-Claude Drouot Returns to Fontenay-aux-Roses (2005, Varda) 0:08
The Two Women of ‘Le bonheur’ (2005, Varda) 0:06
Happiness? The People of Fontenay Respond (2006, Varda) 0:06
Thoughts on ‘Le bonheur’ (2006, Varda) 0:15
Agnès talks about ‘Le bonheur’ (1998, Varda) 0:03
Bonheur: Proper Name or Concept? (2006, Varda) 0:02

Disc 6: In California

Uncle Yanco (1967, Varda) 0:19
Black Panthers (1968, Varda) 0:20
Mur murs (1980, Varda) 1:22
Lions Love (...and lies) (1969, Varda) 1:52
Documenteur (1981, Varda) 1:06
Viva Varda! (1970, Varda) 0:09
Two Street Artists: Jérôme Mesnager & Miss.Tic (2012, Varda) 0:06

Disc 7: Her Body, Herself

One Sings, the Other Doesn’t (1977, Varda) 2:01
The Pleasure of Love in Iran (1977, Varda) 0:06
Réponse de femmes (1975, Varda) 0:08
Nausicaa (1970, Varda) 1:38
Women Are Naturally Creative (1977, Katja Raganelli) 0:47

Disc 8: No Shelter

Vagabond (1985, Varda) 1:45
7rm., kitch., bath., ... for sale (1985, Varda) 0:28
Vagabond: Remembrances (2003, Varda) 0:41
Music and Dolly Shots (2003, Varda) 0:12
The Story of an Old Lady (1985, Varda) 0:04
Plotting in ‘Vagabond’ David Bordwell examines the way Vagabond utilizes three different narrative strategies. 0:15

Disc 9: Jane B.

Jane B. for Agnès V. (1988, Varda) 1:38
Kung-Fu Master! (1988, Varda) 1:20
Agnès V. by Jane B. (2020) 0:16

Disc 10: Jacques Demy

Jacquot de Nantes (1991, Varda) 1:58
The Young Girls Turn 25 (1993, Varda) 1:06
The World of Jacques Demy (1995, Varda) 1:31
Agnès Tells the Sad and Happy Adventure Behind the Film ‘Jacquot de Nantes’ (2008, Varda) 0:17
Souvenirs and Evocations (2008, Varda) 0:07

Disc 11: Simon Cinéma

One Hundred and One Nights (1995, Varda) 1:44
A Fun Moment with Michel Piccoli (2004, Varda) 0:09
Set Visits: One Hundred and One Nights (2004, Varda) 0:11
Hands and Objects: On Agnès Varda’s Shorts (2007, Varda) 0:20
Unfinished Varda. Footage from two unfinished projects, La Melangite (1960) and Christmas Carole (1966), plus two 1971 commercials 0:11 total).

Disc 12: La Glaneuse

The Gleaners and I (2000, Varda) 1:22
The Gleaners and I: Two Years Later (2002, Varda) 1:03
Tribute to Zgougou (2002, Varda) 0:02
The Gleaners Museum (2002, Varda) 0:24

Disc 13: Visual Artist

Faces Places (2017, Varda and JR) 1:33
Salut les Cubains (1964, Varda) 0:29
Ulysse (1982, Varda) 0:22
Ydessa, the Bears and etc (2004, Varda) 0:44
Chance Is the Best Assistant: Agnès Varda and JR on ‘Faces Places’ (2018, Edwin Samuelson) 0:47
The Beach Cabin (2017, Varda) 0:04
A Visit with Matthieu Chedid (2017, Varda) 0:04
One Minute for One Image (1983, Varda) 0:27

Disc 14: Here and There

Agnès de ci de là Varda (2011, Varda) 3:55 - The 5-part TV series tracking Agnès for a year to meet friends, artists and filmmakers.

Disc 15: Beaches

The Beaches of Agnès (2008, Varda) 1:52
Some Widows of Noirmoutier (2006, Varda) 1:12
Installations (2020, Varda) 1:07
On Trapeze Artists and Acrobatics (2008, Varda) 0:10
Daguerre-Beach (2008, Varda) 0:10
In Her Own Image: Kelley Conway on Agnès (2020, Varda) 0:15

Violence to Animals in Film

Heads Up, Ears Down

The Complete Films of Agnès Varda

Titles A – K

Titles L – Z

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