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Essay / Les Femmes d'Agnés Varda - 2208
Agnès Varda made several films relevant to women during the New Wave. She herself carries out an atypical job in a cinema sector dominated by men. She continues to challenge male-dominated cinema and creates films and characters that also challenge the traditional role of women. No preconceived ideas about what a woman should be are visible anywhere in Varda's films. Feminism is manifested in many of Varda's films. It shows the journey of different women in a society dominated by men. Cléo in Cléo de 5 à 7 goes through her journey trapped by the male gaze, imprisoned. However, Mona in Vagabond chooses to free herself from it, the camera and her gaze do not chain her. These films seem strongly interested in the roles occupied by women in French society. Varda is able to present these roles with a frank yet complex honesty. Its female characters are unconventional for its time, especially when compared to other films directed by men like Truffaut and Godard. She doesn't just place them in predictable roles like mother, caretaker, servant, etc. Instead, she puts them at the forefront of her films and makes them the protagonist. She gives them real problems and conflicts to fight. She knows how to use cinema as a means to delve deeper into the psyche of women and their personal choices. In Cléo de 5 à 7, Cléo is the cliché of a woman. She is tall, blonde and beautiful. As a beautiful singer, she is even more subject to the male gaze than most women. She doesn't see herself internally. Instead, she only looks at herself through a mirror, trying to see herself as a man would see her. Varda shows this journey of Cléo, object of male desire, transforming into Florence, her true self, stripped of ...... middle of paper ...... ive. There is so much diversity between these films, but they each have characters that break the stereotypical mold of femininity. Cléo breaks with the cliché of femininity by becoming an active woman in search of her look and her true personality while Mona breaks with the cliché of femininity by being dirty, by defying all the social conventions attributed to an honest young woman . Varda empowers women and gives them unconventional “feminine roles” rather than conventional roles such as servant, mother or prostitute. Each character must overcome or ignore their societal norm to find their femininity, their true inner self. Varda's films are true reflections of society, but they also feature people who don't fit perfectly into that real society. However, what is interesting about his approach is that it in no way diminishes the reality of these characters...