Agnes Varda on the secret to creativity: “I find everything interesting”
There was no one doing it like Agnes Varda, with the filmmaker remaining a trailblazer of the French New Wave and an international symbol of style and arthouse cinema. Her style was injected with a sense of unstoppable curiosity and compassion, with the director being endlessly inspired by the world around her and infusing this into everything she made, whether it be a fictional film or documentary. Varda was fiercely committed to the documentation of truth and authenticity, regardless of whether it arose from real life or characters who were imagined.
This is a quality that can be seen in all of her films, from the landmark creation of Cleo from 5 to 7 and her portrayal of life under the male gaze, Le Bonheur and her critique of the male ego or her charming documentary Faces Places.
Her perspective of the world made life more colourful, finding meaning in everyday images and people and creating thoughtful meditations on social issues through her signature style and experimental approach to the medium. Varda’s creative spirit and passion seemed to be constantly flowing and alive, something that the director attributed to one secret that she described as the key to creativity.
Regardless of whether or not people are pursuing something they love, it is almost impossible to avoid burnout and bouts of utter resignation towards their craft. Many filmmakers have discussed the perils of writer’s block or going through personal crises in which their creativity ceases to exist, struggling to rekindle their spark and feeling uninspired by a world that used to invigorate them.
In a world plagued by pain and turmoil, sometimes the act of storytelling can feel almost futile and selfish, as if nothing can be changed by lifting your pen to paper or committing an image to celluloid. But Varda was also plagued by these same worries and doubts, emerging as a filmmaker during the Women’s Liberation Movement and often making current socio-political issues the focus of her films.
But while this can sap us of our motivation and make the process of creating feel even more intimidating, Varda found that her stories only grew in urgency depending on what was going on in the world, drawing on real-life events to inform her work and remaining in tune with the collective subconscious and political climate.
When asked about the secret to sustaining her creative spirit over the years, Varda said, “I’m curious. Period. I find everything interesting. Real life. Fake life. Objects. Flowers. Cats. But mostly people. If you keep your eyes open and your mind open, everything can be interesting. The secret is that there is no secret”.
While some directors like to bury their heads in the sand and pretend that art is distinctly separate from real life, Varda remained relevant and timeless through her ability to understand the connection between both and that the personal is always political. Some directors desperately try to convince themselves that art exists in a vacuum, but Varda’s work was inspired and alive with an indescribable essence that came from this understanding, melting all these ideas together and creating that art that both moves and informs.
