I'm haunted by that movie. I think I've only seen twice, once on the screen, once on video, but I can remember the whole of it. The second time I noticed some of overwrought direction and phrasing, but it didn't matter. Varda got everything out of Bonnaire.

I'm thinking today it would be interesting to watch Vagabond with Thelma and Louise as a kind of thematic comparison.

God yes---everyone should see these movies! The older I get, the more I feel like Varda might have been the best of the New Wavers---all the ambition and intelligence, without the posing and Hollywood obsessions. Even her sub-par films, like Lion's Love or One Sings are worth a look, and her recent documentaries are every bit as good as Herzog's, maybe better. I desperately hope we get a US DVD of Cinevardaphoto; for now, this is a great way to re-introduce her to American audiences.

To me, what's most interesting about Varda is how she makes you sympathize with basically unsympathetic protagonists. Cleo is a bitchy bubblehead, and the protagonist of Vagabond is an ungrateful, self-destructive pain in the ass, but you end up caring about them, without ever feeling obligated to overlook or forgive their flaws. It may be that only a female director could be so cool-eyed in her judgment and analysis of these women, and it's an all-too-rare approach.

I actually got to (briefly) meet Varda at NYC's Museum of Modern Art, and she was great. I told her what an inspiration she'd been to my filmmaking, and her advice to young writer/directors was "Always be thinking!" Welcome advice, from a director who demonstrates it over and over.