La Pointe Courte

Plot

A young man (Philippe Noiret) arrives at a train station to see his wife. After four years of marriage the couple are having problems of a somewhat existential naturethe wife loves her husband, but is thinking of leaving him (he had an affair some time back, but her problem is not jealousy so much as questioning the very nature of love itself). The couple discuss their lives, and become resigned to the fact that they belong together, even if their love has changed. They return to Paris, the wife now better understanding her husbands nature because shes seen his hometown. As this drama unfolds, we see the lives of the poor but proud people living there; fishermen wanting to harvest shellfish from a small lagoon they have been forbidden to use because of an alleged problem with bacteria, a small child dies of an unknown illness, a young man wins the right to court the 16-year-old daughter of a neighbor, after proving himself in a local aquatic jousting tournament.

Production

Varda originally went to La Pointe Courte to take pictures for a friend who could no longer visit her home. After seeing the footage she took she rented a camera to shoot a film about a couple who lived in La Pointe Courte. Varda set up her own co-op and began production. The budget for the film was low budget costing $14,000; roughly one fourth the budget of other feature films of the era including The 400 Blows and Breathless. No members of the cast or crew were paid during the production.

Themes

In a 1962 interview, Varda spoke of two present themes in the film with "the first being a couple reconsidering their relationship and a village that is trying to resolve several collective problems of survival".

Release

The Paris premiere of the film was in 1956 at the Studio Parnasse. It played with Jean Vigos documentary film A propos de Nice (1930).