With her first feature, Varda set the example for the New Wave, filming on location in the port city of Sète with a small crew and without the benefit of unions or the confines of the strict French studio system. Other than the two leads, actors borrowed from her day job at the Théâtre National Populaire, La Pointe Courte is populated with local fishermen and their families playing versions of themselves, a practice Varda would continue in future films. Nominally based on William Faulkner’s The Wild Palms, La Pointe Courte follows two storylines loosely connected through their location: a young couple whose marriage is on the brink of dissolution visit the husband’s childhood home, while the local fishermen run afoul of government inspectors and manage their day-to-day family lives. Relying on her remarkable eye—honed by her years as a still photographer—Varda crafts visuals of arresting beauty and texture in which Sète and the working life of the village become the focus through which the characters’ actions are refracted. – HG