Question 1

True or false: Varda was married to director Jean-Luc Godard for over 20 years.

Accepted Answer

False. Varda was married to filmmaker Jacques Demy. She had a close friendship with Godard but never married him.

Question 2

True or false: Agnès Varda included a time-lapse scene of sprouting potatoes in her 2000 documentary 'The Gleaners and I'.

Accepted Answer

True. The Gleaners and I features a memorable sequence where heart-shaped potatoes sprout, symbolizing time and decay.

Question 3

True or false: Varda never won an Oscar, but she did receive an honorary Academy Award in 2017.

Accepted Answer

True. She received an Honorary Oscar in 2017 for her influence on cinema, though she never won a competitive Oscar.

Question 4

True or false: Agnès Varda was originally trained as a photographer before becoming a filmmaker.

Accepted Answer

True. Varda studied photography at the École des Beaux-Arts and worked as a photographer before her first film 'La Pointe Courte' in 1955.

Question 5

True or false: Varda directed the first narrative feature film shot entirely in digital video.

Accepted Answer

False. The first narrative feature shot entirely on digital video is often cited as 'The Celebration' (1998) by Thomas Vinterberg. Varda's 'Les glaneurs et la glaneuse... deux ans après' came later, in 2004.

Question 6

True or false: Varda's final film was a documentary about her own life and artistic process, released posthumously.

Accepted Answer

False. Her final film was 'Varda by Agnès' (2019), which premiered at Berlin just before her death, but it was released while she was still alive.

Question 7

True or false: Varda was a trained opera singer who performed at the Paris Opera before turning to film.

Accepted Answer

False. Varda studied literature and psychology, then photography. No evidence of opera training—this is a common fabrication.

Question 8

True or false: Varda was a leading figure of the French New Wave, but she was also a member of the French Resistance during WWII.

Accepted Answer

False. Varda was just a child during WWII (born 1928) and never fought in the Resistance. She lived in Belgium and France, but was too young.

Agnès Varda Trivia Questions