“the group” revisited by Agnès Varda., 30 May 2002
Author: dbdumonteil
Sidney Lumet’s “the group”(from Mary McCarthy) was,in its own special way,some kind of woman’s lib manifesto.Here the group is a two-person team but we see them live during a pretty long time,from 1962 to the mid-seventies.It’s interesting to notice that abortion was legal in France only in 1975,thanks to minister Simone Veil.

Agnès Varda’s last feature film was “les creatures” a work for highbrows.”L’une chante,l’autre pas” is a return to an accessible ,more palatable style.All things woman’s lib indeed.Of the two characters ,Suzanne,played by beautiful Thérèse Liotard,is by far the most endearing:her path ran into difficulties,even tragedies:her lover’s suicide,her parents’ despise who treated her like a dog,her affair with a married man…Pomme is a singer who wants to be free,but she acts like a bubblehead girl:marrying an Iranian,were he the most liberal of them all, is not perhaps the right move.. Continue reading →