Montaine Sicard-Wiss

Les fiancés du pont McDonald by Agnès Varda :

Agnès Varda, who told an admiring audience at Yale University that she had
virtually never seen a film before producing her first, the masterpiece "La Pointe Courte", is
considered by many to be the mother of the French new wave, the precursor of that which
François Truffaut and other contemporary glories (Nouvelle vague) would do years later.

“Les fiancés du Pont McDonald” is an improvisation short film originally accompanying

one of Agnès Varda’s most famous films, “Cléo de 5 à 7”. It features a certain Jean-Luc
Godard, one of the greatest glories of the French New Wave, in a burlesque scene, where he
only sees life in black when he wears glasses. But how, beyond the comic aspect, does Varda
go about questioning us in this little film about reality?

The humorous aspect is seen from the 28th second of the film, with, following the
title "The fiancés of the McDonald bridge" "or (beware of dark glasses)", as if the production
team had been looking for a serious name but couldn't help but add a dose of comedy with a
title resembling that of a bad detective novel, the use of parentheses and the small size of
the « ou » reinforcing this impression.

The idea that wearing black sunglasses alters one's perception of reality, introduces
an element of absurdity. The absurdity of the situation creates a sense of playful curiosity.
At 1:04, the fact that the man turns towards the opposite direction from which his fiancée
has just left adds to the absurdity. The use of a dolly shot allow us to follow the movement of
the "fiancée" who was previously blond and entirely dressed in white and has now turned
black under the effect of the sunglasses the guy has just put on until she comically falls on a
pipe.
The use of close shots allows us to return to the absurd with shots of the upper bodies of the
characters, who seem to behave and blink like dolls.
The kidnapping scene which follows the fall, with its burlesque unfolding, and the cut after
the tracking shot having followed the fiancé running after the car, which announces "Too
late", underlines the exaggerated aspect, which clearly shows that Varda has never had the
ambition to film here a scene even remotely approaching realism.
The music covering the following scene, in which the young man, to symbolize the mourning
of the one he has just seen disappear, buys a crown of flowers and a handkerchief, parodies
seriousness by using a slower tempo reminiscent of a funeral march.

But what could Varda mean with such a work? When the characters appear, around 0:30,
the use of a full shot showing us a very young couple, but also framing certain elements of
the city, such as the metro, would almost give the impression of a film of daily life, taken
from a documentary, with a classic soundtrack from the 50s, a repetitive piano melody,
reminiscent of that covering for example the films relating the first paid holidays in the 30s.
In such a setting, with so much humour and such a simple plot, doesn't this film first push us
to question our very perception of the world?

The film displays how wearing black sunglasses changes the way people perceive their
surroundings. Varda uses this as an illustration for the subjectivity of perception, showcasing
that individuals consider and appreciate the world differently based on their perspectives
and experiences.

The extreme aspect of this situation, with almost identical shots between the scene seen
through the glasses and the one without, and a similarity in the actors' performances, make
the spectators hesitate, as they do not know if we have reassembled the time or even if the
fiancé has just imagined the whole first scene, illustrates the fact that everyone creates their
own interpretation of the facts, their own truth.
 Th
is

film tackles the idea of one universal truth . Alternatively it suggests the existence of
multiple ones, created by our perspectives on life and by what we have been through. This
raises questions about the common idea of an united reality and highlight the uniqueness of
each humans’ experiences.
By this way of reasoning, Varda seems to want to enter into an almost philosophical
questioning here.
But when we know the opinions of Varda, who was notoriously involved with the
communists in China and Cuba, and who made several trips to the USSR in the 1960s, as we
are reminded by le Monde in its article, “La cinéaste Agnès Varda célébrée toute l'année
comme jamais."we can question the honesty and goodness of this postulate. Barely 16 years
after the confiscation of power by the USSR throughout Eastern Europe, 14 years after the
Prague coup, 5 years after the last SOS of Free Hungary, and while the last "brothers of the
forest" the Baltic resistance organizations, which had been fighting for 20 years at this point,
were still resisting the Soviet occupier, could we really accept, in a France which claims to be
a country of Enlightenment", the narrative of the Soviet truth? How many Imre Nagy and Jan
Palak, before the horror of the Soviet occupation is universally admitted?

In “Les fiancées du Pont McDonald,” Varda proposes us into an improvisation that deeply
questions our perception of reality. Using absurdity and burlesque, it leads us to a
philosophical questioning about the deep nature of truth and how we oversee the multiple
aspect of what we experience.
The metaphor of dark glasses is used to ask us if we do not create our own reality.
To mislead the viewer about what they perceive to be true, Varda uses similar shots on both
sides (with and without dark glasses) and manages to get extremely similar performances
from the actors. Ergo, she manages to confront him with the absurdity of the situation in
question, but also instills questions:
Isn't this, even if it is obviously exaggerated, a situation reminiscent of our own truth in our
everyday lives?
But we need to delve deeper into how this reasoning resonated with the political events of
the time. The admission that there are several truths must lead us to make a choice when we
know Varda's political allegiances. Do we accept the narrative of Soviet violence imposed in
Eastern Europe? Or on the contrary, do we defend European humanism and the voices of
silent forces on the path of resistance?

Bibliography:

1. MUBI: "A Filmmaker's Joy: An Interview with Agnès Varda." [Online] , Seen on:
09/12/2023 https://mubi.com/en/notebook/posts/a-filmmaker-s-joy-an-interview-with-
agnes-varda
2. Le Monde : "La cinéaste Agnès Varda célébrée toute l'année comme jamais." [Online]
https://www.lemonde.fr/m-le-mag/article/2023/06/30/la-cineaste-agnes-varda-
celebree-toute-l-annee-comme-jamais_6179895_4500055.htmlSeen on 09/12/2023
3. Criterion: "La Pointe Courte: How Agnès Varda Invented the New Wave." [Online]
Seen on 09/12/2023https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/497-la-pointe-courte-
how-agnes-varda-invented-the-new-wave