"YOU'VE GOT TO DO IT JUST LIKE THE BOYS": AGNÈS VARDA AND THE BIRTH OF THE AUTRICE

Abstract

This thesis seeks to establish and develop the concept of the autrice, a feminine alternative to the masculinized auteur figure in film criticism. The autrice refers to a film director who not only expresses a distinctive voice and auteuristic level of authorship over their work in conventional auteur terms, but also ensures that their feminine perspective is consistently made manifest in some aesthetic, narratological, or thematic way over the course of their filmography. As a case study to help further define the feminine autrice, my thesis will focus on Belgian-born filmmaker Agnès Varda and three of her most influential films: La Pointe Courte (1955), Cléo de 5 à 7 (1962), and Sans toit ni loi (1985). By examining these films through the lens of feminist autrice theory, I will reconceptualize the auteur in order to consider a more diverse group of filmmakers than English-speaking auteur critics initially envisioned.