Agnès Varda (review)

266Women in French Studies the "signifiés polyvalents" that are evoked by the maternal metaphor, focusing on the search for origins and the desire to "faire revivre sa mère biologique" (56) that are evident in Chawaf's writings, from Retable-La Rêverie (1974) through the more autobiographical Le Manteau noir (1998). This chapter's strength is in Saigal's close readings of Chawaf that illustrate her powerful lyricism and interesting use of archaic forms and patois in her play with language . Here again, it would have been useful to offer a more nuanced portrait ofChawaf's particular stances and role in the French feminist landscape; without it, the attempt to distinguish Chawaf from other feminist writers (such as Cixous) with which Saigal concludes this chapter seems superficial. While it is clear from the many thematic and aesthetic similarities that their writings present why Hyvrard and Chawaf were chosen for this study, Ernaux's work is distinct in many ways. In Chapter 3, Saigal discusses the "malaise ontologique" provoked by the tension between Ernaux's proletarian origins and the bourgeois milieu she later enjoys, a conflict that the author "tente de résoudre par l'écriture de ses livres" (115). Ernaux's writings are marked by her hybrid style, her use of intertext, and the deliberate intent to create an "ethnotexte" {Journal du dehors 65) in her effort to document her experience. Saigal tends to read Ernaux's texts for autobiographical evidence, glossing over her exemplary status as a writer of"autofiction," a notion which, properly explored, might have enriched this study in its entirety. Still, Saigal takes care to unify her project by drawing comparisons in this chapter, noting the birth scenes and blood images that are present hvthe works of all three authors, as well as the central role ofthe mother. Even so, Saigal's analysis of Ernaux is more effective when she recognizes, for example, the unique use of layout and spacing in her texts. As in the previous chapters, it is these moments ofconnection across the author's corpus that show Saigal's knowledge of the works she studies and her enthusiasm for this literature. Given its cursory introduction and matching conclusion, the focus of L 'Ecriture : Lien de mère afilie seems as much on Saigal's appreciation ofthese writers as it is on the mother-daughter dyad that provides her point ofdeparture. The result is a book not suitable for the uninitiated (and one that could have benefited from more meticulous editing); with no index and an approach that assumes significant contextual knowledge, only those already committed to these authors will fully appreciate Saigal's contribution to their study. Miléna SantoroGeorgetown University Alison Smith. Agnès Varda. Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press, 1998. ISBN: 0-7190-5060-X. Pp. 213. Agnès Varda is a recent contribution to Manchester UP's French Film Directors series. This series is destined for an anglophone, cinéphile audience who may be somewhat familiar with one or more of the films by the director in question. The intended audience being primarily academic, the authors who contribute to the series are concerned to elucidate stylistic and thematic aspects of the director and to present an overview of her or his Book Reviews267 major works in light of socio-economic, political, and personal factors contributing to their production. The scope ofAlison Smith's monograph extends from La Pointe courte, Varda's earliest film, to Les 101 nuits (1994), Varda's last film to date at the time ofpublication. In the first chapter, "Who is Agnès Varda?" Smith paints the picture of a young woman drawn to the cinema through her studies in photography at the Ecole de Vaugirard. Smith describes Varda's first encounters with the Cahiers du cinéma group, her first film efforts, her stay in California in the late 1960s, her commitment to the nascent French women's movement in the 1 970s, the birth of her children, her return to America, her filmic successes of the 1980s, and finally, films made during and after the death of her husband Jacques Demy. The next chapter delves into a discussion of Varda's...